This massive book explores the history of the iconic model from a broad cultural perspective, starting with the watch-world stir it created upon its release and tracing its evolution into a cultural artifact of its time, incorporating archival materials uncovered by Audemars Piguet’s heritage department as well as exclusive testimonies from longtime “friends of the brand.” Six decades’ worth of stunning imagery from the worlds of fashion, art, architecture, music, and other cultural touchpoints accompany the story of the Royal Oak’s evolution. It blazed a trail for many stylistic descendants that followed throughout the ensuing decades and has also proven to be a canvas for innovation in the areas of materials, complications, and bold design. An outlier when it was introduced in 1972, the first steel watch that strove for the same ennobled status as a gold one, the Royal Oak nevertheless found an audience among youthful, free-spirited enthusiasts who appreciated its fusion of avant-garde industrial and elegantly traditional elements. ROYAL OAK: FROM ICONOCLAST TO ICON By Bill PrinceĪudemars Piguet’s Royal Oak famously turned 50 in 2022, and that anniversary year appropriately saw the release of this hardcover tribute to the iconic, forward-looking timepiece, penned by award-winning journalist and former British GQ editor Bill Prince. 97975, the earliest known perpetual calendar wristwatch, romantic complications like the Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Planétarium from 2014, and audacious masterpieces of technical and cultural inventiveness like 2022’s Jacob & Co. Along with coveted pieces like rarities from Audemars Piguet, Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Richard Mille, Rolex and Vacheron Constantin, the expanded edition includes historical rarities like the 1925 Patek Philippe Ref. With more than 150 illustrations on hand-bound, art-quality pages, the book examines one of the most exciting and dynamic periods in human history through the prism of timepieces, reflecting the century’s incredible technological advances and social changes, from the invention of the airplane, through the world wars, all the way to the dawn of the digital age. Its 168 pages showcase the 100 “breakthrough timepieces” that have been developed since the beginning of the 20th century - with each selected timepiece judged on criteria of rarity, costliness, innovative functions, historical importance, provenance and aesthetic excellence. THE IMPOSSIBLE COLLECTION OF WATCHES By Nicholas Foulkesįirst published in 2014, this seminal, best-selling coffee table book by British historian and journalist Nicholas Foulkes was re-released in an expanded edition in 2022. Along the way you’ll learn about Paul Newman’s Daytona, discover the watch FDR wore to the historic Yalta conference after World War II, and experience the dozens of individual stories of how a watch won over its owner. The tales range from the historic to the intimate, from the Omega that JFK wore to his inauguration, to the Rolex that Sir Edmund Hilary wore on Everest, to the watch that Ralph Lauren purchased from Andy Warhol’s private collection, all the way through to the timepiece that motivated Hodinkee founder Ben Clymer to pursue his dream. Brown, a men’s luxury lifestyle magazine, weaves together a plethora of sentimental stories about prized personal watches in a series of interviews with celebrities and influential figures from the world of horology. Hranek, author of A Man & His Car as well as two cocktail tomes and the founder of Wm. Perhaps no book in recent memory has explored the deep and unbreakable bond between watch owners and their most beloved timepieces quite as compellingly as A Man and his Watch, which offers not only the expected high-end photos, provided by Vogue and Dujour contributor Stephen Lewis, but also a host of personal memoirs by a collection of luminaries never before assembled between two covers. A MAN AND HIS WATCH: ICONIC WATCHES & STORIES FROM THE MEN WHO WORE THEM By Matt Hranek Here we spotlight 10 of the best watch books out there today, several of which you can acquire right here on. Learn more here.Īs we all muddle through the dead of Winter (at least here in the eastern U.S.) and await the coming of Spring and more frequent outdoor activities, many of us are finding ourselves keeping warm inside, with more time to curl up with a good book and read. As any watch enthusiast knows, a good, compelling watch book - whether devoted to a particular brand and its history, a niche category, or a broad narrative about timepieces and culture - can be a very worthwhile way to while away some quiet hours and delve deeper into their passion at the same time. 0% interest for up to 24 months available on select brands.
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