Excellent Condition

This tenth-anniversary issue tells the story of our company - the story of our "families" of watches, from the Calatrava to the Aquanaut; our pursuit of horological perfection in new technological advances; and important events, such as the inauguration of our new workshops. 

It is ten years since we moved to our state-of-the-art complex at Plan-les-Ouates, just outside Geneva, and to mark this occasion we invited watch-enthusiast limm Delfs to take a tour of the building to see how a Patek Philippe timepiece is created. Read his report on page 42. Another important event in our recent history, the opening of the Patek Philippe Museum in 2001, is celebrated with a fascinating exploration of the psychology of collecting and exhibiting, by Annie Cohen-Solal. 

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Nautilus. lmran Khan looks back at this groundbreaking watch and reviews the brand-new Nautilus collection, launched this year in honour of the anniversary. With this magazine, you will also find a supplement dedicated to the Nautilus, past and present, which includes articles by Sir Terence Conran, Nick Foulkes and Simon de Burton. 

As well as tracing the origins of our watch families, we examine the many complications for which the company is so well known. Thomas Lips introduces our grand complications with an essay on mankind's quest to understand the nature of time, while Herve Genoud welcomes the "useful" complication - simple to use and easy to read, these functions have initiated a new generation of watch lovers to the pleasures of complex mechanical movements. 

Gisbert L. Brunner takes an in-depth look at Patek Philippe's most famous self-winding movements, while the celebrated photographer Guido Mocafico photographs their intricate beauty. And David Rooney, curator of timekeeping at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, looks at the motivation behind the company's constant quest for technological advancement.