A new book chronicles the memories that heirloom timepieces can bring.

The way to a man’s heart is through… his watch. At least, that’s the impression you get from reading A Man And His Watch, the new book from editor, photographer and Style Council member Mr Matt Hranek. Featuring more than 100 colour photographs of iconic watches, alongside personal reminiscences from and about the men that owned them, A Man And His Watch is something a grand testimony to the idea that, rather than just telling the time, a watch can serve as a marker of a particular moment or memory. “Often watches are connected to people,” says Mr Hranek. “They mark great achievements and accomplishments – that can be an ascent on Everest, a birth of a child, or a successful business deal. There is also a lot of heirloom stories in the book and a lot of dad stories. It seems historically they play a big role in these bonds.”

To find his subjects, both mechanical and human, Mr Hranek visited the archives of a series of renowned watch brands, including Hermès, Cartier, Omega and Zenith. (“The Cartier visit was like a scene from a spy film,” he says. “We were told to wait on a corner in Geneva and a black van would pick us up and drop of us at a (secret) location…”) Also, he says: “I looked at a lot of wrists.” The resulting edit of watches, all of which have been sumptuously photographed by Mr Stephen Lewis, ranges from the iconic, such as Mr Paul Newman’s Model 6263 Rolex Daytona, to the deeply personal, such as Mr Hranek’s own Sears Winnie the Pooh watch (see below). Among the other illustrious names to grace the book’s pages are rapper Nas (Patek Philippe Nautilus), sprezzatura expert Mr Alessandro Squarzi (1958 Rolex Submariner Reference 5508) and artist Mr Tom Sachs (New Bedford – a customised Casio G-Shock DW-5600). All the subjects, says Mr Hranek, were gratifyingly loquacious on their chosen model. “There was always a very quick response when I asked people about a watch that was special to them,” he says. “It was also often the watch in their collection that was not necessarily the most valuable in terms of currency – it was always the watch that meant the most to them emotionally.”

As a special preview, we at MR PORTER have compiled four of our personal favourite examples from the book – scroll down to discover them.

Mr Frank Castronovo, the chef and co-owner of beloved Italian restaurant group Frankies Spuntino, was gifted this watch by his grandfather, an inspiring former colonel, born in Brooklyn during the great depression. When Mr Castronovo’s daughter was born in 2000, while he was living in Freiburg, Germany, his grandfather drove him nearly two hours to Schaffhausen to pick up this particular IWC Schaffhausen watch to mark the occasion. “I like its simplicity,” says Mr Castronovo. “The big numbers, the black face on the stainless steel. It’s so comfortable, I don’t even feel it at all. And it’s a classic – you can wear it casually but you can also dress it up. It goes with everything.

Mr Eng Tay, an artist and self-professed lover of all things vintage, went to some astonishing lengths to pick up his Panerai PAM21 – an ultra-rare watch with a Rolex movement that is considered something of a holy grail by Panerai enthusiasts. Landing in New York after his yearly trip to Singapore, he switched on his computer to find a notification that, back in Singapore, someone was selling a PAM21. “So Immediately after returning home from Singapore, I got on a plane, flew all the way back to Singapore for one day to pick up a watch, and then came right back,” he writes. “That’s passion.”

Man of style and occasional MR PORTER contributor Mr David Coggins is, by his own admission “not a watch obsessive.” Despite this, he seems to have been gifted with some nice ones, in particular this Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, which, given to him by his parents, is monogrammed with his initials on the back. “I think you can tell a lot about a man from his watch, and I prefer one that errs on the side of discretion,” writes Mr Coggins. “Also, though I generally don’t like monograms, I like that my initials are on it, but they’re hidden – so it feels like a secret. And I like that it’s from my parents, and I use it.”

In A Man And His Watch, there are several examples of watches, that, while not high in monetary value, mean the world to their owners. Mr Hranek’s own Winnie the Pooh watch is a fine example. Gifted to him by his grandmother, in honour of his love of the portly Disney character, it was kept in a jewellery box for years by his mother and only given back to him recently. Nonetheless, he writes, “When it comes to my lifelong obsession with timepieces, it’s fair to say that this is the watch that started it all.”

All quotes and images taken from A Man and His Watch (Artisan Books) by Mr Matt Hranek. Copyright © 2017. Photographs by Mr Stephen Lewis