I ordered the book on a Thursday and it was in my hands the following Tuesday from Switzerland. Fantastic service in that regard. The book is 310 pages and covers the gamut of AP complicated watches (repeaters, calendars, perpetual calendars and chronographs) up until about 1993 when the first iteration of the perpetual calendar with cal. 2120/2800 ended (had only three pushers and no leap year indicator).
The book has great pics but the paper used is a semi-matte finish and doesn't show off the detail as well as the typical glossy paper, a somewhat nit-picky comment but since many of the watches are shown actual size some detail in dial textures and movement finish is lost. But there is a wealth of information here concerning volumes produced (very, very small), financial struggles the company faced during the depression when they would often only produce a few watches a year just to keep the lights on, and then the resurgence of complicated watches in 1978 when AP took a big gamble and introduced their white dialed perpetual calendar which was priced at $15,000 in the USA, a huge price in the Jimmy Carter era recession. It can be fairly argued that this watch was far more important than the introduction of original Royal Oak some years earlier.
Because of the tiny production numbers in the first half of the century most of these watches were one-of-a-kind with individual cases and dials. AP describes how they would order the cases and dials from outside suppliers and one of things they usually stressed was the case was to be made as small as possible as that was a key parameter for a luxury watch because that showed the watchmaker's technical skill. And a repeating wristwatch was several times more expensive than a repeating pocket watch. After the smallest repeating movement was made in 1921 (7 ligne - 15.8mm) the watchmaker who made the chiming mechanism said he would never make another one no matter what the price was, it was just too difficult. That is totally flipped today as people want ever bigger watches and movements to fit the case.
I would highly recommend this book if you are an AP fan and want some deep insight as to the road they travelled to get to where they are today when it comes to complicated watches. Here is a link to the book and you can flip through some of the pages to get an idea of the contents. Price is CHF 150, about $150.
- Evitzee