Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Watchmaking Hardcover – May 3, 2011
Purchase options and add-ons
Twenty-eight years after its first publication, the best-selling Watchmaking continues to inspire and encourage the art of watchmaking, especially among new generations of enthusiasts. As a supreme master of his art, George Daniels' advice is constantly sought by both students and watch repairers, his understanding of the problems that can beset the would-be watchmaker, especially in an age of mass production, and his expert knowledge of the history of watchmaking being second to none.
Here, the making of the precision timekeeper is described step-by-step and illustrated at each stage with line drawings and brief explanatory captions. The text is easy to follow and care has been taken to avoid complicated technical descriptions. As Daniels is particularly interested in the development of the escapement - many are described in this book, several of his own design - the reader is encouraged to explore this aspect of watchmaking in even greater detail.
This classic handbook still remains indispensable to generations of watchmakers and repairers, and also provides a fascinating insight to the enthusiast and watch-collector who, until its publication, had rarely been able to admire the superb craftsmanship of a fine watch without understanding how it works.
- Print length462 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPhilip Wilson Publishers
- Publication dateMay 3, 2011
- Dimensions8 x 1.25 x 10.75 inches
- ISBN-100856677043
- ISBN-13978-0856677045
Frequently bought together

Similar items that may ship from close to you
Editorial Reviews
Review
"I truly believe that this book [...] will be held in high esteem both by its future collectors, as well as by the common watch enthusiast looking for a publication that summarizes their favorite hobby and presents its secrets in an easily understandable way." - A Blog to Watch
"Watchmaking by George Daniels is a very fascinating book, a must read for everybody interested in the watchmaking." - www.learnwatchmaking.com
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Philip Wilson Publishers; New edition (May 3, 2011)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 462 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0856677043
- ISBN-13 : 978-0856677045
- Item Weight : 3.65 pounds
- Dimensions : 8 x 1.25 x 10.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #35,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Clearly Daniels was a master of this craft and he also had a world view of the watchmaking industry. You learn that the expensive high quality mechanical watches from Switzerland are still made in batches (series) where the parts are mass produced. Daniels' approach reverts to the one of a kind, hand made watch where every part is produced by hand. There is no mass production.
Concerning the various subsystems that make up a watch, Daniels goes through all of them, explaining how they work and their advantages and disadvantages. On the topic of movements (escapements) he starts with the primitive verge escapement and takes it from there through the standard lever designs to his modern invention known as the coaxial escapement. He provides much detail in how these movements actually work. Daniels clearly had a great knowledge of the past great watchmakers such a Breguet and Arnold to name a few. And it is also clear that Daniels was guided but not a copier of these classic mechanical watch designs. He completely understood their mechanisms and used that knowledge to innovate and make significant design improvements and breakthroughs such as his coaxial escapement.
Daniels understands the interplay between the watch consumer and the watchmaker/watchmaking industry. The fact that we still have a thriving industry in mechanical watches in a world were an electronic quartz watch can be more accurate and cost much less, shows that there is still a viable market for those who value a high quality, high priced, mechanical timepieces.
Daniels' timepieces required thousands of hours to complete and because of their quality and function, he was able to keep this art form alive appealing to connoisseurs who are willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to own one of these unique timepieces.
I think that Daniels wrote this book because he wanted to leave a legacy to future generations about his work and unique accomplishments that might otherwise be forgotten as the world continues to move from a real representation of things to a digitally contrived artificial representation. Hopefully, the fascination and appreciation of fine mechanical timepieces will continue and this book will continue to be a source for building or at least deciphering them.
Daniels makes things beyond simple, despite their apparent complexity. While I am far from putting, as I said, the majority of the book into practice, I understand conceptually how every single thing in this book works on a mechanical level after about 3 complete reads. I have put a lot of what I've learned into use in my own watchmaking, and it shows. Daniels truly is one of the most important figures ever to touch the art of horology. Even just as a casual coffee table book, this one is a gem. The diagrams and explanations are beyond compare. If you are an engineer or mechanically inclined person of any field, you will delight in reading this. One of the best books I have ever had the privilege of reading.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in Mexico on October 26, 2020



















