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Stern on Watchmaking
and History
Thierry Stern is the vice president of Patek Philippe and a member of the firm’s management committee.
International Watch sat down for a chat with him this fall just prior to showing these historic
pieces at Govberg’s at the Boyd’s men’s store in Philadelphia.
iW:
Did you take watchmaking courses?
Stern:
Yes, I went to watchmaking school for a year and a half. So today I can open the watch and take
it apart and put it back together. But don’t ask me to regulate a tourbillon. But I know how it works.
iW:
Do you use this background in your company?
Stern:
I haven’t used this to inform the movement designs. But I have asked to design some functions
into watches.
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iW:
Patek Philippe is known as a traditional firm. How do you reconcile using high-tech materials?
Stern:
In our tradition, innovation is important. If you only keep tradition you will never innovate.
For instance, we were the first to wind with a crown, so there is a little bit of Patek in
every watch. We always try new technology, because if you don’t you are dead.
iW:
That explains the use of the silicium in your new pieces.
Stern:
Yes. Watchmakers always like new materials if they are more accurate, so if we can provide new
materials to improve accuracy, it’s a great chance. We don’t destroy the watchmaking spirit that
always seeks to evolve.
iW:
Was developing silicium for the movement difficult?
Stern:
It’s a little bit frightening at the beginning and it was a little difficult. But we worked with the
Swatch Group and with Rolex and we decided to find the new material, silicium. But to have it is
not enough, you have to find what to do with it. We discovered the material is good for a spiral,
and it takes a lot of know-how to design a new spiral. We have a lot of knowhow but also a lot
a history. We try to not make mistakes twice. We are quite proud of the results.
It won’t be in every watch—we want to be careful about it.
iW:
Your firm has really developed the ladies market in recent years. Is this attention to ladies ongoing?
Stern:
Patek Philippe really became active in the ladies market with the Twenty-4. Today ladies are also asking
for complicated watches. The trend using bigger pieces has saved a lot of companies because you can use
a men’s movement like an annual calendar and use them in a ladies case. You know we have many older
calibers that we can’t make smaller but now can be used for ladies watches. We could design specific
ladies’ lines. We are now up to forty percent (of sales) with our ladies lines.
iW:
What does the United States mean to Patek Philippe?
Stern:
We have a long history here. We started in 1851 in the United States with Tiffany. It’s why today
we can say that the biggest Patek Philippe collectors are in the U.S. Here is where we find
our biggest collectors with the most watches. Very often you see the first and second generations
of customers at the stores. I understand this myself because I had this with my grandfather.
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