Take a good look at that photograph. There’s a lot going on there.
The backdrop is the Duomo di Milano. “Dad” reading the Wallpaper City Guide to Milan, wears a Patek Philippe watch and a wedding ring, so that’s OK. His “son” ostentatiously has bare wrists. That it’s breakfast time is suggested by the lid of a coffee pot, a boiled egg and croissants. This is part of a long running (since 1996) advertising campaign showing that buying a watch made by Patek Philippe is buying an heirloom.
First I believe that PP watches are made to a high standard and there is no reason why they shouldn’t last for generations. Secondly and this is subjective, I think PP watches look poncey. Thirdly and crucially I do not know anybody who daily wears a wristwatch that belonged to their father or grandfather. I was given a watch by a godfather as a Confirmation present and pretty soon lost it in the Thames when my skiff capsized. Something similar happened to a pocket watch my mother gave me.
My point is that this is a tired old message which not only has lost its potency but actually looks rather creepy; where’s Mum? The subliminal message is that a PP watch bonds father and son. Actually I think that snub-nosed rascal is not looking forward to a Wallpaper-curated day sightseeing. I reckon he’ll chuck Dad off the roof of the Duomo and have a celebratory gelato. Next time I visit La Joux, up the hill from Chamonix, I will knock on the door and tell the Stern family who have been making PP watches since 1932 that their ad campaign is past its sell by date.
My, more modest, watch is a present from Robert. It is made by Rotary, founded in Switzerland in La Chaux de Fonds in 1895 and, pretentiously, I have set it to show the days in French. It will not be an heirloom because inevitably I will break it or lose it and then I will ask him for another Rotary watch.
Strange reaction to the PP adverts. I absolutely love them. So much so that if I didn’t already own a Jaeger-le-Coultre reverso I might consider buying a PP. I suspect the ad is easily the most successful watch advert which is why it has run for 20 years.
Thanks for telling all of us that you own a very expensive watch.
Do you have any very expensive cars/clothes/boats/houses/shoes, etc, you might like to tell us about?
The author is absolutely correct; the sentiment is as outdated as the image. This particular advertisement has been running in Country Life for as long as I can remember. Impressionable consumers are constantly duped into thinking that luxury automatically indicates quality. I have always been extremely wary of brands which self assert themselves as luxury. I read yesterday that Burberry had destroyed £28 million pounds of unsold stock to ‘protect their brand’. This may be an appropriate model for a ‘luxury brand such as Burberry, but ethically it stinks to high heaven.
I am proud to report that I own a PP. However, my PP is very special one indeed as it is a “Canal Street PP.” Anyone looking for the best place to buy the world’s greatest knock-off watches must do themselves a favor by taking the Lexington Avenue IRT to Canal Street in Manhattan where one emerges from the subway and is instantly greeted by uptown hustlers and downtown shuckers who hawk whatever knock-off brands are currently in fashion.
Three years ago I rode “the train” (as the subway is affectionately called in The Big Apple) with my English wife to my favorite downtown location for purchasing knock-offs. I was appalled that she was unfamiliar with the art of haggling over the price. I cut her off and offered one half of what the seller had initially asked. And, of course, he was only too happy to accept my money.
I’ve now had the watch for three years during which time it has run beautifully. However, within that period I’ve had to spend more money at Timpson in order to twice replace the straps than I spent on the total amount of money to purchase the watch.
Sadly, my wife and I don’t have children and I grieve over the fact that I will be unable to pass along my very special Canal Street PP to an offspring of the next generation.
Splendid. A topic to rival Brexit, to divide families and friends but perhaps not fathers and sons.
Odd that the boy is wearing a white shirt to go sightseeing. Not very practical.
I agree with B.B. that the ad is just ever so nauseating. But then I also lost the first few watches given to me; the last a 21st which was gone within the week. Fortunately not in the heirloom category. I then didn’t wear a watch for 30 years. Time is all around us!
Can’t wait for your Ariadne thoughts. I found it a very patchy evening, not so much the production and the performers as the story which, for me, just doesn’t work. The music though is so wonderful that all was forgiven.
Watches are very personal things. The Patek ads are indeed a bit cheesy but the brand offers supreme quality and charges accordingly. Is is entirely handbuilt. Your Rotary is a decent watch but these days is a mass produced item with generic movements made in Switzerland, China and Japan.
I still wear my Grandfather’s IWC Ingenieur, though not everyday.
My Lorus watch, now 5 years old, is (apparently!) waterproof to 100 metres, keeps time impeccably and does not seem to be noticed by anyone (apart from my osteopath who once asked me if it was an antique). If either of my sons, or my daughter, ask me to leave it to them I will save them the wait and go a buy a new one for them immediately. At less than £100 it would feel churlish to do anything less.