Watchmaking Explained, a Book by Expert Watchmaker Kalle Slaap

I’m pretty sure everyone with even the slightest interest in mechanical watches has often wondered what it takes to make a watch. What goes into a movement, and how do you assemble one? And I’m also pretty confident many of you have thought, “I could do that!”. Trust me, it is MUCH harder than it seems on the surface, as I’ve learned by experience. You’d think that by now everything there is to know about watchmaking is well and truly discovered, and better yet, documented. But in reality, this industry is “full of exceptions to every single rule”, as Kalle Slaap puts it. And that’s where his book Watchmaking Explained comes in!

Kalle Slaap is a professional watchmaker and teacher from the Netherlands, and the founder of his own Chronoglide Watchmaking atelier, where he specialises in the restoration and repair of high-quality mechanical watches. One of his true passions, or rather obsessions as he puts it himself, within watchmaking is to preserve the art and tradition of watchmaking and inspire the next generation to pick up the tools of the trade. He offers training courses, as well as explaining many of the watchmaking ins and outs through his YouTube channel, where he takes apart, services, repairs and reassembles movements and watches. He’s also the recipient of the prestigious Fellowship of the British Horological Institute certificate, recognising his dedication to the craft. His latest project to support his dream of preserving watchmaking for the future is this book: Watchmaking Explained.

And don’t be fooled into thinking this is another very academic study into the entire history of watchmaking. Instead, it’s an easy-to-understand, humourously written multimedia experience that explains everything you need to know about watchmaking. It not only covers the technical aspects of what goes into a movement, but also often-overlooked elements such as essential tools and machines, how to use your body, arranging your workshop, sourcing watch parts, making a profession out of it, and so on. There are over 100 QR codes that take you to all sorts of exclusive videos for more in-depth and visual explanations, which are very practical. I, for one, am much more a learning-by-seeing/doing kind of person than gobbling up theoretics. The book is also endorsed by the British Horological Institute, and there will be future content to check out after you have received yours.

Kalle Slaap expertly guides you through 278 pages of watchmaking history, traditions and techniques, all with a good sense of humour. Chapter 12, for instance, opens with the quote “Always repair a watch as if the owner is a violent Axe-wielding psychopath who knows where you live”. Sounds logical, right? Besides the humour, the book itself is very insightful and really covers watchmaking from A to Z. Watchmaking Explained (ISBN 978-90-835240-0-9) is available directly from Kalle Slaap’s website, Chronoglide.nl, for EUR 95. This not only gets you a fantastic book on our beloved craft, but also grants you access to exclusive content and the Chronoglide forum, and thus a fully immersive journey into watchmaking!

For more information and to order the book Watchmaking Explained, please visit Chronoglide.nl.