Great Timepieces of the World

Masterful timepieces, made by the hands of craftsmen in the mountains of Switzerland, are increasingly drawing the attention of collectors and connoisseurs around the world. The timepieces are fascinating not only because they keep precision time with engines built by man, but often because they offer more than time-telling features, such as mechanisms that record the times of athletes in competition, tell the lunar phase, signal the hour with a gong, or tell the time in several places over the world, all smoothly and intricately finished inside small cases that fit on the wrist.

Stunningly complex, tiny parts, some as thin as a hair, are assembled in designs so artful and beautiful that proud craftsmen leave their work open for display through sapphire glass in what are known as skeleton timepieces.

This book features full-color photographs of these treasures and traces man's obsession with time to today's present leaders in the watchmaking industry, including Breguet, Breitling, Blancpain, Franck Muller, Patek-Philippe, and Piaget.