CORDER’S COLUMN: One week only to see one of the world’s finest private watch collections in London

One week only. That is how long you have to get to the Design Museum on London’s Kensington High Street to see the OAK Collection, one of the greatest privately held watch collections on earth.

I attended a press preview today with the OAK Collection’s owner Patrick Getreide taking questions.

He is an unassuming man, hawkish, with a passing resemblance and manner to former England football manager Roy Hodgson.

He is a football lover too, and horse racing enthusiast, who bought his very first watch, a Cartier Tank, after winning on a nag at Longchamps in Paris.

How he then became a friend of Patek Philippe president Thierry Stern and started acquiring some of the rarest timepieces from the watchmaker was not explained, but Mr Stern popped up in a promo video about the OAK Collection proclaiming it to be one of the greatest privately held collections on earth.

He likened Mr Getreide to a modern day Henry Graves Jr, a man widely considered the number one collector of the 20th century.

Mr Getreide owns a number of pocket watches made specially for Mr Graves by Patek Philippe in the 1920s.

You have to be a customer of exceptional standing to persuade Patek Philippe to make one-off timepieces for you and, a century after Mr Graves enjoyed that privilege, the service has been — very occasionally — extended to Mr Getreide as well.

The OAK Collection exhibition has both Henry Graves Patek Philippe pocket watches on show and one of a kind Calatravas made for Mr Getreide, who wanted brand new versions of vintage Calatravas made for him.

These timepieces cannot be seen anywhere else in the world, not even in the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.

The reason you must get your self to the Design Museum for this show is not so much to see a particular individual watch, but to soak in the joy of seeing 160 pieces that may never be seen again, all in one place.

It is like the Taj Mahal of timekeepers, right here in London, but only until May 25.

Mr Getreide currently owns around 600 watches and, we learned today, has only ever sold one.

That means these watches are unlikely to be seen at auction, they cannot be bought by museums, so there is a window of opportunity for one week only to take your shot at seeing them.

Mr Getreide told WATCHRPO he has a simple approach to watch collecting. “I see something. I like it. I buy it. I wear it,” he explains.

There are two key boxes to tick. The watches have to be of exceptional quality and they are usually extremely rare, if not unique.

He says that none of his watches have ever been polished, a common wish for collectors, but unusually he doesn’t like any signs of age.

The newer watches look, the better, which partly explains why he buys brand new as well as vintage watches.

An olive green Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711, the swansong watch for that line, is presented as new at the exhibition along with two full displays of other Nautilus watches of various vintages and complications.

The OAK Collection is presented in curated clumps. As you enter, I recommend you start to your left with Patek Philippe Calatravas, which Mr Stern says is the best collection of that model in the world.

Here you will appreciate the quality. Every watch, whether it is new and modern or a century old and vintage, is exquisite. Dials pop, bracelets and cases are barely scratched. They shine under excellent lighting like fresh faced children on their first day of nursery school.

Move anti-clockwise around the space and you will see Metier d’Art pieces from Patek Philippe, the Graves collection of century-old pocket watches, contemporary pieces from modern artisan independents including F. P. Journe and Kari Voutilainen, unattainable watches by Rolex (modern and historic) and finally back to Patek Philippe chronographs and complications.

There is a handy audio guide that you can access by scanning a QR code, and I would highly recommend this because nobody — maybe not even Mr Getreide — knows enough about watches to describe every piece.

This exhibition is truly one of a kind, but Mr Getreide hopes it will encourage other collectors to follow his lead. That may or may not happen. For now, I urge you not to miss this chance to get up close to his prized and priceless possessions.