Book Search #7: The History of the Clock

The History of Watches 

by David Thompson  (Author), Saul Peckham (Photographer)

 

• Hardcover: 175 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press (February 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780789209184
• ISBN-13: 978-0789209184
• ASIN: 0789209187

•    From the Publisher

  The British Museum's collection of watches is unsurpassed anywhere in the world. With examples ranging from sixteenth-century early stack freed watches (the first with built-in mechanisms to prevent them from running faster as their mainsprings wound down) to decorative watches of the seventeenth century, from precision made chronometers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to mass-produced watches of the modern era, the collection follows the complete history of the watch through an incredible 500 years.Strikingly illustrated with 250 color images, this authoritative compendium presents that history with a range and depth unequaled by any other book. All the major makers of Europe and America are represented in its pages, many with multiple examples. Here you will find gems from the London workshops of Thomas Tompion, whose reputation stretched far and wide even in his own time; samples from the craftsmanship of Swiss-born Abraham Louis Breguet, who supplied the finest and costliest watches to the crown heads and aristocratic families of the Western world; and many other exquisite masterworks. Saul Peckham's photography captures every finely-wrought detail, from the ornamentation of faces to the precision and intricacy of gears. An essential volume for horologists, collectors, and aficionados alike, The History of Watches will take you on a fascinating journey through time as recorded by the world's most illustrious timepieces.
• 
  A visually stunning, highly informative, authoritative overview of timepieces

  By Midwest Book Review on September 4, 2008
  Format: Hardcover
  

  In "The History Of Watches", author David Thompson (Curator of the Horological collections in the Department of Prehistory & Europe at the British Museum) collaborates with Saul Peckham (a photographer for the British Museum for twenty years) to produce a visually stunning, highly informative, authoritative overview of timepieces ranging over the past five hundred years. Every variety of watch is represented from 16th century early stackfeed watchers, to the precision chronometers of the 18th and 19th centuries, to the mass-produced watchers of the 20th century. More than 80 watches are discussed in detail with a text that is wonderfully enhanced with more than 250 finely detailed photographs featuring all aspects of watches from their outer casings to their inner workings. "The History Of Watches" is a welcome addition to any personal, academic, or community library reference collection
• I love watches, and I think that they are really cool, and I really want to learn a little bit more about them.
•