The OAK Collection – One of A Kind Watches

There are watch collections, and there are watch collections.

The OAK Collection, the culmination of 40 years of painstaking and passionate collecting, belonging to super-collector Patrick Getreide, is most definitely the latter.

OAK is an acronym for “One of A Kind”, and in this particular collection, it is very much warranted. Getreide’s mind-boggling collection comprises of over 600 watches, a significant proportion of which are historically significant and museum worthy. There is a multitude of unique, one-off pieces, incredibly rare references, and watches with important provenance; the OAK Collection is home to the largest number of pieces, outside of the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, that were once owned by Henry Graves Jr, the American banker and famed Patek Philippe collector of the 1930s.

With the help of several industry experts, including Nicholas Foulkes (author of Patek Philippe: The Authorised Biography), a subset of 168 pieces from the OAK Collection has been curated for public display at London’s Design Museum, marking the first time that a private collection has been displayed in such an environment.

Being a private collection, there is also scope for including watches from different brands as well – whilst the majority of the collection is Patek Philippe, there is also watches from Rolex, as well as contemporary independents such as F.P. Journe, Kari Voutilainen and Rexhep Rexhepi’s Akrivia.

So, why now?

Getreide thinks of watches as an art form, speaking about how he has found it strange that whilst there are private collections of art displayed in museums, there are no such displays of watches. By sharing part of his private collection with the world in a museum space, he is able to share his deep-rooted passion for watches with other enthusiasts around the world. I for one am very thankful that he did!

Let’s take a look at the collection and some of what is on display.

The OAK Collection – A One of a Kind Exhibition of Extraordinary Watches

Situated on the top floor of the Design Museum, the OAK Collection is on show in its own gallery, comprising 24 displays cabinets across 11 categories. These have been laid out very thoughtfully and walking around the exhibit in this order provides a thoroughly enjoyable narrative.

Next to each cabinet there is also a QR code which, when scanned on your phone, opens a webpage with additional information about the watches on display in that cabinet, as well as a handy audio guide option, explaining more about the watches, their history or provenance.

The OAK Collection exhibit starts with a single watch on display (with a cool story behind it, too!) – the first watch that Patrick Getreide bought and where it all began. I can’t imagine that when he bought this Cartier Tank, that he quite knew what he was getting himself into!

Within the first three cabinets, is an eclectic selection of Calatrava watches, Patek Philippe’s signature dress watch collection. including a reference 96 (the first Patek Philippe reference number) and several unique pieces commissioned especially for Getreide.

Highlights for me included a number of unique references, including some in steel, a reference 570J which was owned by none other than Andy Warhol, and two unique 5196 references (the platinum reference of which is one of my favourite Calatravas) in both yellow and rose gold, which were both specially commissioned by Getreide in 2018 as unique pieces.

My favourite corner of Patek Philippe was most certainly the back right corner, comprising the World Time watches, the Henry Graves pieces, and the Rare Handcrafts. After having read Nicholas Foulkes’ “Patek Philippe: The Authorised Biography ”, I have adopted a somewhat greater appreciation for what these mean in the wider context of Patek Philippe as a quintessential part of the brand’s history.

In amongst the World Time and Rare Handcrafts cabinets were numerous examples of fine enamelwork, including some of the limited-edition watches produced by Patek Philippe in celebration of their 175^th anniversary in 2015. Within the Rare Handcrafts was a beautifully decorated, enamelled, one off pocket watch which was presented on a stand – another unique piece, made in 2021.

The star of the show for me was the wall of three display cabinets containing the Graves pieces.

As I mentioned earlier, Henry Graves Jr was an American banker and esteemed collector of Patek Philippe, who commissioned Patek Philippe to make the world’s most complicated pocket watch. This took three years to design and a further five years to make, before it was finally delivered to Graves in 1933. This piece remained the world’s most complicated piece until 1989 with Patek Philippe’s Calibre 89 pocket watch, and twice held the record for the most expensive watch sold at auction (US $11m in 1999 and US $24m in 2014).

There were five Graves pieces on display in the OAK Collection: a silver pocket watch from around 1925 which was awarded third place at the Geneva Astronomical Observatory Timing Contest in 1925-26; an 18k gold pocket watch which won the first prize in the same 1925-26 contest; a one-minute tourbillon chronometer in platinum, awarded first prize in the Geneva Observatory Timing Contest of 1934 (with a precision world record score no less), shown below; and two 18k gold repeater pocket watches from the 1920s.

To be able to see one of these in person would have been special enough but having all five right there to enjoy was another level altogether.

Across the other Patek Philippe-centric cabinets were an incredible collection of Nautilus watches, including not one but both the extremely rare olive green dial 5711 references, with and without a diamond bezel, which were produced for just one year to mark the discontinuation of the 5711 reference.

Alongside an incredible selection of chronographs, perpetual calendar watches and other complicated pieces, there was a magnificent, one-off, reference 1518R perpetual calendar chronograph with moon phase, presented on a Gay Frères bracelet.

At the back of the exhibit, there was a separate zone which contained the non-Patek Philippe watches, including three cabinets of Rolex watches (Sports Watches, GMT-Masters and Chronographs), and one cabinet of contemporary independents.

I certainly enjoyed seeing the earlier Daytona references – personally I much prefer these over the references in the current collection, and this cabinet contained some incredibly special and rare examples, including a Paul Newman that was originally owned by a NASA astronaut, and a special reference made for Fuerza Aerea del Peru (FAP) which is incredibly rare.

Last, but certainly not least, there was the contemporary independents display case. This contained a set of five F.P. Journe watches, part of the limited-edition Ruthenium set from 2002, all numbered 5/99. These were flanked by an array of Kari Voutilainen pieces, as well as two unique Akrivia watches – the brand of Rexhep Rexhepi.

This was the first time I’ve ever seen an Akrivia watch and, looking at the detail, I was blown away. Seeing these in person (and luckily for me they were at the front of the cabinet!) it is easy to see why Rexhep Rexhepi is held in such high regard.

In Summary

Being able to enjoy so many incredible and rare watches in one place, especially considering they have been held in private custodianship for so many years, was a wonderful opportunity and experience.

After I had walked around the exhibit and enjoyed the display, I decided to sit and spend some time in the gallery to try and get a sense of how the other visitors were enjoying the exhibition. I could sense there was a real sense of appreciation from everyone who was there for what they were seeing – on more than one occasion, I heard audible whispers of “wow” and people talking about which pieces were their favourites.

I think this is even true for the staff of the museum; one person asked me just as I had left the gallery whether I had seen the beautiful watch collection that they have on show, keen to make sure that as many people could enjoy it as possible – she simply smiled when I thanked her, and explained that I had, and had just a significant chunk of my afternoon enjoying it!

It hit home that this is exactly what Patrick Getreide’s had decided to share his collection with the world; I can only hope that he gets to enjoy the reaction of those visitors to his collection, away from the glitz and glam of the opening ceremony, and it would surely put a huge smile on his face.

The OAK Collection is on display in London’s Design Museum from 19-25^th May, before embarking on a world tour with dates to be confirmed. For more information, visit OakCollection.watch or DesignMuseum.org.

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You might also be interested in:

• Phillips ‘Made in Germany’ A. Lange & Söhne Exhibition
• Recommended Reading: ‘Patek Philippe – the Authorised Biography’ by Nicholas Foulkes
• Spotlight: Patek Philippe Calatrava 6119
• Watch Stationery and Gift Ideas
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