It is a Saturday morning and the Sankaku Hiroba event space at Tokyo’s Shinjuku Sumitomo building is packed with watch enthusiasts, cutting across different age groups and demographics.
They are here for the opening of Patek Philippe’s much-anticipated Watch Art Grand Exhibition in Tokyo on Jun 10, the sixth edition of the exhibition and the first post-pandemic.
An unmissable presence amid the crowd is Patek Philippe’s president Thierry Stern. The fourth-generation boss of the watchmaking giant is looking jubilant as he gamely poses for photos with members of the crowd, who, in typical Japanese fashion, have formed a polite queue around him.
The fanfare around Stern is no surprise. He is, after all, one of the most important figures in the watchmaking world. Even after more than a decade at the helm of the family-owned company, Stern is still very much involved in every aspect of the business.
In fact, each Minute Repeater that the company produces is personally examined and quality checked by Stern before it goes to the client.
The Tokyo edition of the exhibition aims to invite visitors into the world of Patek Philippe, showcasing everything from its historical watches, modern timepieces to rare handcrafts.
Six new limited edition watches, highlights of which include the new self-winding Quadruple Complication and the first World Time watch equipped with a date display synchronised with local time, were also released in celebration of the event.
In Tokyo, CNA Luxury caught up with Stern, who chats about everything from managing demand and production of his sought-after watches, Patek’s upcoming “cool” new model line and why he is “not going to do a plastic watch”.
It has been four years since the last Watch Art Grand Exhibition. How does it feel to open the exhibition once again, and in Japan this time?
We are very happy. Due to COVID-19, we lost two years; the idea was to do it in 2021 but with the pandemic, it was not possible. So it’s a great feeling, for sure.
When you do such an exhibition, you know that you are going to make so many people happy, and I’m not only talking about collectors. What is nice to me is to see people who don’t really know the brand coming to the exhibition and discovering beautiful things. You see the new generation coming with their parents and they are just amazed. They can also talk to the people who make the watches. I think that is important.
Patek is a family business and they appreciate that because in Japan; they respect family businesses. Patek is also about perfection and the Japanese are very meticulous so that is a passion that we share. The exhibition is not a commercial event. For me, it’s really a cultural one.
Six limited editions were launched at the exhibition. Do you have any favourites?
I would say all of them. For me, I enjoy very complicated movements because they are very challenging to realise. First you have to think about it and then once you have the idea, well, you have to think of how to fabricate it, and that’s another story. When you know how to fabricate it, then you have to have the skills to make it.
The Minute Repeater has always been something beautiful to me, and for everybody. You don’t need to be an expert because the sound is something that anyone can enjoy. But when it comes to the technical aspect, you need to be more educated [about watches] to really tell the difference.
With the new Ref 5308P, you have the minute repeater and the split seconds chronograph, which is also something that people really like. Eighty per cent of people will never use their chrono but they like the style. So I would say I like the 5308P. The platinum case is also very interesting to me because it’s very challenging to bring out the sound of a Minute Repeater on a platinum case. I like to challenge my team all the time and if they can do it with a platinum case, they can do it with every material after that.
We know that you are still very much involved in the conceptualisation and design of the watches. Where do you find your inspiration?
[Points jokingly to a glass of wine in front of him and laughs] No, this is our job and we have plenty of ideas all the time. This is my business, it’s my profession and it’s my passion. It is also from knowing every one of our markets because I travel a lot. If you listen to people, listen to the retailers, then it’s quite easy to find some good ideas.
At the exhibition, we saw everything from historical timepieces to modern day watches. What would you say hasn’t changed about the Patek Philippe DNA across the decades?
Every one of us in the family, when we take over, we are taught a certain level of creativity, DNA and education about Patek. It’s also our duty to add our own DNA to the original Patek DNA created in 1839. That little part that we add to the brand makes a difference. You always have to adapt a little bit but still keep the same strategy and values behind a Patek Phillipe. You have to keep the same quality, but you also have to innovate with your own DNA ,without straying too far.
For me, it’s important to create something new, maybe something younger or more modern, but still keeping with tradition. There is a balance that I have to respect. I cannot only do very futuristic movements or cases, because I don’t think our clients would accept it. Neither would I. But I also enjoy adding something new. For example, what was totally new for this watch [points to the Ref 5208 on his wrist] were these open-worked lugs. It was never done before and suddenly, boom, here it is, and now everybody’s using it.
Speaking of adding your own DNA, what do you think your sons, who are now getting involved in the business, would bring to Patek in the future?
My sons would have to figure that out and still stick to tradition. Maybe in the future, we’ll see more traditional cases but I will not tell you what they are.
When it comes to collecting watches, what do you think collectors in Asia are looking for these days?
The limited editions, for sure. Everyone dreams of owning one of the limited editions. A lot of people are still dreaming of the Nautilus, the Aquanaut. The new Calatravas are also in demand. The new Ref 5271 chronographs with bezels set with rubies, sapphires. Those are rare, and not everybody will own them but it’s part of our strategy and what is possible for us. I cannot produce more than that.
The demand for watches has been skyrocketing since the pandemic. From your observation, is it stabilising now or is demand still high?
The demand is still very high [for Patek] and it’s amazing there is still demand on every model – we are really strong on every reference. Yet that sometimes can be a problem. When it was only the Nautilus, we could handle it but now everything is on demand. It is very impressive how people are willing to buy a Patek Phillipe watch but I don’t increase my quantity. The only thing we did was to reduce the number of point of sales worldwide, because we needed to have pieces to sell in the store. It was terrible for the retailers because they’ve invested and they have rent to pay with zero watches [to sell]. We didn’t have a choice. We could not increase production so we had to decrease the number of point of sales so that the ones that remained at least have a little bit more pieces.
Do you see watch collectors in Asia getting younger? How does Patek cater to this growing market?
I definitely see that but I’m not losing our older clients either. It’s a little bit of a problem because that means we have more clients with the same number of watches.
When clients come to Patek today, it’s because they like what we are doing already. I’m doing a new collection every year, and I’m happy that our clients like what we launch but it’s not for me to adapt to them. I evolve myself year after year so if they like what I’m doing, I’m happy. If the younger generation likes plastic, I’m not going to do a plastic watch.
But our clients trust us. Very often, I ask them what should I do, just to test them, and they say I don’t know, we trust you. And that’s how it will continue.
We are big enough in terms of knowledge [to know what they want]. That’s why I travel very often, to listen to everybody and to adapt. If I do not evolve, then I should retire, or the new generation should take over. That’s how I see it.
Speaking of the new generation, when your sons eventually take over, what is one important piece of advice you would give them?
Travel, listen to the retailers and to the distributors too. Switzerland is such a small country and you will not learn enough. You need to know the world first and to listen to the clients. They are the ones who are going to buy your watches, so you better know what they like and what they don’t like, so you can improve it.
You mentioned at Watches & Wonders this year that you are working on launching a new model line, the first new line for Patek since 1999. Are there any updates you can share with us?
It will not be this year. I don’t have the time to launch it this year because we have too many things to do. But next year, there will be something. I can’t tell you what it is, but there will be a new line, and it will be a cool one. As usual. [laughs]
What else can we expect from Patek in the coming months?
New watches, but otherwise, it’s difficult for me to answer because we always have different launches during the year. That’s the difference because in the past, with [the now defunct] Baselworld, there was only one watch fair and that was it. Now we have been adapting to a new way to do it. We still have Watches & Wonders in Geneva, and then there are a few different launches during the year.
In terms of production, it doesn’t really help because the launches are still within the same year. It doesn’t make any difference if we produce in June, July or November. In terms of holding events and communicating the launches, it’s going to be better. There may be one or two new launches this year, but we will see.
