PATEK PHILIPPE YEAR 2003 SILK TIE

Description

Item description: This beautiful silk tie was manufactured by the Italian house of Ermenegildo Zegna in 2006 for Patek Philippe. Available that year in two colourways, this example is the golden yellow version, with a pattern made up of waves in a soft golden yellow, and blue coloured silks. The top end of the tie has a small Patek Philippe Calatrava Cross in light blue threads, along with the date, 2003. The motif and date are within a small off white box, with a fine light blue edge line.  On the reverse of the wide base is a fine dark blue silk with the woven names, ‘Ermenegildo Zegna pour Patek Philippe Geneve’.

Condition report: Showing slight use. This tie is supplied in a gift box.

Background to Patek Philippe: Polish watchmaker Antoni Patek started making pocket watches in 1839 in Geneva, along with his fellow Polish partner Franciszek Czapek. They separated in 1844, and in 1845 Patek joined with the French watchmaker Adrien Philippe, inventor of the key-less winding mechanism. Patek Philippe & Co was founded in 1851. Patek Philippe pioneered the perpetual calendar, split-seconds hand, chronograph, and minute repeater in watches, and carved an iconic niche within watch-making, as the manufacturers of some of the world’s most complicated watches.

In 1976, Patek Philippe introduced the Nautilus collection after deciding that it was time to produce an exclusive sport watch with finishes of the highest quality. This new model had a key role in Patek’s overall marketing strategy, as it had to refresh the brand image while perpetuating tradition. Patek Philippe today, is considered by many experts and aficionados to be the most prestigious watch brand in the market place. Past owners of Patek Philippe watches include many heads of state, including Queen Victoria.

Background to Ermenegildo Zegna: Ermenegildo Zegna’s father Angelo Zegna owned a wooden mill and looms in the Alps, located above Piedmont, Italy. His son, Ermenegildo Zegna, helped his father, and founded the company, Ermenegildo Zegna, in 1910. Zegna’s new company was moved to Trivero in the Biellese prealps, and started work using his father’s looms and assets.  In 1915, the name Ermenegildo Zegna was changed to Fratelli Zegna di Angelo. Zegna quickly gained a reputation for producing fine quality fabrics for suits, and by the end of the 1930s, the wool mill employed 1,000 workers. In 1938 the Zegna Woollens Corporation was set up in New York although exports were not helped by the privations of war. When Ermenegildo Zegna’s sons Aldo (born 1920) and Angelo (born 1924) joined the company in 1942, it was renamed back to Ermenegildo Zegna (but with the inclusion of ‘and Sons’.

By the beginning of the 1960s  the company was presenting the Ermenegildo Zegna Wool Awards, with the first ceremony held in Tasmania, Australia. As Zegna has been one of the largest buyers of Australian wool since the 1920s, the company established the awards to note the finest purveyor of Australian wool in each calendar year. In 2002 the company started awarding a second trophy for wool measuring 13.9 microns and under—the “Vellus Aureum” award. Ermenegildo Zegna died in 1966 at the age of 74. Aldo and Angelo Zegna took over the business, Angelo was in charge of men’s wear and accessories, and Aldo was in charge of textiles, through to the 1990s. During the 1980s, the company opened flagship stores in sixteen different countries.

The children of Aldo and Angelo took roles with the company when they came of age, and by 1990 Angelo’s son Gildo was head of the apparel division, his daughter Anna was head of store planning, and Aldo’s son Paolo was  the marketing director of the textile division. As of 1999, the Zegna Group had eight manufacturing plants in Italy, two in Spain, three in Switzerland, one in Mexico and one in Turkey. While many Zegna suits are factory-produced, the majority of premium suits are still made-to-measure. GQ Magazine wrote that Zegna has been a major proponent of establishing the reputation for the term “Made in Italy” and that the fashion house “arguably has done more than any other to make these three words an international benchmark”. The company continues to be doing business in Trivero, its original location of more than one hundred years.

Special notes: The Patek Philippe range of VIP ties could never be purchased. The range was as gift status to important clients.

Provenance: n/a

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