Europa Star was in attendance at the opening of Patek Philippe’s KunstWerkUhr exhibition in Munich yesterday. The carefully considered name of this exhibition encompasses the notion of “art” (“Kunstwerk”), “time” and “watch” (Uhr) and also hints at the notion of mechanical timekeeping (Uhrwerk is the German for a watch movement).

But this is much more than a simple exhibition – it is an immersion into the world of Patek Philippe, the history of watchmaking and at the same time a showcase of some of the rare artistic crafts used by Switzerland’s high-end watch brands (see the next issue of Europa Star (No. 5/2013) for our special dossier on the artistic crafts in Swiss watchmaking).

The exhibition, which is spread over 1,200m², comprises 500 different individual objects and offers the rare opportunity to see, in the same place and at the same time, the entire current collection of Patek Philippe timepieces (subdivided into the families of Aquanaut, Calatrava, Golden Ellipse, Gondolo, Nautilus and Twenty-4) together with all the calibres produced by the brand, the ultra-complicated Star Calibre 2000 with its more than one thousand components and 21 complications, as well as historically significant pieces from the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.

Preparing a cloisonné enamel dial

If the Kunsthalle in Munich experiences its usual levels of visitor affluence then up to 3,000 people per day could enjoy this immersion into the world of Patek Philippe, which includes a life-sized view of Geneva, filmed over a 24-hour period, as seen from the Patek Philippe Salon in the centre of the city, as well as a reproduction Belle Epoque cinema showing videos of the brand’s history.

The engine turner at work

But the most popular exhibits by far on the open day all had a beating heart, as the locals queued to listen to explanations from two Patek Philippe watchmakers and watch the brand’s artisans at work under their microscopes engraving, preparing cloisonné enamel dials, setting precious stones and even engine turning dials on a machine that is over a hundred years old.

The exhibition has been thoughtfully conceived to offer something for everyone, regardless of their age or whether they are an aficionado of Patek Philippe. It runs from 17-27 October, from 10am to 6pm at the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Stiftung at Theatinerstraße 8 in Munich.

For more information, visit: www.patek.com/ausstellung