The Wristwatch Handbook: An In-depth Look at Mechanical Timepieces

castillo4141@prodigy.net.mx: Es una edición muy cuidada, el material de las hojas, la calidad de la impresión y, por supuesto, las fotos que se incluyen, todo está muy bien cuidado. Además de ser un placer visualmente, se acompaña de información técnica que permite comprender los conceptos básicos (es decir, no entra al nivel de detalle técnico y matemático que requiere la explicación del funcionamiento, cosa que sí hacen otros libros como el archireconocido Watchmaking de G. Daniels).

En general, lo recomiendo muchísimo por sobre otros del mismo tipo.

Saludos,

Mexico on Jul 07, 2023

C. J. Eccleston: A magnificent tome on high end wristwatches. Comprehensive,beautiful and significantly more affordable than its subject!🤗

United Kingdom on Jun 06, 2023

paysdoufs: In the arena in which this book is competing, there probably isn’t a lot of competition for it - be it regarding its contents or value for money. So if you’re looking for a very nicely illustrated coffee-table book providing an overview of almost all imaginable horological complications out there, and which is surprisingly up-to-date, go for it. You won’t regret it.

However, if you want your 40 GBP books to arrive in good condition, rather get it at your local bookstore… In my case, Amazon UK thought that throwing a heavy book (two, actually) in an oversized cardboard box with no additional protection whatsoever (bubble wrap, etc.) is an appropriate way of packaging. Needless to say that it arrived slightly damaged - just shy of me wanting to return it.

United Kingdom on May 29, 2023

Little Nicky: This is a fantastic book for anyone who enjoys mechanical watch movements. Not only is each part of a mechanical movement explained in easy to understand incredible detail, but the pictures and the exploded views of the mechanisms are spectacular. Hundreds and hundreds of quality/famous/rare/unusual watches and their movements and complications are progressively discussed, explored, etc, as one progresses through the book.

United States on Mar 04, 2023

Christine: She mentioned she liked to tinker on watches, so I got her this for Christmas. It’s a nice, heavy book, and she loves it! Recommend!

United States on Feb 24, 2023

Christian M.: Excelente qualidade de informação e imagens! recomendo!!

Brazil on Jan 21, 2023

Francesco: Tecnica spiegata semplicemente, anche se in inglese. Tante belle foto esplicative che aiutano a individuare a prima vista eventuali complicazioni presenti sull’orologio.

Italy on Jan 14, 2023

John R. Massi: An outstanding reference. It explains everything, from the very basics of watch function to the most extraordinary pieces ever created.

This book is essential to the library of every collector for a few key reasons:

1) It doesn't limit itself to the same, (boring), overpriced swiss companies - watches from smaller, entry level brands that many may not realize have contributed significantly to horology, like Oris, Longines, and Sinn, to other, more fashion-oriented companies, like Bell & Ross, are displayed in the book.

2) The book isn't a Rolex fanbook - while Rolex is mentioned, and rightfully so - for its contributions, as the book progresses to higher level complications, Rolex is mentioned less and less - also rightfully so. As the company's biggest complication is a meager yacht timer, the book is then able to introduce you to watches that truly transcend the extraordinary.

3) This book will explain the very basic mechanisms of movement, and mention and introduce you to the most obscure levels of haute horology.

Truly, worth the buy.

United States on Jan 11, 2022

Idiosyncrat: This is a spectacular introductory technical survey of modern mechanical wristwatches, packed with excellent photos, diagrams and concise explanations of the basic functioning and wide range of technical variations available. It cannot be hardly recommended enough. If you're interested in modern luxury watches, you should buy this book before you spend any large amounts of money on a watch—it will give you a lot of information that will allow you to much better spend your money.

I do think the book has two relatively minor shortcomings, however. One is that not all the information in it is quite accurate. It's definitely better than 95%, but just skimming through the text I can find myself saying "huh, not quite" ever so often. For example, I can recall separate passages where first the hairspring and then the tourbillon are described as part of the escapement (they're not!). The material on the detent escapement is not quite adequate; it lists Arnold and Earnshaw as its inventors (neglecting to mention Le Roy and Berthoud's contributions), and the description of the actual escapement is quite lacking, and could really have used a diagram. In a sense these sorts of...

United States on Mar 21, 2018

Billz: For watch collectors, this book is a finely honed balance between excellent technical information and photographs of beautiful watches and the movements that make them tick. The technical information of such constant force devices as remontoir d’égalité and résonance in movement is both enlightening and fun to read without the mind-numbing detail engineers find important to supply. To even outline all of the nuances of watchmaking and innovations in mechanical watches found in The Wristwatch Handbook would take pages of review. Most importantly, for me at least, is that it is very well written. It flows nicely and in an episodic fashion so that you can pick it up and read about some wristwatch feature and look at the accompanying photos, learn a bit, and put it down. At a later time, you can pick it up again and go to an entirely different section an look and learn about some other wristwatch feature.
Published in 'coffee table' format, this book is certainly one that could grace any living room, but the pictures and text actually make it worth reading as a book about wristwatches. In fact, it can be used as both a look-up (e.g., "What's a retrograde?", "Is a tourbillon...

United States on Feb 20, 2017