Sunday, April 17, 2011

Introducing Jake's Patek Philippe World Blog...


Introducing Jake's Patek Philippe World Blog

I imagine it was just a matter of time, and I finally decided to start Jake's Patek Philippe World Blog. I first became aware of the Rolex brand when I was 15 years old, back in 1981. At the time, I was aware already aware of Patek Philippe because my father and grandfather both wore Patek Philippe watches.

Over the past several years, Jake's Rolex World has become the definitive guide for the world of Rolex and I intend to achieve the same standard with Jake's Patek Philippe World. If you are not familiar with the Patek Philippe watch brand it can be argued that if Rolex is the Mercedes of watches, Patek Philippe is the Rolls Royce of watches.


One of the primary differences between the two brands is that Patek Philippe watches are primarily dressy watches, and Rolex tend to be more sporty. Or course Patek Philippe makes sporty watches and Rolex makes dressy watches, but I would say that is the main differentiator. Also Patek Philippe watches tend to be much more expensive. Patek Philippe watches typically have the GENEVÉ seal, and Rolex watches typically have the C.O.S.C. seal.

The GENEVÉ seal requires a tremendous amount of hand finishing, with rules that say things like the watch cannot have any right angles on the outside or inside. Rolex watches tend to be very accurate timekeepers because of the C.O.S.C. seal.

Some people say that Rolex is all about the outside and Patek Philippe is all about the inside. They say this because it is very common for Patek Philippe watches to come standard with a synthetic sapphire exhibition caseback which allows you to see the typically beautiful and ornate movement, and Rolex has never made watches with exhibition casebacks as a standard item. It has been argued that Rolex movements are simple in design since they are designed to be tool-watch workhorses.

As different as Patek Philippe and Rolex are, they also share many similarities. Patek Philippe is one of the last family owned, independent watchmakers located in Geneva, Switzerland. Rolex is owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Trust, which was left to his existing family members as the beneficiaries, which still kind of makes it family owned.

Also people who like Rolex typically enjoy Patek Philippe, and visa versa. Many of the worlds top horilogical collectors are Patek Philippe and Rolex aficionados. Also, at most watch auctions world-wide, Rolex and Patek Philippe are always the high-performance stars.

Jake's Patek Philippe World Blog is still very much a work in progress, and I added a banner ad that appears at the bottom of every page on Jake's Rolex World so you can always find it easily. You can also check it out by clicking the banner above.