A hardbound volume dedicated to the life of the late independent watchmaker who was a peer of George Daniels and Philippe Dufour, Derek Pratt – Watchmaker has just been reprinted in a limited run by the British Horological Institute.

The 224-page book has been updated but includes all of the chapters found in the first edition. It includes testimonials by friends of Mr Pratt and a detailed explanation of his H4 recreation. Naturally the book also covers one of Mr Pratt’s specialties, engine-turning on a rose engine, a talented he relied on for the intricate guilloche dials of Urban Jurgensen, a brand he worked closely with for many years.

The book also includes various articles written by Mr Pratt for magazines like Horological Journal, covering subjects from water clocks to weather vanes, which illustrate his incredible technical mind.

George Daniels (left) and Derek Pratt (right), with Grahame Brooks, UK Sales Director of Audemars Piguet, in 1986, on the way to visit its factory in Switzerland in Daniels’s famous 1928 “Blower Bentley” No. YU3250 to try to interest AP in adopting the Co-Axial escapement.

The book is available direct from the BHI for £39.95. Also available at £10 is A Detailed Study of H4, a DVD that details the work of Mr Pratt and Charles Frodsham in reconstructing John Harrison’s marine chronometer.

Shipping is additional and orders can be placed here.