Press release

Patek Philippe, Geneva
June 2023
Historic success for the grand exhibition “Watch Art” Tokyo 2023
The Japanese public offered a very warm welcome to the Patek Philippe grand exhibition“Watch Art” Tokyo 2023. From 10 to 25 June 2023, this unprecedented event saw some 60,000
visitors immersing themselves in the world of the last independent family-owned Genevan
watch manufacture, in a decor of more than 2,500 square meters transporting them to Geneva
and taking them behind the scenes of Patek Philippe itself. The largest exhibition everorganized by the manufacture, this event was accompanied by the launch of six limited
editions, including two technical timepieces making their global debut, and a rich collection ofpieces showcasing the rare handcrafts. Patek Philippe is pleased to announce that its next
grand exhibition will take place in Milan in 2025.
After Dubai in 2012, Munich in 2013, London in 2015, New York in 2017 and Singapore in 2019, Patek
Philippe chose Tokyo for the sixth of its grand exhibitions across the world. Historically, Japan
represents a key market for the brand – a market of connoisseurs, treasuring rare handcrafts and able
to appreciate all the technical excellence and painstaking workmanship contained in a timepiece.
Japanese customers, born into a culture that unites respect for tradition with avant-garde spirit, arealso perfectly placed to understand the “tradition of innovation” that has guided Patek Philippe since1839.
In keeping with the previous exhibitions, the grand exhibition “Watch Art” Tokyo 2023 was held in aplace emblematic of the host city. It took over the Sankaku Hiroba (“triangular plaza”) event space at
the foot of the Shinjuku Sumitomo skyscraper. The space takes the form of a vast hall measuring some
3,200 square meters, covered by a massive glass roof rising to 25 meters at its highest point without
internal supporting columns. In this area bathed in natural light, Patek Philippe created a decor of morethan 2,500 square meters – the largest ever conceived for a grand exhibition – conjuring up the streetsof Geneva and that city’s lakeside setting, including the famous Flower Clock. The exhibition, divided
into ten themed rooms, invited the visitor on a voyage of discovery through the Patek Philippeuniverse, including all the brand’s most renowned Geneva sites – the historic headquarters in the rue
du Rhône, the manufacture at Plan-les-Ouates and the Patek Philippe Museum – as if he or she had
magically stepped over the 10,000 kilometers separating Geneva from Tokyo.
The grand exhibition “Watch Art” Tokyo 2023 brought together almost 500 timepieces and objects
illustrating a wealth of different types of expertise. In particular, visitors could admire the manufacture’sentire current collection, with its lavish choice of watch families and models for men and for women,
spanning every watchmaking segment from the style icons to the most technically complex
mechanisms. A generous place was accorded to the complicated watches, one of the manufacture’s
strongholds, with – for the first time in a grand exhibition – a section exclusive to the supercomplications and a space entitled “Master of Sound” showcasing the chiming watches. One roompresented the vast collection of movements designed and built entirely by Patek Philippe, with an area
devoted to the steps involved in producing the parts and another dedicated to research andPATEK PHILIPPE SA GENEVEChemin du Pont-du-Centenaire 141 – 1228 Plan-les-Ouates
P.O. Box 2654 – CH – 1211 Geneva 2 – Switzerland
Tel. + 41 22 884 20 20 – Fax + 41 22 884 25 47 – www.patek.com

Page 2development. Visitors also had the chance to meet Patek Philippe master watchmakers, who carriedout demonstrations on a variety of movements.
The rare handcrafts meticulously preserved by Patek Philippe (including miniature painting on enamel,Grand Feu cloisonné enamel, hand engraving, micro wood marquetry, hand-executed guilloché workand gemsetting) were also on show, with a splendid array of 40 one-of-a-kind pieces and limited
editions (dome clocks, table clocks, pocket watches and wristwatches) inspired by Japanese culture,with its rich artistic repertoire and ancestral skills, along with demonstrations by artisans and apresentation of exceptional pieces lent by their Japanese owners for the event.
The exhibition was also a unique opportunity to discover a selection of some 190 pieces belonging to
the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva and exceptionally allowed to travel for the Tokyo event. Thosefrom the “Antique Collection” (sixteenth to early nineteenth century) included some of the oldest
watches in the world and numerous masterpieces illustrating the entire history of horology. The pieces
from the “Patek Philippe Collection” offered a panorama of the Genevan manufacture’s rich heritage
since 1839, whether from a technical or an aesthetic viewpoint. A room entitled “Historical Owners”
invited visitors to admire timepieces that had belonged to famous patrons such as Queen Victoria.
Similarly to its predecessors, the grand exhibition “Watch Art” Tokyo 2023 was accompanied by thelaunch of several limited editions showcasing fields in which the manufacture excels. Featuring among
these six new introductions were two technical pieces making their global debut: a new self-winding
Quadruple Complication with a minute repeater, a split-seconds chronograph and an instantaneous
perpetual calendar in apertures (Reference 5308P-010) and the first World Time watch endowed with adate display synchronized with local time (Reference 5330G-010). The choice was completed by an
exclusive version of the World Time Minute Repeater, its dial center adorned with a Grand Feu
cloisonné enamel decoration representing the historic district of Chuo in central Tokyo (Reference5531R-014), a refined reinterpretation of the ladies’ Moon Phase model in an elegant shade of pearl
gray (Reference 7121/200G-010) and two sleek new Calatrava models honoring the cherished Asian
tradition of “pair watches” (References 6127G-010 and 7127G-010).
Patek Philippe has also produced a commemorative catalogue presenting all the timepieces includedin the grand exhibition “Watch Art” Tokyo 2023. All proceeds from the sale of this volume, a limited
edition, will go to the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan.
Through its grand exhibitions, open to the public, offering free admission and encouraging closer
acquaintance with its creations, heritage, philosophy and devotion to fine workmanship, Patek Philippeaims at sharing its passion for horology with a broad audience ranging from the connoisseur to thenovice. The momentum will continue with Milan, home of fashion and design, in 2025.
patek.com/watchart2023

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Key facts•Sixth edition of the Patek Philippe Grand Exhibition (after Dubai in 2012, Munich in 2013,London in 2015, New York in 2017 and Singapore in 2019)•

Approximately 60,000 visitors•

Open from Saturday 10 to Sunday 25 June 2023 at the Sumitomo Sankaku Hiroba, in Tokyo•

The largest decor ever designed for a Grand Exhibition: more than 2,500 m2•

More than 400 timepieces and 100 objects•

Six limited editions for the Japanese market

Themed areas and rooms:•The “Jardin anglais” (English Garden) in Geneva (with view of the lake and the Flower Clock)•Theater Kiosk•

Historic building, Current Collection Room, 148 pieces•

Historic building, Napoleon Room 4 pieces•

Patek Philippe Museum Room 166 pieces
o82 pieces from the Antique Collection + 84 pieces from the Patek Philippe Collection•

Historical Owners Room 14 pieces•

Japanese collectors on loan timepieces room 10 pieces•

Rare Handcrafts Room 40 pieces•Artisans Room: wood marquetry, guilloché work, cloisonné enamel, miniature painting onenamel•

Manufacture Room:oProduction phases areaoMovements area: 36 movements in revolving display cabinets + 64 movements
displayed in an interactive showcase•

Research and Development Area – Advanced Research 8 pieces•Supercomplications Room 3 pieces - Grandmaster Chime immersive experience•“Master of Sound” Room 17 pieces•

Watchmakers Room•

Bookstore, mini-mapping of “The Encounter Between A. N. de Patek and J. A. Philippe”