Interesting facts about Patek Philippe & Co founder

Not much is known about Patek's ancestors. However, a Patek from the Polish nobility is mentioned in 1790. We also know that Patek signed his name in a number of different ways, Patek, Antoni Patek, Antoine Norbert de Patek and Antoni Norbert Patek de Prawdzic.

The latter name, Prawdzic, refers to his coat-of-arms, which feature a red lion holding an iron ring in its front paws against a blue background. It is quite possible that he inherited the coat-of-arms from his mother’s side of the family.

After the war ended, Patek, along with tens of thousands of other Poles, was forced to leave the country.
However, his intelligence and his knowledge of five languages did not go unnoticed by the Commander-in-Chief General Bem, who sent the young man first to Bamberg, Germany and later to France.

On April 9-10, 1833, Patek’s journey ended, unexpectedly, in Switzer-land. He had become an officer of the "Holy Battalion", a regiment of Polish émigrés on French soil who set out to aid the Frankfurt insurrection. Upon crossing the Swiss border, the regiment learned that the uprising had collapsed and consequently remained in Switzer-land, where they were warmly welcomed. The regiment for-med the "Association of Polish Émigrés in Switzerland", the majority found work with Swiss farmers and a few dozen learned watchmaking. Patek, however, did neither.

His artistic aspirations led him to begin studying with Alexandre Calame, the famous Swiss landscape artist, best known for his Alpine scenes. The one painting I discovered in a French collection shows signs of Patek’s unquestionable talent. By 1835, possibly concurrently with his study of art, Patek bought his first watch movements, had them cased, and sold the completed watches4 to Polish clients. Patek’s charm and good manners helped him gain the support of an influential Polish clientele. His buying and selling business5 was going well, and he decided to form a watch company. Not being a watchmaker, he needed a proficient partner in the field: this was Franciszek Czapek.

Patek began achieving his ambitions of becoming a watchmaker recognized the world over, and not just by the Polish community when in 1845, with the help of Gostkowski’s funds, Philippe's technical talent, inventiveness, and his own marketing capabilities, he founded one of the most important watchmaking companies of the second half of the 19th century and, indeed, that of the entire 20th century. This success was the result of talent, shrewdness, and good fortune!

When, in 1851, Queen Victoria visited the Patek & Co. display at the first Universal Exhibition held in London, she was shown a small lady's watch, about 30 mm. in diameter, which needed no key for win-ding or setting. She bought it on the spot, perhaps remembering a similar watch which she had purchased several years before from Breguet (No. 5102, sold on July 17, 1838).This watch was about 20 mm. in diameter, was wound by a stem and had a lever escapement. The Queen must have owned other watches, but she had only one keyless lady's watch40, it is safe to assume that she was pleased with it. I was fortunate to examine an identical one featuring a very sturdy and reliable construction considering its small size.On this occasion, Prince Albert also bought himself a Patek watch.

The fame achieved at the London exhibition was widely publicized, and Patek's financial problems slowly began to dissipate. He began to heavily publicize and market his products everywhere, including in Russia, Poland's primary enemy. Soon after, Patek became a supplier to Rodanet of Paris, Peña in Madrid, Elimayer in Leipzig, and to the biggest watch and jewelry stores in France, Spain, and Germany. Realizing the potential of the Ame-rican market, whose biggest jeweler, Tiffany, Young & Ellis, was already his client, he traveled there in 1854. Patek’s American travels have been des-cribed elsewhere and do not need to be repeated here.

Vincent Gostkowski, who afforded financial backing to the firm for over thirty years, was responsible for the managing of the company. It seems there was no love lost between himself and Adrien Philippe, who busied himself in Geneva, with new inventions, the writing of a book, and the direction of the factory.

Gostkowski made a grave mistake in failing to re-cognize Philippe’s capabilities. Philippe was a convincing writer and speaker, as was recognized by Theodore Gribi, an American horological author and teacher, who in 1878 attended a series of mee-tings of the Geneva watchmakers' society: “At one of those meetings Adrien Philippe read a paper on the flat balance spring. The argument he made, together with the discussion that followed, affected me profoundly."46 Major Paul Chamberlain, one of the giants of horological knowledge and research, shared this opinion, writing, in the 1930’s : "One of the most thoughtful and understanding discussions of horological education I have ever read was from [Philippe's] pen".

Philippe’s writings played an important role in the life of the company; two and a half years after the above-quoted letter, Philippe published a comprehensive work on keyless mechanisms.He also became an expert correspondent on watch mass production for the Journal de Genève, which in turn led to his being invited as a juror at various World Exhibitions.

Unlike Gostkowski, Patek had long recognized Philippe's skills, considering him as having “a rare talent in watchmaking". Although Philippe was perhaps a bit headstrong and opinionated, like many talented individuals, he was a clever inventor and was also quite skilled in improving upon current production methods, as he demonstrated in 1851.

Gostkowski, on the other hand, judging from his letters (and he was a very prolific writer), was quite a bore! His letters are long-winded and disorga-nized. Patek slowly came to realize that he would have to part with Gostkowski. This was not an easy decision. Not only had the two men been friends for over twenty years, but, furthermore it was owing to Gostkowski’s investments that the company had survived the years 1845, 1847, and 1848. However, by the end of the 1860’s although Gostkowski was still a partner, he did not receive a third of the pro-fits, and in 1875 he was finally removed.He continued, however, to receive six percent annual inte-rest from his investments with the company.

Subsequently Gostkowski opened his own shop - first in Geneva, then in Paris with his son Lawrence, who had previously worked in the Patek Philippe factory. At some point Gostkowski, Jr. worked for Majewski, a former worker of Patek, who had also opened his own shop. At the Paris World Exhibition of 1878, Gostkowski Jr. won a silver medal. Up until that time he had worked either at home or at another watchmaker's shop (possibly Majewski). After 1878 he finally opened his own shop in Geneva just across the lake from the Patek Philippe factory. One of his workmen was Emmanuel Cottier, the father of the later inventor of the famous World Time mechanism.