Popes and their watches

When the news broke last month that Pope Bendidict XVI was resigning, a HODINKEE reader asked me rather sarcastically: Does the Pope get a retirement watch? Since no Pope has "retired" in the last six hundred years, there’s not much of a precedent here for a Pope receiving a timepiece at the end of his service. When Pope Gregory XII retired in 1415, the first spring-driven portable clocks were still decades away.

But if a Pope was to get a watch as a gift for retirement or a commemorative event, he would have to get a Patek Philippe of course. Leaders of the church have a long history wearing Patek Philippe. Here’s the story:

Patek Philippe founding father Antoine Norbert de Patek  (1812-1877) was a fervent Catholic who passionately defended his Polish homeland and his faith. He worked tirelessly for the Zmartwycwstancy, the Congregation of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the group recognized him for his work in The Church. In 1865, Patek was knighted as a Count circa 1865 from the Republic of San Marino and was recognized by the Vatican for his role in supporting the Holy See. In fact, the Calatrava cross that is on the crown of your modern Patek Philippe is a logo that dates back to the 1870s and clearly had religious significance for Mr. Patek. Pocket watch cases began being stamped or engraved with the Calatrava logo dating back to the time Patek was trying to restore a Catholic Poland.

During Antoine Norbert de Patek’s later years, Pius IX (1792-1878) was head of the church, from 1846 until his death, and he was an enthusiastic multiple Patek owner – he wore an open-face quarter-repeating 49 mm Patek Philippe made for him in 1866, complete with a caseback polychromatically enameled with his Papal arms and a cuvette engraved “Pater, Rex / Dirigas Intelligentias et Corda, Geneva, 29 June 1867” ("Our father, Sovereign, You Give Direction to the Spirit and the Heart”).  This watch was sold at auction in 1989 and can now be seen at the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, as well as in the photo above. Pope Pius IX also owned a silver open-face Patek Philippe watch given to him from the Swiss Catholic organization Piusverein in 1877. This watch recently sold at auction and can be see here.

After Pope Pius IX died in 1878, the next Pope, Leo XIII (1810-1903, elected Pope in 1878), continued the tradition of Papal Patek ownership. He is believed to have received a silver and rose gold Patek Philippe pocket watch in 1901 as a gift to commemorate his anniversary of becoming Pope. This watch can also be seen at the Patek Philippe Museum. 

Fast forward to 1970, and the first Patek Philippe wristwatches believed to be associated with a Pope were ordered from the retailer Haussman in Rome.

According to a new book titled Patek Philippe: Cult Object and Investment by Michael Mehltretter, twelve Ref. 3588 automatic watches were delivered to the Vatican in 1971, each made with a custom dial in "Papal Purple" with faceted gold batons. The watches were intended to be gifted to Cardinals and church VIPs.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Vatican also utilized a Patek Philippe master timing system to control the time signals throughout the city. The master timing system was state-of-the-art for its day and kept the Vatican on time for years with its numerous slave clocks. For more information on these master timing systems, see this earlier post.

For the recently-retired Pope Bendict XVI, it doesn’t look like he was given a Patek Philippe for his service but he did recently receive a Erhard Junghans Tempus Automatic.  Maybe Pope Francis will have better luck.

Surely, Patek Philippe must have been on the mind of the overseers of the Catholic church for many years, as the company and the church had mutual admiration for generations.  For the watch world, the quest to know the secrets of the Patek archives is not dissimilar to the global fascination with the untold secrets of the Vatican.  Could there be some more horological treasure buried deep below the Vatican? Probably. And I'd venture to guess more than a few bear the Calatrava cross of Patek Philippe.