Hodinkee
Honorary Patek Philippe President Philippe Stern Passes Away: 1938-2026
Philippe Stern, the visionary executive who led Patek Philippe through the end of the quartz crisis, kept the family company independent and secured its position at the top of Swiss mechanical high horology, died on June 14th at the age of 88. The Geneva-based company announced Philippe Stern's passing in a statement calling the Patek Philippe Honorary President a "pioneering and visionary spirit" who "left an indelible mark on the history of the family manufacture, preserving its independence and establishing its global stature." Philippe Stern. Photo courtesy Patek Philippe. Stern led Patek Philippe as President from 1993 to 2009. During his tenure, he consolidated Patek Philippe's manufacturing at a new flagship manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva. He integrated its production capabilities to bring as much as possible in-house. He also oversaw the launch of the Nautilus sport watch in the 1970s, the multi-year project to build the Caliber 89, the most complicated portable mechanical watch at the time, boasting 33 complications. In 2001, he inaugurated the Patek Philippe museum in Geneva, an unparalleled exhibition of not only Patek Philippe but of the entire history of horology. Philippe Stern was born in 1938 into a family already at the center of Swiss watchmaking: his grandfather, Charles Stern, had recently acquired the Patek Philippe manufacture in 1932, and his father, Henri Stern, had just joined the company. After studying economics and commerce, Philippe Ste...
