The
Patek Philippe Museum unveils its intimate showcase
An
exceptional museum called for an exceptional building. Number
7 on the rue des Vieux-Grenadiers in Geneva has a long history
devoted to the jewelry industry.
The building which today houses the Patek Philippe Museum dates back
to 1920. Over the century, it housed a number of jewelers, beginning
with the gem cutters of Heller & Son, then the Italian jeweler Ponti
Gennari, followed by the Piaget jewelers. Philippe Stern bought the
building in 1975 to house the Ateliers Réunis SA. This small production
unit manufactured watchcases, bracelets and chains for Patek Philippe.
In 1995, after this workshop moved to the new Patek Philippe premises
at Plan-les-Ouates, the building remained vacant. The idea then sprang
to light of opening a museum to present to the public the two fabulous
watch collections acquired by Philippe Stern over more than 30 years.
One brings together the most beautiful Patek Philippe works of art,
while the other is devoted to the watchmaking treasures dating back
to the days prior to the existence of the Patek Philippe workshops.
Historical respect
mixed with contemporary expression
Philippe Stern entrusted his wife Gerdi with the renovation and she
became the project manager. The Groupement d'Architectes SA under the
direction of Massimo Bianco was in charge, as of 1998, of designing
and undertaking the conversion of the industrial building into a museum.
The architect also designed the new Patek Philippe workshops at Plan-les-Ouates.
This time, however, the challenge was entirely different. The objective
was to renovate and enlarge an old building, respecting the old walls
and their history, while at the same time creating a contemporary expression.
Recognized of historic interest, the building does not allow any kind
of transformation. "Surprisingly, the authorization to add a floor under
the roof and to build links to adjoining buildings was more easily granted
by the Committee of Monuments and Sites than that to redecorate the
entrance hall and inside staircase", comments Massimo Bianco, who adds:
"To mark the difference between the old concrete building and the new
additions, we chose to build them in glass".
All the concrete façades were restored and the decor around the windows
was recreated in Villebois stone from the Jura. Erected at the center
of the old building, a gigantic double staircase links the various floors,
the concrete floorings of which were preserved. The elevators mark the
border between the original construction and its new additions. After
major digging in the ground, a large underground level was added to
hold the technical equipment of the museum. With no opening to the outside,
the building is totally hermetic and air-conditioned.
A Museum of
haute couture
Jackie Nyffeler, interior decorator, and Gerdi Stern jointly handled
the interior decoration of the building. Philippe Stern gave his wife
a free hand in this project. She had a very clear idea of the atmosphere
she wanted to create in the various exhibition rooms: "I had this vision
of a warm and snug museum, offering a degree of comfort and privacy".
Jackie Nyffeler understood this well. "We wanted to create an intimate
showcase. Although open to the public, this museum had to come across
as private." With this purpose in mind, Jackie Nyffeler - working closely
with his son Yves - distanced himself from traditional solutions: "This
was about creating a tailor-made museum, like a museum of haute couture",
he concluded.
The challenge was significant: to refurbish, redecorate and provide
appropriate lighting to four floors of 7,560 square feet each (700 sqm),
in an original yet coherent manner. "I have always worked in a timeless
perspective and I am particularly distrustful of fashion. Being fashionable
means very quickly becoming unfashionable", argues the interior decorator.
Jackie Nyffeler thus looked for inspiration in the classical era. "I
thought a lot about Egypt, in a quest for pure volumes, noble materials
and the particular patina acquired over long periods of time."
Noble materials
and harmonious colors
American granite for the floors, Provence stone for the walls, serpentine
marble stone from the Alps for the sideboards, Spanish marble for the
entrance and the staircase - all these materials were chosen for their
exceptional quality and colors. Together with the selection of wood
work, the textiles and the lights used, the resulting harmony generates
a sentiment of peace and serenity.
For the wood work, the approach is identical: a quest for rarity and
nobility. "For each floor, we had to find 13,000 square feet (1200 sqm)
of veneers of similar colors and textures. After long periods of searching
and numerous samplings, four wood varieties were selected: solid natural
or seasoned beech wood to hold the veneering, eucalyptus for the display
cases of the ancient collections, sycamore wood - extremely rare - for
the Patek Philippe collections, and bleached oak for the library.
The preparation of thousands of wood elements alone occupied some 40
cabinetmakers during an entire year and on a full-time basis.
The choice of curtains and carpeting had to fulfill the same requirements.
Their warm and soft shades perfect the harmony of the lights, glows
and colors.
The renovation works on the building and the museum preparations began
on March 25, 1999. They were carried out quickly and under unusual pressure,
because all tradesmen had not only to coordinate their interventions,
but also often had to work simultaneously. Two and a half years later,
the collections of the Patek Philippe Museum are being unveiled to the
public in a showcase worthy of their exceptional technical, artistic,
aesthetic, historic and even scientific value.
The Museum proposes
a visit on four levels, beginning on the ground floor and continuing
on to the third, the second, and finally the first floor.
1. Ground floor: reception, collection of antique tools, watch
restoration workshop and auditorium
2. Third floor: library, Patek Philippe archives
3.
Second floor: the antique collection, from the sixteenth
to nineteenth centuries
4.
First floor: the Patek Philippe collection from 1839 to the
present day
Ground
floor
The collection of antique tools
Visitors to the
PATEK PHILIPPE MUSEUM are greeted on the ground floor, where the workshops
of the past have been recreated, just as they were used by the watchmakers,
jewellers, engravers and enamellers, with a collection of over 400 tools
from the period between the second half of the eighteenth century and
the beginning of the twentieth century. There is also a growing collection
of face lathes, milling cutters and other fine antique machines representng
every stage of the manufacturing process and conjuring up for the visitor
the noble atmosphere of the workshops of a bygone age.
To complete this nostalgic scene, dedicated to traditional values, a
watchmaker specialised in the restoration of antique watches will work
in the visitor's presence, in a glassed-in cabinet recalling those of
the original Genevan cabinotiers.
This introduction ends with the showing of a film in the auditorium,
before the visit proper begins.
Third
floor
Library
and Patek Philippe archives
The visit begins
on the third floor, where the Museum's documentary section is located.
Visitors will discover eight glass cases of Patek Philippe archives,
a horological library containing over 4000 works, and a faithful re-creation
of the office of Mr Henri Stern, father of the firm's President.
The archives
Patek Philippe had the unique foresight to equip itself, ever since
it was founded, with an extraordinary memory: over 700 volumes of archives,
preserved by the firm for daily perusal or use, and in which all the
information relating to each timepiece created in its workshops has
been and continues to be painstakingly recorded. References, movement
and case numbers, calibre, dates of manufacture, sale and successive
servicings etc. form a detailed résumé of each piece, while the letters
and technical drawings testify to all the firm's creative and commercial
endeavour over 160 years.
The PATEK PHILIPPE MUSEUM presents one or two precious old volumes
from this fascinating saga, peopled by hundreds of the most influential
figures of the last two centuries (c.f. " Patek Philippe, watchmaker
to leaders "). The archive cases also display a wealth of technical
notebooks, sketches and original drawings by Adrien Philippe, and handwritten
letters relating Antoine Norbert de Patek's trials and tribulations
on his extraordinary business trip to the United States around 1850.
The library
The PATEK PHILIPPE MUSEUM houses a library dedicated entirely to time
measurement and the related disciplines. The initial collection, built
up by Messrs. Henri and Phillippe Stern, has been enriched by an important
collection from an American booklover and the donation by a enthusiast
from Basle, thus bringing to 4000 the number of precious tomes displayed
under glass, including antique treatises as precious as they are rare.
The library's catalogue and a choice selection of works have been digitised
and may thus be " leafed through " on two interactive computer screens.
There is something to spark the passion of every enthusiast.
The oldest or rarest works include the writings of Christiaan Huygens
ca. 1650-1680; the great horological treatises of the seventeenth, eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries (Henri Sully, Antoined Thiout, Pierre Le Roy);
and the catalogues, produced in limited series, of the collections of
watches and miniature portraits on enamel belonging to the American
magnate, Pierpont Morgan.
***
The
second floor
The antique collection
The sixteenth to nineteenth centuries
***
The
first floor
THE PATEK PHILIPPE COLLECTION
From 1839 to the present day The second floor
http://www.patekmuseum.com