Patek Phillipe came into being when Polish watchmaker Antoni Patek combined his talents with French watchmaker Adrien Phillipe in 1851.  Did that joining help them to become providers of watches to royalty? Hard to say, but in that same year, Patek Phillipe supplied timepieces to both Queen Victoria and her consort.

No doubt one of the appeals of the Patek Phillipe watches was the invention of the stem winding and setting system invented by Phillipe in 1845, according to Patek Phillipe's history on their site.

Patek Phillipe describes this as "The Keyless Watch" because, prior to the stem winding mechanism, watches had to be wound by keys! in the 250 years prior to this wickedly clever invention, watch owners were plagued with having to keep track of the key.  Worse yet, the key needed a hole, and the holes let in dirt.

If you've used a stem winding watch, where you pull out to set the time and then push in to wind, you probably never realized how old that invention was!  Nor how long watches had existed without this slick device!

Located in Switzerland, the company undoubtedly has helped to give rise to the re-known which "Swiss watches" are known for.

Patek Phillipe watches claim fame by having made some of the most complicated watches in the world, in fact, they herald their "complications" on their website.

Along with its over 70 patents, Patek Phillipe watches catch the eye of collectors and investors, having held records for the most expensive watches sold at auctions over time.  One such was one produced for Henry Graves, Jr in 1933.  In December of 1999 this pocket watch was auctioned off for $11,000,000 by Sotheby's, making it the most expensive watch ever auctioned off.

In fact, one of the top collectibles in 2011 has been the 1928 Patek Phillipe, auctioned off for over $3.6 million at Christie's.

Inventiveness, "complications", beauty, and history have made Patek Philippe timepieces one of the most collectible and admired line of watches in the world.