Comic Character Timepieces by Hy Brown, Nancy Thomas (1997, Hardcover)

(Author's direct quotes are indicated by quote marks) If you are interested in comic character watch collecting, including Disney watch collecting, this exhaustive tome is a must for your library. Hy Brown and his wife Nancy Brown have created the ultimate guide for anyone interested in comic watches, and was written to "enlighten, illuminate, and to induce others to enjoy the comic watch hobby".

It covers the history of character watches from the first political, promotional, and advertising models; to the advent of the character watches with the Mickey Mouse watch; through the evolutions of the models through the years; to the very latest character timepieces (the book was published in 1992). The nine chapters are initially broken down into time periods, from the earliest known novelty timepieces prior to 1933 to the present time. Further chapters explore different types of comic or novelty watches, such as advertising, political, and personality watches, as well as separate chapters on pocketwatches and clocks. At the end of each chapter is a section of lists to help the collector start his collection. The publication is composed of over 5000 beautiful full color photos of the items covered, as well as informative text on each time period and subject. The author also covers advertisements, ephemera, and packaging developed with the timepieces that are also of interest to collectors.

This book does contain a price guide. "While this book contains a price guide, the personal value is only in the eyes of the buyer and seller". The price guide covers all timepiece mentioned save for the present day items. This is an indispensible guide for anyone interested in character watch collecting. The pictures seem to jump right out of the page at you, and the pages are glossy, full colored, and sturdy enough to withstand the constant back and forth that will ensue. This is an absolute must for any character watch collector and also makes an interesting and unusual coffee table book.

I bought this item when I first became interested in character watch collecting, and find myself going back to it several times a week. It holds pride of place right on the desktop along with several other publications on the same subject, and is my first and most important reference tool.