Patek Philippe President Thierry Stern Holds Court Digitally To Talk Up Ref. 6301P

Patek Philippe President Thierry Stern holds court digitally to talk up ref. 6301P

- Ashok Soman

Thierry Stern pauses between questions to acknowledge one of his staff who delivers a fresh cup of what we imagine to be coffee. It might be a scene from a presentation at BaselWorld, which Patek Philippe pulled the plug on this year. In fact, no major watch fairs took place in Switzerland in 2020, and we expect the same in 2021. Perhaps Stern is taking a meeting at the manufacture in Geneva. Perhaps it is from a visit to the Patek Philippe Museum, also in the same city. It might have been any of those things, and yet it was none. To begin with, the President of Patek Philippe’s audience was not in the room at all. He was accompanied in person by the brand’s communications chief Jasmina Steele, who often sits in when Stern takes questions from the press. Of course, it is 2020 and there are no grand press conferences in the world of watchmaking.