“Patek Philippe is about love, it’s about craftsmanship and its most important aspect is respect.” - Thierry Stern, President Patek Philippe

Since his official appointment as the president of Patek Philippe brand in 2009, Thierry Stern has served as guardian to the last family-owned independent Swiss brand. Patek Philippe has remained in the hands of the Stern family since 1932, maintaining the continuity of the vision of the founders Antoine Norbet de Patek and Adrien Philippe. Excerpts from a recent conversation with Thierry Stern, President Patek Philippe during his tour to Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf states.

Recently you celebrated over 20 years of your famed advertising campaign that took the world by storm. You never actually own a Patek Philippe. What kind of responsibility and commitment does this motto reflect on your shoulders?

This is a generation’s responsibility. This was a legacy that I bequeathed from my father’s grandfather and that’s what I’m also trying to do with my kids. It is not that easy because every generation is evolving from the previous. The brand’s legacy is such that it indicates that you have to go for quality and not quantity. Patek Philippe is about love, it’s about craftsmanship and its most important aspect is respect. Everybody loves our watches because they know a lot of real hard work and love go into our products and also we have very loyal partners and customers. So you see, it’s not easy to say and continue to maintain such quality and innovation into the next generation. That’s my duty today.

You are on tour in the region, how important is the region for Patek Philippe?

The region has always been important to us. We are in this region from my dad’s days, a long time ago. We have created unique, beautiful pieces and many people in this region are keen collectors of such watches. More importantly, they are connoisseurs of craftsmanship and this is also the beauty of the area, the tradition of craftsmanship as I see all over. It’s not something that we created, as I look at all the beautiful buildings or beautiful cars and painting that you possess. It is something we get along with and I think that’s the link between Patek Philippe and Arabia. There’s really the passion that we all enjoy together. What I’m very happy about in particular is that I see the new generation also has the love for watches – that’s significant to us.

It’s a fact that here we have always taken care of educating the new generation about things of beauty and that’s very important for me because that’s also where my future lies. If people love Patek Philippe then I will continue for sure. Today we all have phones that tell you the time but they don’t give you the pleasure of looking at it and that’s what I will try to maintain.

What is the future policy of Patek Philippe?

When the first apple watch was launched a lot of people were afraid that all brands like Patek Philippe will disappear but it was not to be. When you buy Patek Philippe, you also buy a piece of art, and you buy something where you understand how even a simple movement works. Trying to do the same with a digital watch is not easy. When we are talking about the microchip, we are talking about new technology but there is no passion inside. You can use it every day, it’s nice for doing a lot of things, get your phone and emails on it but it’s not art. It’s also important to us that when you wear a watch it’s also a status symbol, for the one who knows and understands the beauty of this world. The beauty of the past and what we are adopting today are equally significant. And how I can survive is simply because I’m innovating every year. Every year we have our new designs, a new movement and when you are showing the movement you also have to explain about it. It’s also important to do some events where I can have my watchmaker show you the movement. When new digital watches break down ours will survive because we can fix it.

Limited editions are very popular in Saudi Arabia and watch collectors love it. Any planes to introduce such a collection for this market?

In all fairness, we have always done it, most of our watches are very limited. We can say that every Patek Philippe watch is a limited edition because they are very rare, there are not a lot of them for sure. I understand that if you are passionate about watches, the thing that can make you happy is to have your own watch, the only one of its kind. There’s one thing people are always asking from me - can you do one watch only for myself? I cannot do that. Imagine one watch for each person, it will require so many engineers so is not possible. But offering limited series – yes we can do it. The word limited is really something for me and I’m not willing to abuse it. You will not see limited series every year, it has to be for special occasions, maybe the anniversary of a watch or it can also be for a retail partner. That’s what we do, if you are partnering with us for 100 years you will have your own limited series. And when I say limited I’m not talking about just the color or type. I’m talking about some specific movement but you need to be with us for 100 years. This is not easy but that rule we have to follow, otherwise it will not be possible to do.

This part of the world has developed very strong relationship with the brand and obviously with one collection which we all know – the Nautilus, Ref 5711. How do you propose to replace this collection?

Collection Ref 5711 was there for a long time so like all other references there’s a beginning and there’s an end. What people expect from me is to launch a new model. I can launch a new model and to do that I have to stop some other, otherwise the collection will be too big to manage. Ref 5711 has been there for many years now it’s time to stop this collection.