Anyone ever been invited to Patek / AP factory tours?

[HK Islandboy]

That sounds amazing!
Please post a write up a and photos after the trip.

[Chasseur]

You will appreciate the dinner on the last floor of the store with both marvelous view and food

[daveo5]

Unfortunately not me, but one of the sales associate's in the Las Vegas AP boutique was recently invited to the factory. Amazing she said.

[descartes]

I’ve spent the day at AP. Incredible!

[G M Francis]

Did the trip a few years back and had lunch with Thierry Stern on the second day. I had a great time, very memorable.

[Ichiran]

Just curious - for those who have met Mr Thierry Stern, have you asked him questions relating to production volume of certain models, future release, planned model cull, and his strategic plan for the next 5-10-20 years?

How does he answer/react to these questions?

[Analysing You]

Originally Posted by Ichiran

Just curious - for those who have met Mr Thierry Stern, have you asked him questions relating to production volume of certain models, future release, planned model cull, and his strategic plan for the next 5-10-20 years?

How does he answer/react to these questions?

I was thinking the same thing, wondered whether if there are any do's and don'ts if you're lucky meet the man himself

[WatchLurv]

Man I would even pay to get on a tour....! Congrats on it.

I hope me spending close to 250K USD at an AD will get me boosted on that list. Got all fingers crossed. It'd be a dream to get on such a tour.

[SW1]

Yes

[catsby90]

Also curious. I'm going in a few weeks.

[jon_jon]

Originally Posted by WatchLurv

Man I would even pay to get on a tour....! Congrats on it.

I hope me spending close to 250K USD at an AD will get me boosted on that list. Got all fingers crossed. It'd be a dream to get on such a tour.

If you spent 250K on Patek, that should be a solid number. If that number was across several brands, then maybe or maybe not. Also it depends on where your AD is located. In Asia, HK and Singapore ADs have some huge clients obviously. But some small ADs will also invite their customer's spouse as well for the trip, because they may not be able to fill the 20 people with just loyal Patek customers.

[jon_jon]

Originally Posted by catsby90

Also curious. I'm going in a few weeks.

Here is a factory trip report that included forum member racerdj and myself.

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=501655

[R G]

Hi,

I just came back from the Patek trip.

It was a jam-packed itinerary over two days where we were flown out and back again by private jet, put up in a beautiful hotel, taken to the museum, shown the two manufactures, taken to amazing lunches and dinner, shown and handled practically the entire range of current models and basically spoilt rotten all courtesy of Patek.

Photos were not allowed in either the museum or the factory’s although I did get a number of generic shots.

It was an amazing trip and one that I feel very fortunate to have been part of.

[Aqua75]

Yes I went only last month.
Flew by private jet, stayed at the Mandarin Oriental.
Lunches dinners drinks aplenty of course!
Tour of the museum and factory and lunch with Thierry himself.
You get to see the history of the company and watchmaking generally, then you see the inner workings of the factory and get to meet the people that make your watches.
As a member of the party that went, I was then offered the watch I had been after for quite some time almost immediately. They give preference to people that have been on the visit apparently.
I was very lucky and grateful to be invited by my AD.

[Mini2]

Aqua can I ask who your AD was thanks