In the rarefied world of Swiss watchmaking, where centuries-old traditions collide with modern marketing wizardry, Liam Devine serves up an irreverent tour through horological history that's part love letter, part roast, and entirely entertaining.

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From Patek Philippe's Polish revolutionary founder to Rolex's mysterious charitable empire, from the genius who heard voices on a London omnibus to the watchmaker who saved an entire movement by hiding spare parts in an attic, “An Abecedarium of Swiss Watches” reveals the gloriously human stories behind the world's most coveted timepieces.

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Devine chronicles brands that survived world wars and financial scandals, inventors who dropped watches from the Eiffel Tower for marketing purposes, and entrepreneurs who convinced the world that floating diamonds constituted horological innovation. With wit as sharp as Swiss precision and research as deep as a Submariner's dive rating, this alphabetical journey through thirty-two Swiss brands proves that the most complicated thing about luxury watches isn't their movements—it's the wonderfully absurd humans who create them.

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Whether you're a seasoned collector or someone who simply enjoys watching pretensions deflate with surgical precision, this book offers a refreshingly honest look at an industry where genius and folly dance together like the hands of a perfectly regulated chronograph.

Finally, a watch book that ticks all the right boxes while keeping its sense of humour wound tight.