Rebecca Struthers: “Hands of Time. A Watchmaker´s History of Time” is a journey through history, a comprehensive compendium, a rich historical reference book about time, clocks, movements, craft, material, significant inventions, and the people who made them.
At Quill & Pad we love reading books as much as we love writing them (on occasion). Here is a selection of inspiring books published in 2022, suitable for gifting or reading at any time of year.
Michael Clerizo sat down at Watches and Wonders 2022 to talk to the watch world at large about Scott Lenga’s just-published book, ‘The Watchmakers,’ the true story of how Scott’s father Harry used watchmaking as a survival skill as a Jewish prisoner in a Nazi labor camp. Here we have the full discussion on video.
The inaugural edition of ‘The Watch Annual’ came out just before Christmas 2020, and now Elizabeth Doerr is pleased to hold the second edition – ‘The Watch Annual’ 2021 – in her hands. This book is about the watch community, a reflection of social media, the watch fam, and, of course, new watch releases. But it’s also about something else too: charity, appreciation, and giving back.
Some wine books are absolute must-haves for any serious, wine-obsessed drinker/collector. Jasper Morris’ ‘Inside Burgundy,’ released just over a decade ago, is right at up the top of that list. Put simply, it was as thorough and thoroughly competent an examination of a region and its wines as exists anywhere. And Morris has just released an updated second edition, which Ken Gargett reviews here.
Elizabeth Doerr was particularly pleased to receive a copy of ‘Konstantin Chaykin: Haute Horlogerie With Russian Soul’ and to discover it was expertly written by Alexey Kutkovoy, both of whom she has known and respected for many years. Her verdict? “There is nothing left to say but ‘spectacular’.”
To celebrate the 300th anniversary of the birth of its founder, Jaquet Droz commissioned a big, beautiful book written by Swiss historian Dr. Sandrine Girardier. Elizabeth Doerr reviews ‘The Worlds of Jaquet Droz’ here.
‘The Watch Annual’ 2020 by Justin Hast and James Allen is a 172-page book featuring 72 watches from a large variety of price points and categories submitted by 40 contributors from 19 different countries. It is a book for watch lovers by watch lovers, coming from the so-called #watchfam. And it gives back. What’s not to like?
Whether ‘Stalin’s Wine Cellar’ is a journey about chasing fakes, or if these bottles hidden away in the former Soviet Union are genuine, the story makes for a rollicking saga. And if the bottles are genuine, who really did own them and what on earth might they be worth? The tale takes us on twist after twist and has been described as “Raiders of the Lost Ark for wine lovers.” Ken Gargett couldn’t put the book down.
Any time is an appropriate time to gift a watch lover with a book containing well-written words and beautiful photos of watches. At Quill & Pad we love reading books as much as we love writing them (on occasion). Here Elizabeth Doerr shares a selection of inspiring books we have reviewed, suitable for gifting or reading at any time of year. But especially this time of year!
