The Wristwatch Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Mechanical Wristwatches

Description

"...a beautiful book, filled with captivating images and explanatory text which never gets too dry or too technical..." - Revolution Despite the functional obsolescence of the mechanical wristwatch (our phones and computers tell more accurate time) the early 21st Century has seen a boom in the development, production, and appreciation of all things horological. Whether it is presented to the collector as an alternative investment, as a feat of micro-mechanical technology, or as a showcase of artisanal mastery, the mechanical wristwatch has never possessed more forms, functions or facets than it does today. The Wristwatch Handbook is written from the epicentre of a renaissance, a place in time between the Quartz revolution and the rise of the smart device - where the mechanical wristwatch is the antidote to the microprocessor and the permanent buzz of your inbox. From the multi-axis tourbillion, to the split-second chronograph, to the sidereal sky chart, The Wristwatch Handbook covers it all and does so with more than 470 rich illustrations from over 90 of the World's leading brands. The book is separated into two sections. The first section provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the mechanical movement. Its chapters explore power, transmission, distribution and regulation illustrating the basic concepts before considering the innovation and complexity that takes place further toward the cutting edge. From the fifty-day power reserve, to the constant force mechanism, and the 1,000Hz mechanical escapement, section 1 will allow the reader to understand and appreciate what is happening beneath the dial of their watch. Section two allows the reader to take this understanding and apply it to the vast range of complications (functions) that exist in modern horology. Each chapter showcases a distinct category of complication. For example, the regatta timer, pulsometer, and monopusher chronograph join a host of others in a chapter entitled 'Recording Lapses of Time'; The power reserve indicator, dynamograph, and crown position indicator are featured in a chapter for 'Power and Performance Indication'; The moon phase indicator, annual calendar, and planetarium can be found in the 'Astronomical Complications' chapter. Once the functional categories are exhausted, the final three chapters explore whimsical complications that have little regard for practical function, novelty time indication, and the 'super-complicated' watch - a rare breed of timepiece that houses an intimidating host of complications featured throughout the book. Upon completion of The Wristwatch Handbook the reader will be able to identify even the most exotic complication from across the room, and be able to share their appreciation and understanding of what makes it so useful and compelling. The Wristwatch Handbook is "brand agnostic", using only those watches that most aptly illustrate the given subject-matter. As a consequence the book places equal emphasis on the classic and the cutting edge, on watches produced in large volume or exclusive runs, by industry-leading technology or at the hand of a master. In doing so the book provides an unparalleled range of watches from over 90 brands, allowing the reader to determine for themselves which brands, complications, and styles they will build their collection from. Review: Warning: If you read this, you'll want more watches - 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 better than a standard escapement?", "What is an escapement?"), and a picture book to browse and find more temptation than Odysseus in passing the isle of the Sirens. (Heed Circe's counsel and lash yourself to a masthead lest you are tempted to rush out and spend junior's college savings on a new watch.) All in all, this is a remarkable book with photos and drawings of the clearest and highest quality. If you're a watch collector, your collection will be much enhanced by the wisdom of this book. Review: Spectacular introductory survey - 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 mistakes sound like they stem from the fact that the book trades depth for breadth—it covers a ton of topics, but superficially and unsystematically. The second shortcoming is related to one of the book's strengths, which is that the excellent and copious photos and diagrams used to illustrate the concepts have been very obviously supplied by modern watch companies. This is both a blessing and a curse—I have been quite delighted to see manufacturer-supplied diagrams of some of their unique complications that I've wanted to know about for years now, but at the same time some concepts that would be better illustrated with more generic diagrams or photos of historical watches are instead illustrated with modern makers' manufacturing materials. The material on the detent escapement is again a good example—instead of a diagram of a basic spring or pivoted detent escapement at all and photos of historical marine and pocket chronometers, we're treated to manufacturer-supplied photos of a 2016 Bvlgari L'Ammiraglio Del Tempo Minute Repeater. Nevertheless the breadth of information in this book and its focus on present-day watches is hard to beat.