[.ca] Complete Price Guide to Watches NO.27 (ISBN 1574325531)

very good but.......:
...it could have been more comprehensive. since i do not collect pocket watches, i don't have the need or knowledge for that part of the book. which is quite a bit of the book. nonetheless, all information is good information. as far as the wristwatches, a lot of the newer models of established brands are not included and some brands are missing altogether. this i find to be a shortcoming for a most recent edition of a book dedicated to watches. would have also liked to see a more complete and detailed listing on comic character watches. needless to say, i collect these. would i recommend this book? yes, while adding the above caveat. the price for the book is not unreasonable. so give it 3 1/2 stars in my estimation.

Still the best source:
Despite some flaws, The Complete Price Guide to Watches is always the standard guide most often used by pocket watch and wrist watch collectors. As a military timepiece collector, I use the price guide to help identify type and date of manufacture. It is thorough and comprehensive. I can't imagine a book of this size and scope not have flaws.

It's a shame!:
I've opened this book since some hours and I still have difficulties in understanding the order in which information is gathered and ordered. It's a real mess. Many important brands are missing (for example and don't see any Westclox or Timex wristwatches), watches are ordered without any serious criteria but their brand, unrelated information is put togheter and much much worse than I can tell. Imagine you put some thousands photocopies in a box and after some years you get them out of it and publish them. Is it a book? No, it's a shame. JUST DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY.

I whish every vintage watch buyers had one:
This book was suggested to me by a watch collector 2 years ago and this is the second edition I get. As soon as I got the book, I realized I was paying too much for the watches I was buying on eBay. And sometimes the prices on are even ridiculously high. It made me a more selective and knowledgeable, although not expert, buyer. I originally found the book expensive but It turned to be a great investment. I whish every vintage watch buyers had one, the average prices would be much lower.

Basic Equiptment:
A Complete Price Guide To Watches No. 24 is an excellent book for those interested in vintage watches. This book gives you the opportunity to "see" inside a watch. It also gives you a lesson in watch history and mechanisms. Included are 400+ year old to modern era battery operated watches. If you are a watch dealer you already have this book. If you are an enthusiast you should have it. It's basic equiptment. It can help guide you as to what to pay for a watch of the manufacturer/type/year...etc of your liking. At over 1000 pages long it's a bit beefy for a paperback. - It has to be, it contains a lot of information! You are given a detailed lesson in mechanisms and individual parts, diagrams and even samples of vintage advertisements for watches. It has tons of pics of vintage watches grouped by manufacturer, along with manufacturer's histories and serial #'s to boot! This book can also give you a new sense of appreciation for a dizzyingly complex mechanism so finely tuned; it can work accurately for hours on just the winding of an incredibly tiny spring. If you are in the watch hobby/business you'll find yourself referring this book time and time again.