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Brian M. Afuang

What’s In Store At Patek Philippe’s Singapore Show?

Know more about the brand at the “Watch Art Grand Exhibition Singapore”

IT PROMISES to show the world of Patek Philippe as recreated in 10 themed rooms spread over a space spanning 1,800 square meters. Guests are assured of an experience as if they were personally touring the historic salons on Rue du Rhone in Geneva, the manufactory in Plan-les-Ouates, or the Patek Philippe Museum.

These are the things to be expected at Patek Philippe’s upcoming “Watch Art Grand Exhibition Singapore 2019,” which from September 28 to October 13 will turn the Marina Bay Sands into the equivalent of a pop-up book about the brand’s culture, products and history.

Patek Philippe

The Singapore spectacle — the fifth in a series of immersions into the Patek Philippe universe and its creations — is set to follow those mounted in Dubai in 2012, Munich in 2013, London in 2015, and New York in 2017. Best, it is open to the public with no admission fee. Collectors and assorted WIS are just as welcome to visit.

Some of the highlights of the exhibition are the launch of limited, special-edition watches, including an important collection of rare handcrafts timepieces inspired by the mix of cultures and artistic influences in Southeast Asia and Singapore; a movie on Patek Philippe’s history; and live demonstrations by watchmakers and artisans on their mastery of genuinely tough skills. If seeing enamel painters in action is one’s thing, the show saves one the trouble of hunting for these artists in their natural habitat.

Patek Philippe

Expectedly, Patek Philippe’s complete current collection, including complicated pieces and a range of movements, will be displayed during the exhibition. A Patek Philippe lounge café is going to be erected at the site, too.

But perhaps the best bit is that an important selection of exhibits from the Patek Philippe Museum, counting in some extremely rare ones, will be brought to Singapore — the first time this many timekeeping instruments from Geneva is toured in this part of the globe.

Like at its Geneva digs, the museum is divided into two. The Antique Collection takes along with it some of the first portable timepieces from the mid-16th century, richly enameled pocket watches, musical automata and technical timepieces crafted by Europe’s best and brightest. The Patek Philippe Collection, for its part, showcases select pieces from 1839 to the present. Among these are the royal watches, including the one presented to Queen Victoria in 1851 during the Great Exhibition at the London Crystal Palace, the first Swiss wristwatch from 1868, and some of the most famous Patek Philippe “supercomplications.”

Patek Philippe

A special Singapore 200th Anniversary room — Singapore is celebrating the bicentennial since Stamford Raffles founded colonial Singapore in 1819 — will house together some Patek Philippe timepieces and memorabilia with those related to Singapore’s own history.

According to Patek Philippe, the Watch Art Grand Exhibition Singapore “underlines the importance of Singapore and Southeast Asia” for the brand, citing the region’s collectors and enthusiasts are not only significant because of their sizeable number, but also because of the key role they play in spreading appreciation for fine mechanical watchmaking.

This is why Thierry Stern, president of Patek Philippe, and his father, honorary president Philippe Stern, place so much emphasis on hosting this grand exhibition in Singapore and making sure it is an event of extraordinary proportions, the brand said.

Clearly, then, this gig is not to be missed.

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