Hands of Time: A Watchmaker's History by Rebecca Struthers

 

Summary (from the publisher): "As impeccably crafted and precisely engineered as any of the watches on which the author has worked so lovingly over the years, this book is a joy to behold and a wonder to enjoy.” –Simon Winchester, author of The Perfectionists and Land.

An award-winning watchmaker—one of the few practicing the art in the world today—chronicles the invention of time through the centuries-long story of one of mankind’s most profound technological the watch. Timepieces have long accompanied us on our travels, from the depths of the oceans to the summit of Everest, the ice of the arctic to the sands of the deserts, outer space to the surface of the moon. The watch has sculpted the social and economic development of modern society; it is an object that, when disassembled, can give us new insights both into the motivations of inventors and craftsmen of the past, and, into the lives of the people who treasured them. Hands of Time is a journey through watchmaking history, from the earliest attempts at timekeeping, to the breakthrough in engineering that gave us the first watch, to today – where the timepieces hold cultural and historical significance beyond what its first creators could have imagined. 

Acclaimed watchmaker Rebecca Struthers uses the most important watches throughout history to explore their attendant paradigm shifts in how we think about time, indeed how we think about our own humanity. From an up-close look at the birth of the fakes and forgeries industry which marked the watch as a valuable commodity, to the watches that helped us navigate trade expeditions, she reveals how these instruments have shaped how we build and then consequently make our way through the world. 

A fusion of art and science, history and social commentary, this fascinating work, told in Struthers’s lively voice and illustrated with custom line drawings by her husband and fellow watchmaker Craig, is filled with her personal observations as an expert watchmaker—one of the few remaining at work in the world today. Horology is a vast subject—the “study of time.” This compelling history offers a fresh take, exploring not only these watches within their time, but the role they played in human development and the impact they had on the people who treasured them. 

Review: I received a copy of this book from HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review. 

One of the few practicing watchmakers left in the world chronicles the history of time and the creation of the watch through human history, interlaced with the author's own experiences with a vast array of watches. This book begins with the very first known evidence of humans' attempts to track time, to the first clocks every made to modern day timepieces. This history provides insight into the cultural and historical significance of time and the shifts in human behavior that have gone hand-in-hand with changes in the way we think about and use time. 

Struthers is such an ideal author for this book, because her decades of experience of studying and working with watches is embedded within every page: "Now watchmakers like Craig and me are a rare breed. In 2012 we set up on our own, becoming just one of a handful of firms in the UK with the skills to make mechanical watches from scratch and to restore antique watches from the last five centuries. But the course we trained on no longer exists. The Heritage Crafts Red List of Endangered Crafts (much like the Red List of Threatened Species but for craft) currently lists artisanal watchmaking as a critically endangered skill in the UK" (xi). Her deep love, understanding, and expertise regarding watches is evident throughout. Rather than just relaying the history, she makes this book personal through her own depth of knowledge. 

This was such an interesting survey through time and about time of human's interaction with timekeeping and watches. From 44,000-year-old human artifacts to sea exploration to Mount Everest and from rigorous eighteenth-century watchmaking standards to World War I trenches, Struthers relays fascinating anecdotes along the road of the evolution of timekeeping and watches. I really enjoyed this. 

Stars: 4