Patek Philippe: A Grail of Many Today, Patek Philippe is known for its grand complications found across a variety of watches and its own model family. The Nautilus model is also synonymous with the brand, and one that many people often think of first when describing Patek Philippe.
In today’s world of luxury watchmaking, there are quite a few brands that are known as the top echelon of horology. However, three stand out and have been dubbed ‘The Holy Trinity of Watches’ a phrase that has been in use since the mid-1970s.
In this article, we discuss the following brands:
> Audemars Piguet
> Patek Philippe
> Vacheron Constantin
Key Takeaways
> The Holy Trinity embodies the art of watchmaking—these luxury brands use the finest materials and flaunt precise hand-finishing across all movements.
> Audemars Piguet is the youngest in the group, yet produce some of the most sophisticated and technically complicated watches in the industry.
> Founded in 1839, Patek Philippe was originally known for their pocket watches and the invention of a keyless winding system.
> Boasting one of the oldest reputations in the luxury space, Vacheron Constantin was founded in 1755. Today, they are best known for the Overseas collection.
What Brands Make Up The Holy Trinity of Watches?
Also known as the ‘Big Three’, the holy trinity of watches includes Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, and Vacheron Constantin. These brands have been at the forefront of watchmaking, innovation, luxury, and continue to make watch news today. They each showcase the art of watchmaking with hand-finishing, Cotes de Geneve stripes across the movement, and use the finest materials.
Audemars Piguet: Family Owned Since 1875
The youngest of the big three, Audemars Piguet was founded in 1875. The duo of Audemars and Piguet created some of the most sophisticated watches, focusing on highly technical and complicated watches.
Almost 100 years after the inception of the brand, the now-iconic Royal Oak was designed and launched. This model has led to the creation of the sportier Royal Oak Offshore collection and even lends some design elements to the controversial Code 11.59 collection released in 2019. Celebrities such as tennis star Serena Williams, musician John Mayer and mogul Jay-Z have all been known to wear the brand.
Patek Philippe: A Grail of Many
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A brand that sits at the top of many grail watch lists dates back to 1839; Patek Philippe was originally known for pocket watches and the invention of a keyless winding system. This system led to the modern-day crown, winding both automatic and manual watches. Over the years they have acquired many patents including a perpetual calendar function for pocket watches, independent seconds, and the first annual calendar.
Today, Patek Philippe is known for its grand complications found across a variety of watches and its own model family. The Nautilus model is also synonymous with the brand, and one that many people often think of first when describing Patek Philippe. Movements are all produced in-house and are hand finished. The brand has even created the Patek Philippe Seal, certifying a next-level degree of precision.
Vacheron Constantin: Over 265 Years Of Watchmaking
One of the oldest watch and clock manufacturers, Vacheron Constantin found its start in 1755. The watchmaker Jean-Marc Vacheron was producing the first horological complication and designed the first engine-turned dial. In 1819 his grandson partnered with Francois Constantin and the brand rapidly began expanding. The Maltese cross has been used to identify the brand since 1880. Similarly to Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin holds some notable achievements in watchmaking and uses some of the top techniques.
Vacheron Constantin has created the first non-magnetic timepiece, produced the first world’s thinnest manual wind movement in 1955, created the first thinnest minute repeater in 1992 and even produced the most complicated mechanical watch or pocket watch in 2015. The Reference 57260 features a collection of 57 complications.
Today, the brand is known for its Overseas collection, made up of chronographs, world time functions, tourbillons, and moon phases. The Historiques collection pays homage to past models with modern updates. Staying true to its original tradition in watchmaking, the brand has a dedicated department to produce one-of-a-kind, complicated acnd artistic watches for clients called Les Cabinotiers.
Creating a Modern Holy Trinity
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There has been talk over the years of re-defining the holy trinity of watches or expanding the group of three to a quaternity (4) or creating a second grouping to complement the first. Many luxury brands, such as H. Moser and Cie, have the same prestigious history as the original group, A. Lange and Söhne is German, and some brands, like F.P. Journe, are much newer in watchmaking history. However, since Rolex is one of the most popular and recognized brands in the luxury watch market, people are often wondering how it got left out of the big three.
Why Isn’t Rolex In The Holy Trinity of Watches
While Rolex is certainly a popular brand and models are hard to come by new and just as hard to find on the secondary market, the brand doesn’t quite fit in with the big three. Rolex was designed to produce robust and reliable watches. While there are models in precious materials and the occasional high-complication, the brand is known for its dive watches, chronographs, and accurate simple watches, all of which are highly desirable by collectors of all levels. The Holy Trinity produces favoring precious metals and high complications.
When someone mentions the ‘Holy Trinity’ of Swiss watchmaking, they will be referring to Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, and Vacheron Constantin. The phrase stands for the quality, desirability, craftsmanship, finishing, and luxury production of the models. Do you think the ‘Big Three” of watches should be updated to feature some of the other big names in watchmaking? Make the decision for yourself when you discover the newest arrivals in the WatchBox collection featuring the ‘Holy Trinity’ and other top watch brands.
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