Patek Philippe’s Milan Exhibition Is a Love Letter to Rare Handcrafts

In the heart of Milan, Italy’s fashion and financial capital, stands a historic building known as CityOval (formerly the Palazzo delle Scintille). Designed by architect Paolo Vietti Violi and inaugurated in 1923, the structure is distinguished by its soaring iron-and-glass dome and late Art Nouveau design. Currently, it is a fitting home for what may well be one of the most immersive single-brand watch exhibitions ever staged: Patek Philippe’s “Watch Art Grand Exhibition.”

Inside, Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe has created an extraordinary show of horology, art and craftsmanship that goes far beyond the scope of the watches themselves. It’s not simply an exhibition for watch collectors. It is an opportunity for anyone with an appreciation for beauty, creativity and ingenuity to enter a world that is usually closed to the public, featuring some of the most intricate objects ever created by human hands.

Open to the public and running through Oct. 18, the seventh “Watch Art Grand Exhibition” since 2012 is the largest to date. Encompassing approximately 2,900 square meters (31,200 square feet), nearly the size of the Main Concourse at Grand Central Terminal, the exhibition features a series of rooms and themed areas exploring the history, technology and craftsmanship of fine watchmaking.

For Patek Philippe president Thierry Stern, the spirit of the exhibition is about sharing a passion for fine watchmaking and giving people the pleasure of seeing something beautiful, whether they are watch lovers or not. As he explained during an interview at the show, “It is not about selling watches but about education and keeping the passion for fine watchmaking alive”—something he believes benefits the entire Swiss watch industry.

The central space is open and airy, with seating areas and a bar inviting visitors to rest and take in the sights. Those sights include a towering two-story façade of the Patek Philippe boutique in Geneva and a nearly 30-foot-tall interpretation of the Jet d’Eau, the iconic fountain in Lake Geneva. Instead of water, the installation features 2,028 suspended translucent droplets that create the illusion of the fountain’s soaring spray.

Beyond this central atrium, visitors can wander through 15 themed areas showcasing more than 500 watches and objects of art, both contemporary and historical, complicated and artistic. A recreation of the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva brings 84 historical timepieces to Milan, including watches associated with notable figures such as Queen Victoria. Elsewhere, master watchmakers demonstrate how intricate mechanical movements are assembled and finished.

As it has done at previous Grand Exhibitions in other cities, where it creates watches expressly for that city or country, Patek Philippe introduces seven limited-edition watches reserved exclusively for the Italian market. Among them is the new Reference 5978P-010, a highly complicated platinum perpetual calendar chronograph whose calendar indications change instantaneously in just 30 milliseconds. A trio of Calatrava-inspired watches—a minute repeater, perpetual calendar and time-and-date model—celebrates the Italian flag in red, green and white. Rounding out the introductions are a sporty Aquanaut and two World Time Minute Repeaters featuring enamel views of Milan by day and by night.

While these watches are special, it is in the brand’s Rare Handcrafts that visitors can truly appreciate the creative imaginations and skilled hands that produce some of the world’s most remarkable artistic timepieces.

Where horology meets art

Patek Philippe has long championed rare handcrafts, from miniature painting and enameling to engraving, gem-setting and wood marquetry. Associated with watchmaking for centuries, these disciplines are now practiced by relatively few highly specialized artisans. For Milan, Patek Philippe created 25 exceptional clocks, pocket watches and wristwatches inspired by Italy’s rich cultural and artistic heritage, transforming landscapes, architecture, mosaics and traditional decorative arts into miniature masterpieces.

One of the most colorful creations is the Sicilian Lemons Dome Clock, a celebration of the bright citrus fruit and decorative ceramics associated with southern Italy. Inspired by traditional Sicilian majolica, the clock practically bursts with oranges and yellows, while Mount Etna rises above its reflection in the Mediterranean Sea—recalled using rich blue enamels. Created using a rare French enameling technique known as Longwy, in which colors are applied to earthenware, it is the sort of piece that draws you in first with its beauty and only afterward makes you wonder about the extraordinary skill required to create it.

Italy’s magnificent mosaics also find their way into the collection. The Ravenna Dome Clock draws inspiration from the fifth-century mosaics of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, with intricate enamel work recalling the rich colors and decorative patterns of early Byzantine art.

Who would expect to find a miniature Italian road trip in the middle of a Swiss watch exhibition? Yet that is precisely what awaits visitors in one of the most delightful rooms of the exhibit. The entire space is transformed into a playful landscape of green grass and a winding roadway, with a three-dimensional, hand-painted cardboard scene depicting an Italian town and a tiny car traveling along the road. Interspersed throughout are display cases housing four Calatrava watches that take visitors on a miniature tour of Italy.

Each features the beloved Fiat 500, or Cinquecento, traveling through a different landscape. A turquoise car negotiates the winding, cliff-hugging roads of the Amalfi Coast, while a red version passes the distinctive whitewashed stone houses of Puglia. Another travels through Chianti’s vineyards beneath a reddening evening sky, while the fourth arrives at Lake Como, surrounded by colorful buildings and shimmering water.

Executed in cloisonné enamel and miniature painting, the tiny scenes capture the colors, atmosphere and sense of Italian dolce vita on surfaces scarcely larger than a postage stamp. Yet they entice the visitor into a world all its own—one that is barely resistible and leaves a sense of wanderlust.

Keeping centuries-old crafts alive

While the finished pieces are impressive, the exhibition also gives visitors an opportunity to see the human skill behind them. In a dedicated artisans’ room, craftspeople demonstrate techniques including miniature enamel painting, guilloché, gem setting and wood marquetry. They are eager to talk with the public and explain their techniques and skills, making the experience surprisingly personal.

Watching wood marquetry being executed on such a tiny scale is particularly fascinating. At the exhibition, Observer spoke with a wood marquetry specialist who explained how he uses his foot to apply just the right amount of pressure while cutting incredibly thin pieces of wood so they don’t split or break. He then arranges hundreds of pieces in a precise assemblage, knowing exactly where each one belongs as he assembles the dial. Notably, another marquetry specialist could never simply step in and finish his work. Only he knows exactly how those hundreds of tiny fragments fit together to form the finished image. Each marquetry specialist (and there are not many) has his or her own techniques.

Enameling is equally demanding. Creating a miniature painting involves painstaking applications of enamel and repeated firings to build up the desired colors, textures and depth. Each firing carries risks: colors can change, and flaws such as bubbling can compromise the entire dial. It is a lengthy process requiring extraordinary patience and precision, but one that yields remarkable dimension and richness of color.

For Stern, showing these processes is particularly important for younger generations. “What I expect is that people do understand the difficulty to work on those pieces,” he said. “I think the younger generation, they do not realize that anymore.” He hopes some visitors might even be inspired to pursue these crafts themselves. The goal is not necessarily to bring them into Patek Philippe, but to ensure that the knowledge and skills continue to be passed along.

Perhaps that is what makes the exhibition so compelling. Amid the hundreds of extraordinary watches and clocks, some of the most memorable moments come from watching the people who create them. It’s a remarkable reminder that behind some of the world’s most sophisticated timepieces are skills that cannot simply be programmed into a machine or mastered overnight. They take years of patience, practice and dedication to perfect and bring to fruition so they can endure for generations to come.

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