Anyone with a passion for Patek will no doubt know what it feels like to be captured by the brand – held hostage by the charms of a watch, or even many watches. Observe a group of Patek Philippe collectors, gathered in a room and the intensity of their conversation is hard to escape. When held hostage by Patek, it’s amazing how easy we can forgive our captor.
Comparing people’s obsession with Patek to Stockholm syndrome is certainly a stretch – no one is being held under duress – but thinking of Stockholm syndrome reminded me of the country of origin of this strange syndrome: Sweden. Looking through some old Henri Stern Watch Agency newsletters, which can be viewed at the HSNY Library in New York, there is a wonderful story with a charming family portrait, published in 1956 about a Swedish lady who so enjoyed the Patek Philippe pendant watch she was given aged 15 years, that 55 years later, she decided to give each of her 11 grandsons a Patek watch to mark her seventieth birthday.
This story so intrigued Collectability founder, John Reardon that in 2013 he traveled to Stockholm to interview the remaining grandsons and their descendants who originally received the special gift in 1955. John told the complete story in the Patek Philippe Magazine later that year under his “Life and Times” column, and I thought it would be fun to revisit it again.
The generous grandmother, Greta Tellander was born Greta Mark in 1885. She was the youngest of 11 children in a prominent Gothenburg family. To celebrate her coming of age at 15, her parents gave her a Patek Philippe pendant watch engraved with a monogram of her initials. It became a prized possession, and she wore it constantly. After pursuing a career as a fine artist in Paris, she returned to Gothenburg and in 1907 married Gunnar Tellander, a successful engineer and entrepreneur who specialized in thermodynamics. The couple raised two daughters, but sadly, Gunnar’s life was cut short in 1930 and he never got to know all his five granddaughters and 11 grandsons.
As matriarch, Greta spent her life uniting and maintaining the family’s traditions. To celebrate her seventieth birthday, she decided to give each of her grandchildren something special that they could enjoy throughout their lives and proudly pass on to future members of the Tellander family. She gave a gold bracelet to each of her five granddaughters and a Patek Philippe ref. 96 to each of her eleven grandsons, including the youngest who was only a few months old.
In 1955, the year of her seventieth birthday Greta Tellander approached her local Patek Philippe retailer, C. I. Malmsjö & Co. in Gothenburg and placed the unusual order. Each of the ref. 96 watches were individually engraved with “G.T.” (Greta Tellander), the date of her birth, “10.9.1885”, the recipient’s initials and the date “1955”. The watches were then presented in matching leather Patek Philippe presentation cases. As the HSWA newsletter noted a year later, “The result is that suddenly Sweden has 11 additional Patek Philippe owners, one of whom appears rather young yet to appreciate his grandmother’s foresight and generosity!”
During his trip to Sweden, John discovered that even the “rather young” infant recipient Gunnar Wikner still treasured his watch. His elder brother Ulf Thimmig, 11 years old when he received his ref. 96 told John, “I was of course too young to appreciate it then, but I understood that this was something special. It was a nice watch, and I understood I should take care of it.” He enjoyed wearing it for the rest of his life and promised it to his eldest son to ensure it remains in the family – just as his grandmother would have wanted. Another grandson, Per Gunnar Braun gave his watch to his son Mark Braun who told John from his home in Germany, “My great-grandmother gave these watches to her grandsons to remind the boys of their identity, and the watches were meant to remind them that they would always be Tellander boys.”
Greta lived a long and fulfilling life, passing away aged 92 in 1977. Many of her daughters and their children followed the inspiration of their parents’ becoming artists, architects, entrepreneurs, and engineers. Hopefully, inspired by his great-grandmother’s generosity, a great-grandson became a watch designer in Germany.
When John Reardon visited with Tellander family members in 2013, nine of the 11 were still with the family and their descendants. Grandmother Tellander’s generous gift to her family endorses the fact “You never actually own a Patek, you merely take care of it for the next generation.”
September 2023
