{"id":6823,"date":"2023-08-03T15:25:18","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T19:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.exquisitetimepieces.com\/blog\/?p=6823"},"modified":"2025-06-07T11:06:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T15:06:18","slug":"audemars-piguet-vs-patek-philippe-watches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.exquisitetimepieces.com\/blog\/audemars-piguet-vs-patek-philippe-watches\/","title":{"rendered":"Audemars Piguet vs Patek Philippe Watches: Battle for the GOAT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Frazier and Ali of the watch world are as similar as their fisticuffs counterparts. Both are Swiss. Both exceed a centurion history. And both are considered foundationary members of an elite class of culture.\u00a0Audemars Piguet,<\/a> colloquially referred to as \u2018AP\u2019, is vastly sought after today for its Royal Oak series of luxury sports watches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Patek preens classic\u2014catered to privy favor at Saville Rowe, expressing the very best of haute-horology. Whether you\u2019ve heard of one, both, or neither, you and I are going to reflect on the reverence of these titanic icons, the brands beyond their history, and their ability to enamor modernity.<\/p>\"bot-only-image\"<\/a>\"bot-only-image\"<\/a>\n\n\n\n

About Audemars Piguet Watches<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Congruent with the uninspired naming strategy of 19th-century establishments, Audemars Piguet was named after its founders\u2014Jules Louis Audemars & Edward August Piguet. From the get-go, it\u2019s a rather unlikely story filled with all the romance you\u2019d expect from a pair of pedants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once upon a time, future entrepreneurs of an industry juggernaut were childhood friends, infatuated with nature\u2019s most valuable commodity\u2014time. Jules contrived an interest in clock manufacture (as it was previously called) from his father\u2019s intrigue deep within the heavenly scapes of Switzerland\u2019s Vall\u00e9e de Joux. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His specialties resided in the painstaking manufacture of handcrafted movements\u2014from their mechanical development to their final fittings within a case. Edward Piguet\u2019s youthful aspirations and parental attention aren\u2019t as similarly documented as his partnered friend. What we do know is that the evolutions of his interest grew to fill the vacancies in Jules\u2019 expertise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, much of Piguet\u2019s watchmaking contributions were in systems regulation. If you\u2019re not sure what that means, think of the process by which a mechanical movement keeps time in check. I\u2019ll likely be eviscerated for saying this, but true vintage AP\u2014I\u2019m talking the period between their 1875 inception and the Quartz Crisis\u2014was a rather mundane time for the brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike Rolex, whose claim to fame took the form of tool-oriented watches and a value proposition that spoke to more than the elite class\u2014 AP didn\u2019t have a USP they could lean on. That\u2019s not to say that they didn\u2019t have an impact on the industry because they absolutely did. You can thank Audemars Piguet for the complications like the jumping hour and design innovations like the vastly popular skeleton watch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it weren\u2019t for a man of consequence, eponymous for horology\u2019s greatest designs taken on AP as a client, you\u2019d never see the name touted as a must-have holy grail in every watch collector’s toy box. Who was the man? Gerald Genta. What came of his tasked expertise? A series of watches so successful it would become one of the most sought-after\u2014and copied<\/em>\u2014designs in the world. But more on that later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Patek Philippe Watches<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll be pleased to hear that while Audemars Piguet is globally recognized by its initials\u2014nobody calls Patek Philippe \u2018PP\u2019. Today, Patek Philippe is like a classified document. You\u2019ll be hard-strung to get your hands on one unless you\u2019re on a need-to-know basis. And Patek has made it abundantly clear they need to know. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parallels between its aforementioned competition follow a similar timeline, with similar people. But their start didn\u2019t come together as smoothly as it did in AP\u2019s mountainous birthplace. To start, it may have been a Swiss outfit but the rough outline of what would later become Patek Philippe started as a Polish partnership between watchmakers Antoni Patek and Franciszek Czapek, forming Patek\u2019s first venture\u2014Patek, Czapek & Cie <\/em>in 1831. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During their six-year stint, their products reflected the timekeeping of the era\u2014handheld pocket-watches often slung passively abreast. Riddled by disagreement, though, the relationship didn\u2019t last long, eventually dissolving in 1845. Funnily enough, the situation gallicized for both men. Franciszek literally changed his name to Francois while Patek renewed his partnership with a Frenchman\u200a\u2014\u200athe now suffixed Philippe.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Audemars Piguet had a rather ineffectual early career, Patek Philippe\u2019s illustrious career garnered attention as quickly as it began. Within the same year of its 1851 incorporation, Queen Victoria acquired her first Patek at the Great Exhibition of London and soon after directly purchased a piece uniquely studded in more than your average bust down\u200a\u2014\u200atalk about a glowing recommendation for a new brand, eh? Following the Queen\u2019s interest, Patek Philippe became an internationally renowned jeweler and timekeeper for royalty and the political elite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were astute innovators enamored mostly by astronomical complications, introducing a myriad of firsts like their 1925 adaptation of the perpetual calendar in a wristwatch and the first movement with an annual calendar in 1996. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While their classic watches required no introduction, by the time the seventies rolled around, the watch world noticed a cultural shift in what people wanted out of a timepiece. Execs at Patek didn\u2019t need a crystal ball to see that the ballroom drapes were coming down, and a change of scenery was key to the brand’s godly grip on the industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six years after Gerald Genta came up with the Royal Oak for AP, the young accoladed designer answered the call to produce an exquisite timepiece with the reverence of Patek Philippe without the day-to-day shortcomings of a dress watch. What followed would directly compete with AP\u2019s Royal Oak and propel Patek Philippe into another stratosphere in the new millennium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goliath VS Goliath: The Battle of Two Iconic Swiss Watch Brands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bitter rivals or titans within their own class? Each is known for its own segment and is successful in its pushes to excel in areas beyond its name. What do I mean? Well, it\u2019s no secret AP likes their sports watches, but they\u2019re not afraid to serve up some Hors d\u2019oeuvres. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the flip side, Pateks often reside under tailored cuffs at some secret gathering that neither you nor I have any clue about. And yet the Nautilus and Aquanaut are a common trope of the successful athlete in jean jackets and Air Force Ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I\u2019ve gone on and on about their apparent similarities, but when the rubber meets the road, there are some differences. The ex-business analyst in me has been waiting to say this for some time\u2014 let\u2019s get some competitive analysis in and see who\u2019s who.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brand Recognition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Excluding Vacheron Constantin, we\u2019re looking at the faces of horology\u2019s Holy Trinity, so brand recognition really comes down to who you ask. In the upper echelons of society, where gray-haired cigar smokers are commonplace, you\u2019d find a leaning towards Patek. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next generation of watch enthusiasts is unlikely to agree, melding with the youthful exuberance of AP\u2019s Royal Oak collection a touch more. Sometimes it\u2019s generational, and sometimes it’s just a matter of taste. As my sensibilities start to take on a greater measure of calm, I\u2019d put Patek Philippe on top, but we\u2019re splitting hairs at this point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Model Variety<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite my compulsion for watches, my genetic makeup mostly constitutes gasoline, rubber, and some missing bolts. My current love interest\u2014Porsche\u2014used to be the bane of my intensely opinionated childhood existence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember flicking through their catalogs wondering why there were dozens of iterations of 911 with stark price changes, that\u2014aside from swathes of color palettes\u2014looked the same as the last. It wasn\u2019t until I immersed myself in Stuttgart’s philosophy of the perfect sports car that I came to understand the subtleties of dissimilarity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The umbrella variety of Patek Philippe is much like Porsche. The catalog opens up with three dress watches; the Complications, the Grand Complications, and the Calatrava, each of which\u2014like the rest\u2014are dizzyingly multifarious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tucked into the middle are two more effeminate options which co-opt different takes on the rectangle. Finishing off the range are three sports watches that\u2014the Nautilus, the Aquanaut, and the Twenty~4\u2014get decidedly more usable and, for some reason, more affordable as a result. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audemars Piguet prefers expanding the catalog within a small selection of models rather than spilling more menu derivations than an Olive Garden menu. You\u2019ve got three overarching Royal Oak series (which I\u2019ve summarized as bluntly as possible):<\/p>\n\n\n\n