Distinguished as Swiss master watchmaker, Patek Philippe has been building awareness of what it can offer to a growing number of watch lovers in China.

On its 10th anniversary in China, President Thierry Stern reaffirms his intention to enhance their service-oriented market strategy along with the brand’s commitment to China.

“Our strategy and philosophy in the mainland market is the same as we have worldwide and most importantly in new markets. When entering the market in 2005 our aim was to have stable and steady expansion over the years, step by step,’’ Stern said.

“To meet sustained demand for Patek Philippe timepieces from watch collectors and enthusiasts in China, we pursued our strategy of long-term investment, building knowledge and interest and, key to us, we invested in professional customer services in terms of both equipment set-up and watchmaker recruitment and training,’’ he added.

This is why Patek Philippe chose to create a Patek Philippe Home away from Home in Shanghai in 2012 followed by Beijing in 2014, where visitors were able to experience the brand heritage. In 2013 it chose to strengthen the long-term commitment to customer services with the opening of the first Patek Philippe Watchmakers Institute.

“So our strategy for China is a service-oriented strategy and we hope with it we can continue growing curiosity and passion among Chinese amateurs as done successfully over the past decade,’’ Stern said.

“Our watches are produced with the intention of lasting forever, a commitment to preserving reliability generation after generation. So it is our duty to provide the highest standard of customer services in China for the growing number of Chinese customers who invest in our brands through purchase in and outside China.’’

Stern said most of the clients who buy Patek Philippe watches are well informed and invest in the brand after a lot of thinking. It’s typically not an impulsive last minute buy.

“The same applies if they buy it as a gift, it should be for someone who will appreciate and understand the brand. Over the years Chinese customers have expressed a growing curiosity and passion for our watches and as a result there are more and more enthusiasts and collectors in the market. Of course this is very promising and we see it as a result of our service-oriented commitment to this important market,’’ Stern said.

Talking about the brand’s success, Stern said innovation is a key value of philosophy and is essential in keeping the brand as the leader of the Haute Horlogerie segment. “Innovation is essential in terms of technical developments, aesthetic, quality and long term reliability. Innovation for Patek Philippe is not a marketing tool. It cannot be a gimmick. Innovation has to bring an added value, and this is important to our long-term relationship with our clients,’’ Stern said.

“Demand remains stronger than what we can produce; each time we present a watch with innovation,” he added.

By keeping the high quality standards of the watches, the company’s growth is limited by production capacity. Consequently, markets grow steadily but slowly. “So globally we keep a balanced distribution and growth. Europe remains our most important market with a 45 percent share, the US represents about 17 percent and Asia including China represents bout 30 percent,’’ Stern said.

Highest quality

Stern said the biggest challenge that the brand faces in the coming years is to meet demand in the best way possible while keeping the highest quality level, which means finding talented, knowledgeable and passionate people.

“Growing the company while keeping our family values alive at all levels of the business is a great challenge and is what sets Patek Philippe apart. And one of our biggest concerns and challenges remains in after-sale services. This is the key to keep our established clients and build future ones, and we invest permanently to build service resources on a worldwide level,’’ Stern said.

Stern’s favorite complications at Patek Philippe is minute repeaters because “the sound is easy to judge; it’s easy to say if you like it or not; it gives access to understanding the pure and crystal sound we are able to create to everybody; this is why I say I love this complication as I can share my passion with someone who does not understand the technical aspects of the complication.

“I also love the fact that only the hands of a watchmaker can set tiny hammers and gangs while no machine will ever be able to replace this human work, making each minute repeater truly unique,’’ he said.

The permanent collection comprises over 200 models in a very wide choice answering different needs and tastes of the clients worldwide. Each year Patek Philippe introduces new models, including new movements and new complications.

“It is key to us to innovate in terms of movements and design, keeping the interest of our established clients and building new clients. We do not create specific designs adapted for specific market tastes. We create according to Patek Philippe’s aesthetic DNA and we can say that our clients worldwide share the same taste and interest for our watches; there might be some differences in case sizes or movement type in some markets but on the overall there are very few differences,’’ Stern said.

Limited editions are rare at Patek Philippe and are only created to celebrate important historical events such as its 175th anniversary or this year for the 10th anniversary in China.

Stern stressed again their business strategy as a family-owned watch company is aimed at long term, as its strategy in China for the near future remains the same as for the past 10 years. It will concentrate on growing knowledge and services aimed at their established clients and hopefully for the next 10 years building new potential clients.

“Being family owned and financially independent, we have the freedom to maintain our tradition of innovation and stay true to the founders’ vision. It’s all about evolution, no revolution,’’ Stern concluded.