Patek Philippe in America is a book on how this brand conquered the United States. The sub title of the book, Marketing the World’s Foremost Watch, covers it pretty well. The impressive dimensions of this hard cover book – 13″ x 11″ – and the 360 pages with over 500 images reveal that this must be something special. The arrival of Patek Philippe in the USA has been documented using archives, photographs and numerous advertisements starting in 1860. The author of this book, John Reardon, did an excellent job creating such a valuable treasure for collectors and admirers of Patek Philippe watches.

Patek Philippe in America contains 8 chapters covering the marketing of the brand from the 19th century to the 1980s. Throughout the book, notable owners from the US of Patek Philippe watches are being mentioned and shown on photographs. What to think of Joe DiMaggio? Or John F. Kennedy who received a Patek Philippe autonomous quartz clock during his stay in Berlin in 1963, famous for his historic speech to the people of Berlin stating ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’.

While reading though the chapters (especially those covering the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s), I can’t help thinking about one of my favourite TV series of this moment, Mad Men. The advertisements are very clever and appealing, using great photographs and slogans (“One of the world’s costliest watches is made of steel”, referring to the 1978 campaign for the PP Nautilus).

Special attention to The Caliber 89 – world’s most complicated watch – which get a few pages of coverage on its own. Introduced in 1989, it celebrates 150 years of the best watchmaking possible. This double dialed pocket watch has 33 complications and consists of over 1728 parts. John Reardon’s book shows Warren Buffet holding a Calibre 89 watch in white gold while wearing his own Patek Philippe ref.3944J.

This book is a very well (and passionately) written and covers actually more than marketing the best watch brand in the United States. Patek Philippe’s rich history and philosophy on exclusive time pieces are so well documented, this can only be done by someone who has been working for Patek Philippe, like John Reardon. This makes it a book worth for every Patek Philippe collector, not only for those who resides in the United States.

If you are a collector of Patek Philippe watches, you should be aware that John Reardon also published a Reference Guide (Volume 1) belonging to the “Patek Philippe in America” series and also limited to 1500 copies.

The Reference Guide to Patek Philippe watches covers 1000 models, presented in order by reference number. Per model, John documented the reference number, materials used, movement caliber, dimensions and age. Each watch is pictured in the book with a brochure or catalogue photograph. A distinction is being made between pocket watches and wrist watches, which I think is very pleasant for collectors of each (or both) type of watches. Very useful are the pictures with each watch and the overview in the back of the book, listing all movement and reference numbers.

You don’t need both books in order to have a good overview, but I would recommend both for the serious Patek Philippe collector.

John Reardon is a well respected and noted expert in watches and clocks. He has worked for Sotheby’s New York, the Henry Stern Watch Agency (Patek Philippe USA) and he now works for Betteridge Jewelers as a Director of Vintage and Estate Watches. His books can be ordered on-line through his website www.patekphilippeinamerica.com. Patek Philippe in America – Marketing the World’s Foremost Watch is still available (only a few copies left) for $395 and the Reference Guide (Volume 1 Men’s Watches) for $295. These prices exclude shipping.

This is not only a book about watches. This is a book about the faces behind the watches made by horological master minds Philippe Dufour, Paul Gerber, Dr. Ludwig Oechslin, FP Journe, Kenji Shiohara, Kari Voutilainen, Vianney Halter, Beat Haldimann, Volker Vyskocil, Thomas Prescher, Roger Smith and Felix Baumgartner.

I own and have read a great number of books on watches: books about specific brands, specific uses, specific complications and so on. For this reason, perhaps, I?��Ǩ�Ѣm not sure this is a book suited to people with no interest in haute horlogerie; it is a book that suits the desire of many advanced collectors and watch aficionados to have more information on the subject. 12 Faces of Time is a book at a whole new level that what is already in existence, providing insight into the creative and inspiring minds of today?��Ǩ�Ѣs watchmaking legends. This masterpiece of watch literature is certainly more than just a coffee table book.

The authors of this book, Elizabeth Doerr and Ralf Baumgarten, did an excellent job capturing the personal stories and excellent (and most creative) photographs of these watchmakers in their own environments. The authors needed to travel to four different countries to be able to make that possible. If they hadn?��Ǩ�Ѣt done so, the watchmakers likely could not have been portrayed in as they are in 12 Faces of Time, at ease and passionately speaking about their work.

This is a unique book in many ways, but one thing that really sets it apart is the choice of the twelve watchmakers portrayed. These were carefully selected by the authors of the book, without any influence of marketing from brands or luxury groups. As an avid reader of watch magazines, I thought I would be able to name them all, but some of the names were new to me. Kenji Shiohara, for example, is one I had never heard of before, even though he has created some tremendous timepieces for Seiko?��Ǩ�Ѣs mini-department of high watchmaking. The book includes a few legendary names as well, of course: Ludwig Oechslin, former creative head of Ulysse Nardin, and Fran?ɬ�ois-Paul Journe with his impressive FP Journe timepieces.

Not only the interviews make this book worthwhile, the photos are also simply stunning. The interplay of double-page photograph spreads and smaller pictures is wonderful, and amazingly enough it doesn?��Ǩ�Ѣt distract you from the text with its careful wording.

When I finished reading this book, I caught myself screaming ?��Ǩ��wow!?��Ǩ�Ѣ out loud. This has never happened before, and I immediately looked over my shoulder to make sure nobody else was there. Just to be sure.

This book has a price tag of 79.90 Euro. More information through www.teneues.com.

A few months ago, I got an e-mail from Michael Clerizo, telling me that he had written a book called ‘Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking’. I hooked him up with Ernie Romers of WatchUseek to see if there was something possible with regards to the watch event WATCH2009 in Maastricht (on the 14th and 15th of November).

Two weeks ago, I received the Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking book by Michael. The book contains coverage on a lot of brands, the so-called independent watchmaking brands so to speak. Michael spend a lot of time listening to George Daniels, Svend Andersen, Vincent Calabrese, Philippe Dufour, Antoine Preziuso, Franck Muller, Aniceto Jim?ɬ�nez Pita, Alain Silberstein, Marco Lang, Vianney Halter and Roger Smith. In addition, Michael introduces 20 other remarkable brands in his book, a.o. Christiaan van der Klaauw from the Netherlands and Stepan Sarpaneva from Finland.

The book – printed by Thames & Hudson – is?Ǭ� a fairly large (12×11.9×1.4inch) and heavy (almost 5.5 pounds) and features a very nice pocket watch movement by George Daniels. With over 672 illustrations, covering 11 watchmakers and 20 other brands, Michael Clerizo tried to be as complete as possible when working on this book.

The 20 watch makers are very well covered by the author, each and everyone has its own chapter in Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking. A thorough introduction of the master watchmaker is followed by a nice overview of their work (see an example of George Daniel’s work above). The high quality images used are accompanied by detailed descriptions. Clerizo did a very nice job on reflecting the thoughts of the watchmakers, without using too many quotes. It really is Michael’s story, using the input of these great master watchmakers from our time.

If you are a bit seriously interested in independent watchmaking and watchmaking in general, you will have to read this book. It is not just there to look impressive (due to its size, weight and cover photos), it is there to be read and consumed by the fanatical watch lover. It is also a nice to give to your watch friends, who are holding on to the ‘standard’ brands and timepieces and need some insight in other watches and watchmaking thoughts, according to you

Besides containing photographs of timepieces and movements, the author was also able to include fantastic photographs of the master watchmakers and their workshops. It is very nice to actually see who’s behind these great names of watchmaking and where all the magic happens.

Are there any negative points about this book? Of course, not all interesting & current master watchmakers have been covered in Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking, but this leaves some room for a possible next title. I think Michael Clerizo did a tremendous job in covering a large number of interesting timepieces created by these Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking, using great photographs and very clear and detailed descriptions. The book also uses a handy to use index and glossary. The only thing that was challenging to me, was to read the white printing on the gold-ish background, but this could perfectly be a case of one of my own short comings to distinct colours

To summarize, this coffee table sized book will not let you down if you are interested in watchmaking and getting to know some of the greatest heroes of 21st century watchmaking. For novice and advanced collectors or fans of watches, this book is suited for both of these groups. For 53.55 USD at Amazon (see link below), this book can be yours or that of your watch friend, fianc?ɬ� with passion for watches or whoever is interested in watchmaking.

As written before, Michael Clerizo will be one of the lecturers during the Watch2009 event in Maastricht on the 14th and 15th of November 2009. If you are interested, please visit www.watch2009.nl. My thanks go out to Michael Clerizo and his publisher for introducing this superb book to me. Also an extra thank you since FratelloWatches.com got included in the ‘Resources’-part of the book.

600 pieces only, a weight of 12 Kgs and 600 pages telling the story of 130 Rolex Daytona watches in prestine condition, dated from 1960 and on. Pucci Papaleo Editore did an amazing job on describing these watches with this level of detail, delivering it in one book that is entirely bound by hand with a leather lined 8mm wood binding. The team of Pucci had some help from only the best vintage horology specialists, who consist of collectors, watchmakers and retailers.

For photographing all these time pieces, the most advanced photography techniques have been used and in the end (it is about the result) it has been printed with the highest resolution possible.

This said, it perhaps gives you more understanding on the price tag of 4000 Euro. I am pretty sure that the serious Daytona collectors consider this to be the Rolex Daytona Bible. As a vintage Daytona collector, I also assume that reference work like this is absolutely necessary to be sure on every little detail when you buy one of these beauties.

Photos from the Ultimate Book website

Go to the official Ultimate Rolex Daytona – The Ultimate Book website for some preview pages and make your reservation whenever applicable

Rolex doesn’t seem to make too much noise about their 100 year anniversary, but Guido and Franca Mondani do! Yet another great book from the famous publisher Mondani is this “100 Years of Rolex“-book, written by himself and his wife.

This book covers the Rolex-story (about founder Hans Wilsdorf and the Heiniger-family who are running the Rolex organization since 1963) from 1908 till now, including the introduction of the Rolex Deep Sea-Dweller during the Basel fair of 2008. The book covers all important Rolex watches of the last century by publishing great detailed photographs of these watches, where Mondani also favors Rolex collectors by putting much effort in capturing details of bezels, bracelets, boxes and papers. All texts in this book are in Italian as well as in English.

As the pictures above and below indicate, the book has a nice and almost complete overview of watches that were introduced in a certain year. Besides that, the book comes with a smaller booklet with estimates of modern and vintage Rolex wristwatches. Additionally, Rolex dealers (authorized and unauthorized) placed ads in this booklet which might be usefull when you are planning to buy or sell your Rolex timepiece. Our own blog sponsor SubGMT is also listed in this section.

This book is limited to 4000 pieces, which makes it even a nicer ‘wannahave‘. Gone is gone I guess and I am more than happy to have my copy. It is a nice addition to Mondani’s ‘Collecting GMT-Master watches’ and ‘Collecting modern and vintage Rolex watches’ books, but certainly interesting when you don’t have either of these books. 100 Years of Rolex covers all watch series produced by Rolex, either vintage or modern and is very up-to-date.

SubGMT sells 100 Years of Rolex (over 340 pages and an extra booklet with collectors price guide) for the special price of 299 Euro (normally 350 Euro)!

Click this link if you are outside The Netherlands. SubGMT is a trusted party for all your (modern and vintage) Rolex purchases.