Making time for the ladies

WHEN PATEK PHILIPPE unveiled its Ladies' First Chronograph in 2010, it wasn't trying to make a move on the women's market segment. The 178-year-old Swiss luxury watch brand was merely "reinforcing" the fact that it's been serving the ladies since it started business in 1839.

In fact, that year alone, Patek Philippe's archives show that it sold three watches to a certain Madame Goscinska.

She would have been among the wealthy, noble and royalty who have added much colour to the house's history. Queen Victoria herself was a fan, enchanted by its keyless winding system. She famously bought a powder blue pocket watch decked out with diamonds and set in a floral motif at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851.