5Posted by Robert-Jan Broer on Jan 12, 2005
When I came after work last evening, a big box from Amazon was waiting for me! I didn’t expect this, because it slipped my mind already that I had ordered this book some time ago. Anyway, after unwrapping it, I was immediately impressed by the finish of the book. It wasn’t flimsy (which I exptected it to be, by the price) and the pictures inside were very nicely done at first glance.
Because of the current Euro – US Dollar ratio, it is very interesting for us Europeans to order books, cd’s etc from the USA. Finally justice, because books and cd’s are normally way more expensive here than in the USA.
Anyway, the authors of this book really have done their work it seems. The book is some sort of mixture between the writing and introductiontexts of “Rolex Wristwatches an Unauthorized History” by Dowling and Hess (the Rolex authorities) and the photographs per model (sports models from 1952 to 1990) brings the Rolex standard to mind from Osvaldo Patrizzi, “Rolex, Collecting Wristwatches”.
It focussus on the Milgauss, Submariner, Sea-Dweller, GMT-Master, Explorer, Daytona/Cosmograph models from the early days till approx 1990. It also has sections with tips for collectors, pictures of Rolex boxes (usefull if you have to search for the correct box with your vintage watch, which can become a real queste if you don’t have the right resources), bracelets etc.
To me, the book by Osvaldo Patrizzi (click here to see it) is about untouchable in terms of ‘credibility’, but the book by Martin Skeet (collector) and Nick Urul (watchdealer) is a very nice addition to your collection of watchbooks. And for the price (58 USD), you can’t go wrong! Especially when you live in a country with the Euro-currency!
Last week I also bought a book from Miller’s. About collecting watches and appraising them, which is hard to write about in general (for ‘every watch’). I will write my opinion about that one as soon as I have the time to read it through, because I think it is a gift if you can appraise just every watch without specializing in them. 
