[Kim Owen]

Hello,

Does anyone know when Patek began and then ceased two fold construction?

Thank You,

Kim Owen

[Tania Edwards]

Thank you so much for your question. Please can you elaborate a little more on what you mean by ‘two-fold construction’? Are you referring to a specific watch design such as the Nautilus?

[Tania Edwards]

Thank you so much for your question. Please can you elaborate a little more on what you mean by ‘two-fold construction’? Are you referring to a specific watch design such as the Nautilus?

[Kim Owen]

This is what Lange is now doing.This is from their website.

“Afterwards, the interactions of all mechanical parts are adjusted to the highest degree of perfection. But then, the movement is taken apart again. Now, all parts are painstakingly cleaned, and many of them are lavishly decorated and polished. Even parts that later remain unseen are enhanced in this way. The jig screws used to assemble the raw movement are now replaced with new, thermally blued screws. When the three-quarter plate has been decorated with the characteristic Glashütte ribbing and the last gold chaton has been mirror polished, the movement is reassembled for the second and last time and carefully lubricated at over 50 oil sinks and bearing points with up to eight different greases and oils.”

I learned Patek did this when I was 15 from a watchmaker in town. I would haunt his bench and learn many things. That’s when I first became interested in owning a Patek.

[Tania Edwards]

Thank you for this explanation. Patek Philippe has always taken the most number of production, testing, decoration and quality control steps in its watch movement and case production. This is one of the reasons it changed from submitting watches to the Geneva Seal for quality approval, to creating it’s own production quality criteria: the Patek Philippe Seal in 2009. The regular production steps and criteria of other watch brands did not meet with Patek’s own high level of production criteria. In terms of strict testing, accuracy and finishing steps in the productions of every part of a watch, the company has not changed. This explanation might be helpful: https://www.patek.com/en/company/the-manufacture#patek-philippe-key-points

[Kim Owen]

Thank you for your reply.

However, they no longer use two fold construction.

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