Product Description

Each year brings hundreds of new wristwatch designs, with aesthetic and mechanical changes and improvements, limited edition watches, and new producers, keeping this field exciting for collectors. Following the success of last year's book, this new annual features over 1,700 of the world's most luxurious wristwatches and provides color photographs and complete specifications for each watch. With Wristwatch Annual, collectors have a wealth of information close at hand: the book is arranged alphabetically by producer, and within each producer's section are specifications and materials for each watch, including price, movement, special features, complications, case, dial, band, and available variations of a particular model. A glossary and pronunciation guide help acclimate the reader to the world of fine timepieces, and, for prospective buyers, the addresses of all featured producers are listed together. The elegant photography and layout will encourage people to peruse the year's offerings for aesthetic appeal as well. The range of styles, from classic to modern, reflects the inclusive nature of this book, which watch collectors the world over will find both a handy reference and required reading.

1700 full-color illustrations

Featured Manufacturers: Alpina; Svend Anderson; Angular Momentum; Anonimo; Arnold & Son; Audemars Piguet; Ball Watch Company; Baume & Mercier; Bell & Ross; Ernst Benz; Blancpain; blu; Rainer Brand; Martin Braun; Breguet; Breitling; Carl F. Bucherer; Bvlgari; Cartier; Chase-Durer; Chopard; Chronoswiss; Frédérique Constant; Corum; d. freemont; Davosa; De Grisogono; Doxa; Dubey & Schaldenbrand; Roger Dubuis; Dunhill; Ebel; Eberhard & Co.; Epos; Eterna; Jacques Etoile; Carlo Ferrara; Fortis; Gérald Genta; Gevril; Girard-Perregaux; Glashütte Original; Glycine; Graham; Hanhart; Harwood; Hermès; Hublot; IWC; Jacob & Co.; Jaeger-LeCoultre; Jaquet Droz; JeanRichard; Kobold; Maurice Lacroix; A. Lange & Söhne; Limes; Longines; Marcello C.; Meistersinger; Mido; Daniel Mink; Montblanc; Movado; Mühle; Franck Muller; Ulysse Nardin; NBY; Armand Nicolet; Nivrel; Nomos; Omega; Oris; Panerai; Parmigiani; Patek Philippe; Piaget; Paul Picot; Poljot-International; Porsche Design; Rado; Auguste Reymond; RGM; Rolex; Daniel Roth; Scalfaro; Jörg Schauer; Alain Silberstein; Sinn; Sothis; Stowa; Swiss Army; TAG Heuer; Temption; Tissot; Tudor; Tutima; Union; Vacheron Constantin; Ventura; Vollmer; George J von Burg; Harry Winston; Xemex; Dino Zei; Zenith; Zeno.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51106 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 456 pages

About the Author
Peter Braun is editor-in-chief of Germany's renowned wristwatch magazine, Armbanduhren.

Customer Reviews

Great watch reference book
If you're like me and you find watches to be absolutely amazing, then this is a great way to become familiar with the incredible number of manufacturers out there. This catalog does focus mostly on the European and the occasional US manufacturer. Obviously, most are Swiss, but there are the great gems from Russia, Germany, and Italy.

What this catalog does very well is provide terrific glossy photos of beautiful pieces. There's also a informative biography of the manufacturer, which usually provides a brief history and what makes that particular manufacturer unique. The details provided for each watch and/or movement are very helpful. And for those that aren't familiar with all the terms used, there's a glossary (albeit in a strange place) that can help describe what the many terms mean.

Now for my pros/cons

Pros
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- An incredible number of photos of each watch and movements (for those companies that manufacture their own movements).
- Great amount of detail on each watch/movement
- Perfect amount of biographical information about each manufacturer
- List price for nearly every watch. Many manufacturer catalogs are no longer including this information

Cons
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- Glossary is in the front of the catalog. Should be in the back
- The glossary is nice, but there are still many terms missing. One of them is 'sweeping seconds'. Now, I know what that is, but some newbies may not. There are a couple of other manufacturer-specific terms, which would be beneficial if they were in the main glossary
- The manufacturer bio should include as much information as possible, such as: website, address, phone numbers, etc... Instead, that information is located in the back of the catalog. It would be more useful to put that information on the bio page

Overall, this is a great catalog (more like a book!). If you're interested in watches and/or would like to learn more, this is a really great place to start.

Marvelous Book
This is my first Wristwatch Annual guide, and I am very impressed. I do not know much about wristwatches, except that I find them exceptionally gorgeous, and would love to have an entire collection.

The book is thick and heavy. The cover is glossy, and all the pages are nice and crisp. The quality of the paper feels like what you would find in a typical magazine. There are ads in the book for multiple watch brands, which is an added bonus since most of us really are buying this book just to see the pictures of the watches.

Each page displays about 6 watches, and details the specs of the watch, and MSRP. Each brand has a short history, and description followed by pictures of the watches. It doesn't display all the models available for each brand, but does show more of the recent ones. The pictures show only the face, and partially the band.

I don't know of any factual errors in the book as I do not know watches too well, but from what I see, I am satisfied. It's a great book for watch lovers, and you will be amazed at all the brands that are available. I highly recommend this book. Check out some of my pictures to get an idea of what the inside looks like.

WRISTWATCH ANNUAL 2009
TOP NOTCH PHOTOGRAPHY AND INFO ON LATEST HIGH END WATCHES. A MUST FOR A WATCH GEEK