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Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2023
288 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
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 achievements: 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 time-keeping, 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.
"An acclaimed expert provides a striking account of watches, their history, and their social impact...A beautiful story about beautiful things from someone who knows everything there is to know about the field." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Watchmaker and antiquarian horologist Struthers debuts with a vivid history of her craft.... Heartfelt and deeply knowledgeable, this is an elegant tribute to a timeless art form." —Publishers Weekly
"There is a tendency for watch writing to be a closed shop – to get bogged down in the technicalities of watches and watches alone. Hands of Time puts them into cultural and historical context, combines that with the story of Rebecca's singular career, and assembles the parts against a backdrop of the whole history of time. It's also a really fun read." —Esquire
"This is a work of staggering complexity and bewildering economy – highly deserving of the time you give it." —Telegraph (UK)
"Every page glitters with details of her experience and the people she has learned from. The book is evidence of a lifelong labor of love, and reading it is time well spent." —The Spectator
"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 exquisite book, as beautifully put together as one of the watches whose mechanisms Rebecca describes." —Stephen Fry
This information about Hands of Time was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Rebecca Struthers is a watchmaker and historian from Birmingham, England. She cofounded her workshop, Struthers Watchmakers, in 2012, with her husband, Craig. Together they use heritage equipment and traditional artisan techniques to restore antiquarian pieces and craft bespoke watches.
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