Alexander Barter - Böcker

This impeccably researched and lavishly illustrated book tracesthe evolution of the watch across the twentieth century.It charts the early rise of the wristwatch, shows how thecataclysmic events of the 1929 Wall Street Crash unexpectedlyled to a golden age of watch production, and demonstrates howthe electronic watch, which almost destroyed the traditionalindustry, led to a mechanical watch renaissance in the lastpart of the century. Each chapter focuses on a specific decade,opening with an introduction to the era’s stylistic and designhighlights and then examines the development of specificgenres of watches.Hundreds of color photographs include full-page close upsthat reveal intricate details of form, texture, and design.Alexander Barter’s vast knowledge informs his gripping texts,which discuss the major achievements in watch technologyand design. This book also includes vintage advertisementsand other promotional materials, helping to give a sense ofthe eras in which they were created. The perfect gift for watchaficionados, this beautiful and informative volume presents theworld’s finest watches with an elegance and depth befitting itssubject.

From two of the world's leading experts on watch collecting, this supremely elegant and informative selection of one hundred watches traces the timepiece's evolution as it highlights unusual, important, and beautifully crafted watches of the past half a millennium.For centuries people have been captivated by watches-whether for their technical precision, their unique design, or their historic importance. Each of the one hundred watches profiled in this elegant book stands out for one or more of these qualities. Organized chronologically and divided by century, the watches are presented in spacious, double-page spreads, featuring exquisite photography with engaging, incisive texts.Readers will discover examples of the earliest watch forms; an astonishing Elizabethan-era watch with astrolabic dial; an early 17th century watch encased in a single emerald; two of the earliest watches to incorporate the balance spring-a feature that revolutionized the portable timekeeper; and some of the first repeating and perpetual calendar watches. These are followed by the first lever watch, invented by Thomas Mudge; important precision watches; early 19th century enamel and automaton watches; highly complex watches by Breguet and Patek Philippe; Sir Winston Churchill's yellow gold World Time Victory watch; a Rolex wristwatch made to commemorate Indian Republic Day; an Omega Speedmaster that went into space; and a Roger Smith wristwatch completed in 2023.Featuring exquisitely reproduced photographs that are appearing for the first time together in book form, this historic collection will appeal to sophisticated collectors, amateur watch enthusiasts, and anyone with an interest in the art and science of horology.