For watch enthusiasts around the world, the dates and locations of Patek Philippe’s Watch Art Grand Exhibitions are circled on calendars years in advance. For the brand’s seventh major public showcase, the destination was Milan, Italy, running from October 2 to October 18. Having missed the previous exhibition in Tokyo, attending this Italian showcase became a personal priority, built on a deep appreciation fostered by years of mentorship from Italian collectors and dealers. Fortunately, a press preview provided the opportunity to experience the massive temporary installation firsthand and bring the highlights to those unable to make the trip.
Spanning an impressive 31,200 square feet at CityOval, an event space in northern Milan, this year’s Grand Exhibition was the largest the Geneva-based manufacture has ever staged. While initial logistics had planned for roughly 1,500 visitors per hour, the event ultimately welcomed a staggering 68,000 people through its doors. Despite the immense crowds, the exhibition was meticulously organized to ensure ease of navigation. Every room and display case featured a QR code, allowing attendees to scan for audio descriptions and historical context, a digital map system that remains accessible online for virtual visitors.
One of the most admirable traditions of the Grand Exhibition series is that Patek Philippe opens its doors to the public entirely free of charge. This approach brings the rich history and high-level savoir-faire of traditional watchmaking to new markets, offering the general public—along with organized school groups from the local region—rare access to live enameling demonstrations and movement construction that would typically remain behind the closed doors of the Swiss manufacture.
Beyond cultural outreach, the Milan exhibition carried significant commercial weight. Patek Philippe debuted several new releases specifically for the occasion, including the reference 5978P perpetual calendar chronograph and the new Gondolo Ladies First collection. Alongside these novelties, a selection of 25 exclusive Rare Handcrafts pieces was designated strictly for collectors within the Italian market. The local economic and cultural impact was immediate; local retailers like Federico Verga of Verga 1947 in Milan spent the week fielding a constant stream of purchase inquiries and greeting international visitors.
A major highlight of the opening days was the presence of Patek Philippe President Thierry Stern, accompanied by his 24-year-old son, Adrien Stern. Having worked at the company for 18 months, Adrien was introduced by his father as a potential future successor alongside his younger sibling, with Thierry Stern repeatedly emphasizing that Patek Philippe will firmly remain under independent family ownership.
All of the ‘Rare Handcrafts’ Pieces of the Milan Watch Art Grand Exhibition and the Artists Behind Them
Entering the exhibition hall and turning left immediately brought visitors face-to-face with a scale model of the gateway to the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, marking the beginning of a journey through the brand’s unrivaled mastery of the métiers d’art. While several watch brands continue to utilize traditional decorative arts alongside horology, none approach the sheer scale and consistency of Patek Philippe’s output, a commitment famously celebrated during their annual Rare Handcrafts presentations at Watches & Wonders.
The Milan exhibition featured 27 distinct Rare Handcrafts creations, bringing legendary artisans like master enameler Anita Porchet into direct contact with the press and public. For the first time in recent memory, Patek Philippe also published official pricing for these extraordinary artistic pieces on its website, satisfying the curiosity of collectors worldwide even if actual purchase allocations remained virtually impossible to secure.
Connecting the commercial wristwatch releases to the artistic masterpieces were a pair of reference 5531 World Time Minute Repeater wristwatches, highly coveted by top-tier brand VIPs. Rather than employing an obvious depiction of Milan’s famous Duomo on the cloisonné enamel dial, Porchet crafted intricate maps of Lombardy’s capital city viewed by day or by night. The daytime version highlights the Duomo in gold alongside the Castello Sforzesco, accompanied by a subtle "A.P." signature. Pushing this concept to an extreme, the brand also presented the reference 25028M-001 table clock, utilizing 20 shades of blue and green Grand Feu cloisonné enamel over a barleycorn guilloché background, constructed using roughly 11 meters of gold wire and limited to just three pieces.
Among the standout favorites for attendees were the Italian road trip Calatravas, which celebrated iconic Italian travel via the Fiat 500. Four distinct references, each limited to six pieces, depicted scenic stops across the country. These included the reference 5177R-010 "Stop-off in Chianti" featuring a yellow Fiat in a vineyard, the white gold reference 5711G-053 "Amalfi Escapade" showing a convertible navigating coastal cliffside roads, the reference 5177R-011 "Arrival in Como," and the reference 5177G-054 "A Trip to Puglia" showcasing a red Fiat passing through traditional dry-stone trulli architecture.
Other notable artistic pieces included the reference 995/147G-001 "Venetian Cruise," which combined a matte black enamel dial with a caseback featuring a wooden marquetry runabout boat assembled from 334 tiny veneer parts spanning 37 species of wood. The "Sicilian Oranges" dome clock (reference 20179M-001) and its counterpart, the Calatrava "Bay of Naples" reference 5077/100J-010, paid stunning tribute to southern Italian agriculture and landscapes, utilizing dozens of enamel colors and miniature painting techniques. During the exhibition, Thierry Stern noted that his father, Philippe Stern, insisted on continuing the production of these complex dome clocks even during periods of low market demand, ensuring that the necessary artistic crafts and movement-making skills would survive for future generations.
The Archives Room
A major new addition for the Milan exhibition was the Historical Archives room, tracing the brand’s heritage from its founding in 1839 through 2014. For vintage collectors, Patek Philippe’s archives are vital, as the brand relies on historical order books and production ledgers to issue Extract from the Archives documents verifying a watch’s authenticity and original configuration.
The exhibition peeled back the curtain on this archival process by displaying original technical cards and handwritten order sheets for historic timepieces. Most fascinating were the production documents detailing the evolution of the very first Calatrava, the reference 96, which utilized various casemakers—such as Antoine Gerlach and Taubert—and multiple caliber configurations over the decades. Visitors could examine original black-and-white photographs taped to manufacturing order sheets, alongside historical documents including the 1933 letter from the Stern brothers’ bank detailing their acquisition of the company.
The Historical Owners and Museum Rooms
Following the archival corridor, visitors entered spaces dedicated to legendary historical timepieces and a scaled recreation of the Patek Philippe Museum. This gallery brought together some of the most famous watches in horological history, normally housed permanently in Geneva.
Among the prominent historical timepieces on display was the split-seconds wrist chronograph (reference 1436) that once belonged to jazz legend Duke Ellington. Nearby cases showcased pocket watches belonging to historical figures such as American tycoons Henry Graves Jr. and James Ward Packard, Pope Leo XIII, Pope Pius IX, Queen Victoria of Great Britain, Queen Louise of Denmark, King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway, and King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy. Also featured was a poignant tribute to Tsar Alexander II of Russia, featuring a rare portrait of the Emperor in civilian attire.
The adjoining museum section displayed pivotal milestones in watchmaking history, led by the first Swiss wristwatch manufactured by Patek Philippe—a key-winding rectangular timepiece produced in 1868 and sold to Countess Koscowicz of Hungary. Alongside early marine chronometers, pieces made for the Chinese market in the early 19th century, and creations by legendary enamelist Suzanne Rohr, the room highlighted the brand’s pioneering role in chronographs, including the world’s first wrist chronograph from 1924 and the brand’s first split-seconds wristwatch from 1923.
The Salon
At the physical center of the exhibition space stood a faithful architectural recreation of Patek Philippe’s historic headquarters at 41 Rue du Rhône in Geneva. Complete with a surrounding replica of Lake Geneva and the iconic Jet d’Eau sculpture, this pavilion functioned as a pop-up Salon boutique. Inside, visitors could view a vast cross-section of the brand’s current production catalog, high jewelry Nautilus creations, and the recently launched reference 5249R-001 "The Crow and the Fox" automaton wristwatch. A dedicated area also housed the remarkable desk clock reference 27000M-001, introduced in 2025, which combines a perpetual calendar and a weekly calendar with a 31-day power reserve and green Grand Feu flinqué enamel.
The Manufacture, Research and Development, and Patents Room
Moving deeper into the exhibition, Patek Philippe offered a glimpse into its modern manufacturing capabilities, R&D laboratories, and patent portfolio. Members of the technical development team were on hand to discuss the engineering behind complications like the new reference 5978P, silicon components, and bistable mechanisms. Displays detailed every caliber produced by the manufacture, alongside exploded views of Nautilus bracelet construction and previous Advanced Research milestones, such as the reference 5650G and reference 5750.
The Supercomplication Room and The Master of Sound Room
The final stages of the exhibition brought visitors face-to-face with the absolute pinnacle of modern watchmaking and mechanical complexity. The Supercomplication room featured monumental achievements including the Caliber 89, created in 1989 for the brand’s 150th anniversary; the Star Caliber 2000; and the Grandmaster Chime reference 5175, introduced in 2014 for the 175th anniversary as the manufacture’s most complicated wristwatch.
The journey concluded in the Master of Sound room, a dedicated space celebrating Patek Philippe’s storied history with chiming complications. Surrounded by technical schematics and historical blueprints, visitors could admire masterworks of acoustic engineering, ranging from classic minute repeaters like the reference 5531G to wildly expressive, fully gem-set Aquanaut Luce minute repeaters and the gem-set Grandmaster Chime reference 6300/401G.
As the Milan Grand Exhibition concluded its two-week run, it left an indelible mark on the thousands of collectors, enthusiasts, and local students who passed through its doors, reinforcing the enduring cultural and technical legacy of independent watchmaking.
