A Man & His Watch

"Every watch tells a story" may sound like an old cliché, but in the coffee-table book "A Man & His Watch," author Matt Hranek proves that if it's true, the results are something special. The author speaks with people from different careers and with different watch-related interests and introduces us to an artist who has worn the same digital watch for 20 years, a racing driver with a small collection of trophy watches from his legendary career and a chef whose precious watch was a special anniversary gift.

What connects all these men is that the watch they put on their wrists every day has enormous personal meaning and is a small totem of who they are, where they have been and where they hope to go. Through the stories of the watches - and with the big, beautiful images by photographer Stephen Lewis - we get small, insightful biographies of the characters who own them.

Paul Newman wore his Rolex Daytona 35 years every day until his death in 2008. The iconic timepiece is the most sought-after watch in the world. Franklin Roosevelt wore an elegant gold Tiffany watch on his wrist with which he shook hands with Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill. JFK was inseparable from his Omega Speedmaster, which he also wore at his presidential inauguration. Ralph Lauren's bought his Cartier Tank watch from Andy Warhol''s personal collection. These and 76 more stories of the world's most coveted watches are captured in A Man & His Watch.

If you are as interested in the origins of a watch as you are in its caliber, this is a perfect book for you. To enjoy it, you don't need to know the difference between a balance wheel and a mainspring. It is a fascinating reminder that it is ultimately the stories with which we load our watches that give them meaning far beyond the gears and pinions that make them tick.

Specifications
Title: A Man & His Watch
Author: Matt Hranek
Publisher: Artisan
Size: 181 x 281 x 29 mm
Size: 216 pages
Weight: 1228 grams
Language: English
Material: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781579657147