THE JAPANESE HAVE LONG HELD a fascination for Patek Philippe’s timepieces. In the watchmaker’s customer registers, records of patrons from the Land of the Rising Sun date as far back as the late Edo period and the Meiji Restoration, corresponding to the earliest decades of the Manufacture’s activity.
It all began when statesman and Ambassador Iwakura Tomomi led a delegation of over 50 senior government officials to the United States and Europe in 1873. The goal was to learn more about the political, military and educational systems of the Western world in order to revise the Unequal Treaties and re-establish themselves among the dominant world powers.
Part of the itinerary of the Iwakura Mission was a visit to Patek Philippe’s Geneva headquarters. Guided by its visionary Founder Antoine Norbert de Patek, the meeting was reported in detail across three pages in the official journal Beiou-Kairan Jikki. Soon, Japanese dignitaries were acquiring Patek Philippe’s watches – directly in Europe or through the intermediary of European trading companies active in Japan.
This admiration for the Swiss watchmaker only grew over the years, prompting the brand to officially import its timepieces into Japan in the 1950s and establish its Japanese subsidiary PP Patek Inc. in 2003. Today, Japan represents a key market for the brand – a market of connoisseurs that treasures rare handcraft and appreciates the savoir-faire contained in a Patek Philippe timepiece. The snaking queue of about 200 people that formed outside its Watch Art Grand Exhibition in Tokyo on the opening day is further proof of the Japanese’s reverence for the brand.
Honouring A Legacy
This story is from the Issue 192 edition of August Man SG.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Issue 192 edition of August Man SG.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Forces Of Nature
Two strategically released pieces in Grand Seiko’s Watches and Wonders Geneva repertoire of novelties promise an exciting future for the Japanese Manufacture.
Let A Thousand Flowers Bloom
Roku Gin Sakura Bloom Edition invokes Japan’s cherry blossom festival exquisitely.
A NATIONAL TREASURE
THE AVERAGE SINGAPOREAN REMEMBERS DR. ONG KENG SEN FOR DIRECTING THE POPULAR 1996 LOCAL FILM ARMY DAZE, BUT THE CULTURAL MEDALLION LAUREATE IS NOW PLAYING A HUGE PART IN FACILITATING OUR SOCIETY’S MATURATION IN ARTS, CULTURE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE.
With Delicious Precision
THE MADE OF MAKERS CAMPAIGN by Jaeger-LeCoultre is a groundbreaking new campaign in which the Manufacture collaborates with artists and artisans from outside the world of watchmaking.
LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING WITH PROFESSOR BRIAN COX
Augustman met Professor Brian Cox at Watches and Wonders Geneva as he presented the new IWC Schaffhausen Portugieser Eternal Calendar. Existentialist questions around time and existence followed in our exclusive interview.
AN EYE FOR ICON
THE SYNONYM FOR ‘CONTEMPORARY INTERPRETATION OF ARCHIVAL EMBLEMS’ MIGHT VERY WELL BE KIM JONES.
THE KEEPER OF MEMORIES
A conversation with French master perfumer Daphné Bugey details what exactly makes fragrances so powerful. Layered between each olfactive note is a memory tucked within.
FROM SHANGHAI WITH LOVE
Junior The Pocket Bar invokes the nocturnal glamour and grit of 1930s Shanghai with its latest iteration.
Much Preferred
Prefer is putting forward a very strong case for a bean-free coffee revolution.
A CENTURY OF CRAFTSMANSHIP
Celebrating a legacy of luxury with Wes Anderson’s cinematic flair, Montblanc rediscovers the timeless elegance of its iconic Meisterstück fountain pen.