A Grand Complication

A Grand Complication PDF Author: Stacy Perman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439190100
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 527

Get Book Here

Book Description
Two wealthy and powerful men engage in a decades-long contest to create and possess the most remarkable watch in history. James Ward Packard of Warren, Ohio, was an entrepreneur and a talented engineer of infinite curiosity, a self-made man who earned millions from his inventions, including the design and manufacture of America’s first luxury car—the elegant and storied Packard. Henry Graves, Jr., was the very essence of blue-blooded refinement in the early 1900s: son of a Wall Street financier, a central figure in New York high society, and a connoisseur of beautiful things—especially fine watches. Then, as now, expensive watches were the ultimate sign of luxury and wealth, but in the early twentieth century the limitless ambition, wealth, and creativity of these two men pushed the boundaries of mathematics, astronomy, craftsmanship, technology, and physics to create ever more ingenious timepieces. In any watch, features beyond the display of hours, minutes, and seconds are known as “complications.” Packard and Graves spurred acclaimed Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe to create the Mona Lisa of timepieces—a fabled watch that incorporated twenty-four complications and took nearly eight years to design and build. For the period, it was the most complicated watch ever created. For years it disappeared, but then it surfaced at a Sotheby’s auction in 1999, touching off a heated bidding war, shattering all known records when it fetched $11 million from an anonymous bidder. New York Times bestselling author Stacy Perman takes us from the clubby world of New York high society into the ateliers of the greatest Swiss watchmakers, and into the high-octane, often secretive subculture of modern-day watch collecting. With meticulous research, vivid historical details, and a wealth of dynamic personalities, A Grand Complication is the fascinating story of the thrilling duel between two of the most intriguing men of the early twentieth century. Above all, it is a sweeping chronicle of innovation, the desire for beauty, and the lengths people will go to possess it.

A Grand Complication

A Grand Complication PDF Author: Stacy Perman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439190100
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 527

Get Book Here

Book Description
Two wealthy and powerful men engage in a decades-long contest to create and possess the most remarkable watch in history. James Ward Packard of Warren, Ohio, was an entrepreneur and a talented engineer of infinite curiosity, a self-made man who earned millions from his inventions, including the design and manufacture of America’s first luxury car—the elegant and storied Packard. Henry Graves, Jr., was the very essence of blue-blooded refinement in the early 1900s: son of a Wall Street financier, a central figure in New York high society, and a connoisseur of beautiful things—especially fine watches. Then, as now, expensive watches were the ultimate sign of luxury and wealth, but in the early twentieth century the limitless ambition, wealth, and creativity of these two men pushed the boundaries of mathematics, astronomy, craftsmanship, technology, and physics to create ever more ingenious timepieces. In any watch, features beyond the display of hours, minutes, and seconds are known as “complications.” Packard and Graves spurred acclaimed Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe to create the Mona Lisa of timepieces—a fabled watch that incorporated twenty-four complications and took nearly eight years to design and build. For the period, it was the most complicated watch ever created. For years it disappeared, but then it surfaced at a Sotheby’s auction in 1999, touching off a heated bidding war, shattering all known records when it fetched $11 million from an anonymous bidder. New York Times bestselling author Stacy Perman takes us from the clubby world of New York high society into the ateliers of the greatest Swiss watchmakers, and into the high-octane, often secretive subculture of modern-day watch collecting. With meticulous research, vivid historical details, and a wealth of dynamic personalities, A Grand Complication is the fascinating story of the thrilling duel between two of the most intriguing men of the early twentieth century. Above all, it is a sweeping chronicle of innovation, the desire for beauty, and the lengths people will go to possess it.

A Grand Complication

A Grand Complication PDF Author: Stacy Perman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439190089
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 342

Get Book Here

Book Description
"The race between two ambitious, complicated men in the early 1900s to create the most extravagant, complicated timepiece ever"--

Grand Complications

Grand Complications PDF Author: Grit Laskin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781927958841
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Grand Complications is the story behind the story of fifty of these original designs from 2003 to the present. It is a look inside guitarmaker William "Grit" Laskin's creative process: how he teases out a client's interests and intentions, how he develops and refines his ideas, and how he brings them to life in his mind and on paper. From "Short Stories" that fill only the headstock of a guitar to full narratives that run the length of the neck, each inspired design is the product of research, deep thinking, and a little alchemy. Featured here are projects ranging from an homage to John Lennon to a paean to humpback whales to a tribute to the fall of the Berlin Wall."--

Grand complications

Grand complications PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Wrist watches
Languages : en
Pages : 582

Get Book Here

Book Description


Patek Philippe

Patek Philippe PDF Author: Nicholas Foulkes
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781848094451
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Grand Complication

The Grand Complication PDF Author: Allen Kurzweil
Publisher: Hyperion
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 372

Get Book Here

Book Description
Critically acclaimed for his international bestseller, "A Case of Curiosities," Kurzweil presents "The Grand Complication"--a modern-day tale of literary intrigue, deviant passions, and delicious secrets.

Grand Complications

Grand Complications PDF Author: Peter Roessingh
Publisher: Distanz
ISBN: 9783954763290
Category : Ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Collaborative Plants and Other Complications. Andrea Bakketun (b. 1983 in Trondheim, Norway, lives and works in Oslo) and biologist Peter Roessingh invited people from the artist's creative circle for the transdisciplinary project Grand Complications. For one year, the participants transformed the site of an old school building in Rommen, a suburb of Oslo, and the surrounding forest into a research laboratory with the aim of artistically penetrating all facets of the existing ecosystem. The resulting video works, performances, and site-specific installations are part of a canon of artistic research that expands scientific methods with the help of artistic means, recalling Paul Klee's appeal that the goal of art is not to reproduce the visible, rather to make the invisible visible. Understood as a collective whole, Grand Complications observes and translates the activities of all those participating at the Rommen site - from the plant to the artist. The publication documents the one-year work of Andrea Bakketun and her research participants. Accompanying texts, transcriptions, and poems were contributed by Hannah Mjølsnes, Peter Roessingh, Andreas Schlaegel, and Sara Sølberg.

High Quality Watchmaking

High Quality Watchmaking PDF Author:
Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications
ISBN:
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 582

Get Book Here

Book Description
Focusing on high-end watches and timepieces, this book delves into the world of chronograph rattrapantes, perpetual calendars, equations of time and a host of other novelties, exploring the roots of the complications that fall within the realm of haute horology.

Worlds Most Expensive Watches

Worlds Most Expensive Watches PDF Author: Ariel Adams
Publisher: Acc Art Books
ISBN: 9781851497546
Category : Luxuries
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
More than a fashion accessory or means to tell the time, the wristwatch has become a statement of identity; politician or celebrity, scientist or sportsman, what you choose to wear on your wrist speaks volumes about who you are. The World's Most Expensive Watches presents some of the most extravagant, intricate, collectible, decadent, or just plain interesting modern-day timepieces that sit at the top of the price spectrum. Starting at a threshold price of about $200,000, it is a trip through the last decade or so of watches whose values soar incredibly to prices of $5 million dollars or more. Additionally, there is a selection of notable watches that yielded extremely high prices at auction - many of which are historically relevant. A stunning collection that is both informative and entertaining; with detailed descriptions of individual watches and articles that usefully deconstruct the price tag with an explanation of the relevance of craftsmanship and complexity of design, as well as the importance of exclusivity, prestige and collectibility. Prepare to be impressed by a larger-than-life-look at some relatively small items that command not only huge prices but kudos and respect, in all areas of a global society fascinated with using accessorizing to create identity.

Guidelines for Perinatal Care

Guidelines for Perinatal Care PDF Author: American Academy of Pediatrics
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 436

Get Book Here

Book Description
This guide has been developed jointly by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and is designed for use by all personnel involved in the care of pregnant women, their foetuses, and their neonates.