Hands of Time: A Watchmaker's History

"A hugely entertaining achievement." –Esquire

“An engaging survey through a period of intellectual history that reveals as much about people who wear watches as the objects on their wrists." – Wall Street Journal

"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 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 of science 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.

This compelling work of narrative nonfiction reveals:

• A History of Innovation: Trace the centuries-long journey of time-keeping, from the earliest mechanical devices to the breakthrough in engineering that gave us the first watch.
• Technology and Society: Discover how the watch sculpted social and economic development, becoming a valuable commodity that sparked a fakes and forgeries industry.
• The Art of Horology: Gain unparalleled insight from one of the world’s few practicing watchmakers, who reveals the fusion of art and science behind these treasured instruments.
• An Expert’s Perspective: Go inside the craft with personal observations and custom line drawings that bring the mechanics and wonder of these timepieces to life.

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. In 2017 Rebecca became the first watchmaker in British history to earn a PhD in horology. Rebecca is one of the few remaining horologists in the world making timepieces from scratch. She lives in Staffordshire with Craig; her dog, Archie; cats Isla and Alabama; and Morrissey the mouse.