You never own a Patek Philippe, you merely watch over it for the next generation. I’ll say it’s the best marketing campaign in history, a campaign appropriate for the world’s premier watchmaker and a watchmaker worthy of a Business Breakdown.
Our guest today is John Reardon from Collectability. John has worked at Sotheby’s, the auction house, and spent a decade at Patek Philippe in the early 2000s. He continues to write for Patek Philippe Magazine while he has launched Collectability, a brand dedicated to vintage and preowned Patek Philippe.
We cover what makes Patek such a special brand. There is an almost 200-year history in craftsmanship and countless patents (like that self-winding mechanism that powers all automatic watches today.) What Philippe Stern did in 1989 could be worthy of a 10-episode series, so there is much to learn from this episode. Please enjoy this breakdown of Patek Philippe.
Show Notes
(00:00:00) Welcome to Business Breakdowns
(00:04:21) First Question, The main differences between Patek Philippe and Rolex
(00:08:12) An introduction to Patek Philippe’s brand
(00:10:27) The founding story of the business
(00:12:54) Henry Graves and the watches that he made for the brand
(00:18:26) The production process for making a Patek Philippe watch
(00:21:36) A look at the 1989 and its importance to the business
(00:23:48) The types of people who were interested in the brand and purchasing at auction in 1989
(00:26:21) An overview of the successful marketing campaigns of the 1990s
(00:29:06) Patek’s strategy at auctions, embracing both consignment and buying
(00:32:18) The general size and scope of the Patek Philippe secondary market
(00:34:00) The brand’s perspective of the secondary market and whether it affects the way they market new items
(00:38:27) John’s personal experience working at Patek Philippe
(00:42:16) The company’s distribution strategy
(00:45:22) Breaking down the points of sale, branded dealers versus authorized dealers
(00:46:09) The mindset behind consolidating dealers and the exclusivity it created as a byproduct
(00:48:02) How the LVMH acquisition of Tiffany has affected Patek Philippe
(00:50:58) The potential of Patek Philippe being acquired by another company
(00:55:28) Lessons learned from Patek Philippe