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- Verified Buyer
In my review of last year's edition of this annual price guide, I was only willing to give it two stars. While that may seem brutal for what is clearly a lot of compiled information, keep in mind that most of this data has evolved over a twenty-year collection process, and each new year is now largely a product of editing and tweaking the previous volume. However, I have decided to raise my rating for this year's edition by one star because even a cursory overview reveals that the effort put in since the last volume was not nearly so minimal as the previous 2000 version.There are not a lot of new additions in the way of specific models or grades, and this still remains a significant weakness of this guide. To the newcomer, it appears to cover a vast array of models and grades, but to the experienced collector, it is by no means near the definitive encyclopedia of watches. Even in its strongest area, American pocket watches, it continues to overlook a considerable number of grades, leaving the reader to make lump assumptions about prices of watches overlooked. The same comments apply to wristwatches, where it might have been better to leave well documented names completely out (such as Rolex or Patek) since they are better represented with great detail in other books. Does this matter? Just look at the number of "rare", "scarce", bogus and absurd claims on some Internet watch ads, and the answer should obvious: such claims would not survive the light of day were this guide truly complete.But for the many grades that are in the book, both pocket and wrist, it appears the authors have awakened to the reality of the market: a booming economy has been driving prices ever upward, particularly for collectibles. And whether the marketplace is cable TV, Internet auctions, or watch marts, the reality of any market is constant: prices are set by a willing seller and ready buyer who agree on money. To deny the prices that are have been paid with repetition on Internet auctions is naive at best. A sale is a sale, and a collection of sales is the marketplace. Pretending that the majority of sales (which today is clearly Internet auctions) does not represent the market is absolutely ludicrous.So with the 2001 edition, a review of item after item in comparison to the 2000 version shows almost unilateral increases, which indeed reflects today's expanded market: no increase in supply, a significant increase in demand, and an enhanced marketplace to help keep things from simply skyrocketing. Revel in the price growth -- your collection should be worth more as time goes by, particularly in a strong economy. And price guides should reflect this rise. Finally, with this edition, I can say the guide is catching up. And it appears to have done so without defaulting to some simple formula. Important and popular watches show the greater increases, and this is reality.Will this publication ever be perfect? Perhaps one day. In Ehrhardt & Meggers American Pocket Watches Identification and Price Guide, an extensive cataloging of grades and variations far beyond the Shugart, et al guide is presented. But it was in some ways its own undoing. It is nearly impossible to keep tabs on every watch sale down to the fine details and thus produce a truly definitive price guide each and every year. The labor would be staggering. But as sales continue to occur on the Web in far greater proportion to any other venue, and web crawling software becomes more sophisticated, it seems that a combination of Ehrhardt's grade and variant detail with Shugart's annual pricing may yet come. When it does with real time price, a veritable commodities market ticker for watches, I am ready to award all five stars. This should, after all, be the ultimate goal even if it seems a bit unrealistic at the moment.Until then, I confess this is a book you really can't survive without in this hobby. It is the standard price reference when in doubt, and a particularly valuable asset to newcomers who are not yet familiar with prices for most watches. It is wise to be aware of its shortcomings, yet for all the missing grades, at least the prices are now more realistic. And should the market fall, I would hope the guide keeps track with the whole of the marketplace and reflect the ongoing reality, subject to the unfortunate constraints of annual updates and publications delays.Amazon has an up to date guide 15k? Or some ridiculous price. Book is out of dateTime honored for over 20 years this annual publication accurate and up to the minute value guide and watch identifier is a must have for novices and seasoned collectors of manly US manufacture antique pocket watches. It also does a creditable job of identifying European pocket watches and world sourced wrist watches. The authors not only help identify watch grades but also provide interesting historical data of manufactures and the evaluation of watches over the centuries and how vital accurate time keeping became for industry, governments and work place safety.It is now easier to evaluate watches for sale, and there is a lot of information about how they work and also their history. I think the book is well worth the price. My only complaint would be that the pictures of pocket watch movements are often of poor quality, as if they've been copied repeatedly.I have been buying copies of the Pocket Watch price guide for over 35 years and have always enjoy the technical articles and up to date old manufacturer's watch production serial number listings ! Excellent reference book no collector or anyone new to the hobby should "not have" in their library !I purchased this because it was recommended to me by a watch collector. It seems as though this is one of the bibles for collectors. A whole lot of information is packed within the covers. I am not a collector but had some items that belonged to my late husband and I had no idea (if I decided to sell them) what they were worth. Thus, I purchased this book which has helped a great deal. There are also many online sites with a plethora of information, also.Overall informative with some great watch history in it. Beware, half of the book is dedicated to pocket watches. Many brands missing in the wrist watch section (i.e. Hublot and others) Title is a bit misleading, definitely not a complete price guide. To be fair, that would be hard to do given how many watches are out there.Pictures are pretty terrible. Is it worth buying? Yes and no. I'll keep it as I like all the historic information in it.This is about the only comprehensive resource for watch pricing so it does give you an idea of what the value is. I think some of the prices are off a bit and others are conspicuously missing. Not sure why that is but all in all it's a decent guide.Ok so I've only skimmed through this book to find out more about two watches I own. One is a Rolex, the other a gold Benson pocket watch. Sadly the book has no reference to either except a few pages on each brand. I'm shocked especially about the Rolex coverage which you would think should warrant a lot more information. There's still worse to come, with poorly printed black and white images, and the price guides are irrelevant since we'll known brands go up and down like the stock market. I will read more, it's a big book about the size of a school bible, but I'm not expecting any great revelation from it based on the bits I've read. There is a heavy lean to American time pieces, and that may be the problem for any UK buyers. If I read more and it proves me wrong I'll edit this and admit to it, but don't hold your breath.As a collector of vintage wristwatches two things interest me. The watch value and the the best detailed history of the watch/maker/model I can source.Whilst this book has a lot of useful information it still is rather too much US orientated and I was very disappointed with the fact that many older familiar Swiss watches are not even listed let alone detailed. It also has too much data on pocket watches rather than wrist watches for my taste.Worse still are the Price indicators for each watch - where in my opinion it falls down badly - prices quoted bear absolutely no relation to the prices in Europe or the UK - they are at best an indicator of the relationship between manufacturers or models as to perceived quality.In my opinion the price indication (one of the reasons for purchasing the book in the first place) is of little use outside the USA.So overall not what I was looking for - but you are limited in choice anyway - so a reasonable reference book for a range of watches - yes. But not the "bible" I expected.I had high hopes for this book but as it trys to pack so much in to a relatively small space it gets overwhelming and there are no col our photos and a lot of sketches.Half of the book is dedicated to pocket watches and I feel this could have been left out and maybe expand the wristwatch side.Yes this is a American book yes the prices are in $. Yes I'm in the UK, but it is the best way for pricing a watch other than the web.Maybe they should do one for the UK !For about £20 it seems good value to me.Has black and white pictures mostly it's priceings are in us dollars. But it has good amount of rolax details..
