Nicholas Foulkes

The definitive history of the world-renowned watchmakers, Patek Philippe. Founded in Geneva in 1839, and to this day a family-owned company, Patek Philippe makes what are widely regarded as the world's finest mechanical watches. Among them, the most valuable watch ever made: the famous 1933 pocket watch known as the "Graves" supercomplication, which sold at auction in 2014 for US$23,934,00. A cult among collectors, Patek Philippe and its timepieces have been treasured by kings and princes, rock stars, and sportsmen. Notable customers of the storied Swiss watchmaker include Queen Victoria, and her great-great-granddaughter HM Queen Elizabeth II. Drawing exclusively on interviews with the company's owners and with staff and watchmakers past and present, as well as on hitherto unseen documents from the company's archives, Patek Philippe: The Authorized Biography, celebrates the history of a unique company. Nicholas Foulkes traces the Patek Philippe history from founder Antoine Norbert de Patek's early life in Poland as a young cavalry officer fighting in a doomed uprising.He recounts Patek's exile, his life in Geneva, his meeting with gifted watchmaker Jean Adrien Philippe, and the 1932 purchase of the company by the Stern family who, over four generations, have turned it into the legend that it is today. "I am very pleased to see the history of my family's company come to life in this excellent volume. This is the first time that the Patek Philippe archive has been accessed and brought to life in a factual and definitive work. Nicholas Foulkes has perfectly recreated the atmosphere and details of our 175-year journey." (Philippe Stern, Honorary President of Patek Philippe).

The story of cigars. "The most futile and disastrous day seems well spent when it is reviewed through the blue, fragrant smoke of a Cigar." Evelyn Waugh Exploring not just the extraordinary story of tobacco and cigars but also a history that has been instrumental in the foundations of societies and cultures, Cigars will take you on an astonishing journey through landscapes, scents and an incredible roll call of the great, the good and the not-so good. The cigar has provided solace and a chance for worldly contemplation to generations of thinkers, businessmen, writers, entrepreneurs and connoisseurs. In this elegiac offering to the pinnacles of hand-rolled tobacco, world-renowned expert Nicholas Foulkes guides you through the myths, legends, nuances and delicious realities of the smoke-savouring universe, serving as an introduction for the neophyte and a reference for the connoisseur. "A cigar ought not to be smoked solely with the mouth, but with the hand, the eyes, and with the spirit." Zino Davidoff

'Downright fascinating...indispensable reading' Daily Telegraph 'Nicholas Foulkes' excellent...book is beautifully illustrated. Captivating' Daily Mail For more than 25,000 years, humanity has sought to understand and measure the passing of time, in the process creating some of the most remarkable and beautiful timepieces. Now, in Nicholas Foulkes' lavishly illustrated book, the battle to tame time is brought vividly to life. From the baboon bone dating back to the palaeolithic era that marked the lunar cycle and on to the 3500-year-old water clock at Karnak, from our earliest days mankind has sought to track the passing of time. More recently, the struggles to measure longitude and to create a workable train timetable across the vast, open expanse of the United States have inspired new developments. In Time Tamed, Nicholas Foulkes reveals how we have done this by focusing on some of the most significant developments in timekeeping across the ages. He also highlights the most stunning and lavish clocks and watches in history - from Big Ben to Rolex - for telling the time has never been purely about function, but also about design. The book is filled with remarkable tales, from the 14th century monk in St Albans who created one of the first mechanical clocks to the Holy Roman Emperor who built a clock into an automated ship that fired a cannon to summon guests to dinner. More recently, there was the Surrey woman who used a Napoleonic era watch to 'deliver' the accurate time to London shopkeepers in the wartime era of Churchill, or the Swiss denture maker who solved a tricky problem for the Indian Raj's polo players. Time Tamed is a book you'll want to spend many hours enjoying.

Chanel's J12 watch revolutionized the standards of watches for women, combining technical sophistication with the allure of modern design. The J12 has evolved into a classic watchmaking icon of the twenty-first century. Since its arrival just over twenty years ago, the J12 has drawn its inspiration from Chanel's drive to shake up the codes by combining a daring artistic approach with superlative technical finesse. The J12 watch transformed ceramic into a precious material, and rewrote two hundred years of watchmaking with the innovative brilliance of its design. A text by noted watch connoisseur Nicholas Foulkes explores the extraordinary conception, execution and history of the Chanel J12. Enhanced by a strikingly original selection of fine photographs, this volume celebrates twenty years of the most beautiful and technically refined watches ever worn on the wrist. With 108 illustrations in colour