I wondered if anyone could point me in the direction of one or two good books on the mechanics of watches? Not so much from the point of view of servicing or repairing but just a general appreciation of what the bits do Commute-friendly paperback would be ideal if such a book exists. Thanks!
And here http://omegaforums.net/threads/best-omega-reference-books.3357/ I also found Max Cutmore Collecting and Repairing Watches very useful
If you really want to understand how watches and their various functions work, rather than repair methods, then The Theory of Horology is the book that will do that. It is the standard textbook for most watchmaking schools, but it is certainly not commuter friendly - hardcover and quite large. http://www.amazon.com/The-Theory-Horology-Charles-Andre-Reymondin/dp/B000BD6ARI Cheers, Al
While we are on the subject, does anyone have a thought or two about this book: http://www.amazon.com/Watchmaking-G...d_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=09GEVXMB3M9M81YYSN2P
I have the book, and it's not really for a collector unless you are a real Daniels fan. He does go into a lot of detail that I can only imagine a collector would find pretty boring, unless you really have a keen interest in how to make tools for watchmaking... Cheers, Al
Thanks Al. That's certainly the kind of thing I had in mind but perhaps in a more condensed and, ahem, cheaper format . But good to know all the same.
Textbooks are never cheap I'm afraid. Certainly DeCarle's books can be helpful in understanding some things, but they are generally geared towards repairs, so rather than spend the majority of time on the fundamentals, they talk about (old and in many cases obsolete) repair techniques. If you want to know the basics, this video actually does a very good job at helping people understand that a basic watch is simply a device for regulating the release of a spring... For more advanced things, DeCarle's "Complicated Watches and Their Repair" will show you some complications besides just simple automatics with date. Cheers, Al
I found this book really interesting and another one that is very informative, with nearly 300 illustrations (mostly line drawings) is The Chronograph, Its Mechanism and Repair by B. Humbert - but then, I'm into chronographs and am fascinated by how they work.