Chanda ranga: Geneva Watches

Tuesday 31 July 2012

Geneva Watches

Antoni Patek was born in 1811 (according to some sources 1812) in Piaski Luterskie near Lublin, Poland to Anna née Piasecka and Joachim Patek of Prawdzic coat of arms. [1]

At the age of 10, Patek moved with his parents to Warsaw. Patek's father died on April 7, 1828 in Warsaw.[2]

On March 1, 1828, 16 year old Patek joined the Polish 1st Mounted Rifles Regiment. He fought in the November Uprising during which he was wounded twice. On February 27, 1831 for his heroic attitude Patek was promoted the second lieutenant of the "1st August" brigade, and on October 3 of the same year decorated with Virtuti Militari Golden Cross. After the downfall of the uprising – like many other officers and soldiers of Polish Army – he had to emigrate.In 1832 he was engaged by general Józef Bem in organising an evacuation route for Polish insurgents through Prussia to France. He was charged with a command over a staging point in Bamberg near Munich (one of five staging points on the insurgents' evacuation route). After terminating the evacuation, Patek settled in France, firstly in Cahors, then in Amiens where he worked as a type-setter.[4]

Two years later an unfavourable decree issued by the French government under pressure from the Russian embassy, forced many former insurgents to resettle in Switzerland. Patek tried his hand at many trades, including trading with liquors and wines in Versoix near Geneva. For some time Patek attended painting courses given by the famous Swiss painter and engraver Alexandre Calame. During his studies, Patek also traveled to Paris where he remained for several months. Around this time, he was befriended by the Moreau family of Versoix who he became friends with, and at whose home he would meet his future wife. They probably encouraged him in a new activity – the trade in expensive pocket watches, which were decorated by the goldsmiths, engravers,