The Watch, Thoroughly Revised Kindle Edition

It's got a lot of good material, but while it's thoroughly revised, it doesn't feel thorough. Important, obscure terms are mentioned that aren't defined anywhere. Brands are mentioned offhand without any context. Important watches are described in some detail (like the Santos) then not pictured. The index is sorely lacking in entries. It feels more like a large, casual (and under-edited) brochure than a serious reference. For a book of this nature of this size, I expect to occasionally need to pull out a computer to look something up, but I don't think I should have to every few minutes.Also, there're strange errors that leave me scratching my head. For example, on page 195, there's a picture of what's described as the Grand Seiko SBGA11 dated in the book as from 2010... except the dial is the 2017-onward SBGA211! Not to mention most of the watches pictured date no later than the middle of this decade... Now that I'm almost done with this book, I'm left lowering my review from four to three stars because it's really quite an average book.

Overall I like the book but it could be improved. The photography is decent but isn’t the greatest for detail shots which need great lighting and contrast for movement details. You’ll find some blown out highlights and details lost in shadows for some of those. A few typos also made it past the copy editors.Lack of movement shots is probably the biggest downfall of the book in general. Many historical or interesting movements are referenced but then never shown and 95% of the book is pictures of the watch face. There are also watches mentioned in the scarce text that are never shown in pictures which is a little disappointing as well for what is largely a picture book.It’s definitely worth a purchase and a nice book overall. It’s probably that it had such good potential that I was slightly, but not terribly, disappointed.

This book is a photo collection featuring some of the most famous watches of fifty iconic brands. The photos are beautiful and that is enough to make this book enjoyable. However, I think the real value of this book is that it helps the collector develop a critical eye for beauty. The joy of watch collecting is in the subtle differences between different watches. This is a great book for helping a budding collector refine their understanding of what is beautiful and therefore desirable. Highly recommended!

This is a very interesting book. They have the thoughts of the men who own some of these rare and beautiful watches. How they got into collecting them. It's fascinating! Of course this book delves into the history and shows beautiful photography of gorgeous watches of the highest quality. It's stunning! The photography shows up beautifully on the Kindle edition! I love it!

Great collection of brands and stories. Some notable news missing yet it’s a comprehensive overview of the main brands today and on the recent past.

Great information and high quality pictures for reference.

Excellent book. The writing and photography are superb. As a lover of all things watches this book certainly satisfies.

This is a great and interesting coffee table book. I love watches, and this book tells the history of the watch makers and also explains the complications by each. It's a great book for watch nerds.

I am more of a vintage watch collector and for me there were two many photographs of post-2000 watches, and not enough of the classics from each maison (apart from the biggest brands). For example Bulova had only one Accutron, despite this being one of the best-selling ranges of all time, Eberhard had no Scafograf, GP had no Gyromatic, no 50s or 60s Seamaster, no 1601 Datejust, and get this, no vintage Seikos at all, not one. Considering 2019 is the 50th anniversary of the automatic chronometer, for which the 6139 was first to market, this is unforgivable.The relative space given to brands is also questionable:Breitling - only 4 pagesBulova - only 2 pagesElgin - only 2 pages, but Hamilton 6Seiko - a measly 4 pagesAnd yet:Cartier - 8 pagesGreubel Forsey (who?) - 4 pagesHermes, Hublot, Laurent Ferrier, Montblanc, Ressence (seriously?)If you want pictures of watches produced in 2016/17/18 go get a catalogue, you’ll get far more information. I would rather have seen this space, probably more than 50% of the book, being used on beautiful photography of many more classic vintage models. As such this is a very good wide overview of major luxury brands, but I feel not really academic enough for the serious collector. None of the watch descriptions indicate any dimensions or calibre information, probably rejected for being too techy.A very Hodinkee kind of book. Take that as you will.

I work in the watch industry and it's a fantastic book for me personally, but that's to be expected as Stephen Pulvirent is arguably the world's pre-eminent watch journalist working today. What I thought was particularly impressive though was how well received the book was by my colleagues working in the studio whose interests came more from a jewellery or engineering background. It's rare for a book to have that broad appeal.

This is book is amazing, very well written. It’s a great way to have a good overview of the watch industry with incredible reference.As a watch enthusiast I can not recommend this book enough, great work!

The recipient of this book is very pleased with it. Informative and well illustrated.

Superb quality both inside and out, couldn’t recommend the book enough especially at this price.