Man and His Watch, A: Iconic Watches and Stories from the Men Who Wore Them
£26.60£34.20 (-22%)
“I’ve paged through stacks of books on the history of watches. . . . But I hadn’t come across a book that actually moved me until I picked up A Man and His Watch. The volume is filled with heartfelt stories.”-T: The New York Times Style Magazine
“There are a bunch of beautifully illustrated watch books out there, but A Man & His Watch by Matt Hranek is more than that. It speaks to the nature of watches as deeply personal items.”-Gear Patrol, Coffee Table Books Our Staff Can’t Live Without
Paul Newman wore his Rolex Daytona every single day for 35 years until his death in 2008. The iconic timepiece, probably the single most sought-after watch in the world, is now in the possession of his daughter Clea, who wears it every day in his memory. Franklin Roosevelt wore an elegant gold Tiffany watch, gifted to him by a friend on his birthday, to the famous Yalta Conference where he shook the hands of Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill. JFK’s Omega worn to his presidential inauguration, Ralph Lauren’s watch purchased from Andy Warhol’s personal collection, Sir Edmund Hillary’s Rolex worn during the first-ever summit of Mt. Everest . . . these and many more compose the stories of the world’s most coveted watches captured in A Man and His Watch.
Matthew Hranek, a watch collector and NYC men’s style fixture, has travelled the world conducting first-hand interviews and diving into exclusive collections to gather the never-before-told stories of 76 watches, completed with stunning original photography of every single piece.
Through these intimate accounts and Hranek’s storytelling, the watches become more than just timepieces and status symbols; they represent historical moments, pioneering achievements, heirlooms, family mementos, gifts of affection, and lifelong friendships.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Artisan, 1st edition (1 Nov. 2017) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 176 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1579657141 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1579657147 |
| Dimensions | 27.94 x 17.78 x 2.79 cm |
by BAK
A gift to a huge watch fan.
Said it was one of best he’d read and the different angles/views/perspectives was very interesting
Made it real, like people who love watches for a purpose, a memory. Not for the “bling”
by Neil
I bought this book based on the many glowing testimonies online and its ubiquitous occurrence in top ten lists of essential books about watches. It’s basically just a series of short eulogies to individual watches that are significant to the men in question. Yes of course they are all men – the clue is in the title I suppose.. This might have been fine if there had been some attempt (in an introductory chapter, perhaps linked to guidance for the contributors) to explore a relationship between wrist watches and masculinity, but there isn’t really. It would have been exactly the same type of book if it had included women (and it would probably have been better).
The format of the book is exactly what you might get if you had posted a question on an online forum (“talk about a watch that’s important to you “) and then collated all of the posts. There’s nothing much to draw it all together – no real theme, narrative or analysis. The most disappointing aspect of it is that it might have worked if the contributors had been more interesting. With a few notable exceptions, however, they are all people in the author’s personal social bubble – watch website editors and commentators, fashion designers, people who run the New York restaurants he goes to… As an indication of how skewed the contributor selection is, while the majority of them are people involved in the watch “industry”, I don’t think there is a single actual watchmaker amongst them.
The book is stuffed with banal cliches masquerading as profundities, often from the sorts of people who were given cast-off high-value luxury watches by their fathers when they were kids and who boast about flying to the other side of the world to pick up rare watches they fancy. There are a few genuinely moving stories about watches that have profound personal significance, but in these cases the story rarely has much to do with any objective attributes of particular watch in question.
This isn’t necessarily an awful book, it’s just not a very good one and I can’t understand why it’s so frequently recommended.
by Mrs Linda T Hare
Bought this for my son and he loved it
by Amazon Customer
Bought as a present & recipient loved it
by L. Crowe
Purchased for my husband as a Father’s Day gift. He loved it and says he can’t wait to read it. The imagery in the book is beautiful, very well thought out and well made. To top it off, the front of the book has my husband’s favourite Rolex watch, which he noted made it extra special. A great gift idea for any male watch enthusiast or for the guy who has everything! Extra points because it makes the perfect coffee table book. Looks elegant and something a bit different to the usual designer coffee table books that have become so mainstream and generic.
by Peter Shaw
What a great book for anyone who loves watches.
by fiona osborne
Really informative and pictures are great
by Maria Cristina Austria Ramos
I’ve bought this book for me and for a gift, my friend loved it. The stories of these men are really fascinating and wonderful.
I hope he writes another book!
I am definitely recommending this book to anyone who likes luxury watches.