This essay review evaluates recent contributions in the field of maintenance and repair studies with a focus on a special issue of Tecnoscienza on this research field and a volume edited by Ignaz Strebel, Alain Bovet, and Philippe Sormani entitled Repair Work Ethnographies: Revisiting Breakdown, Relocating Materiality. These two publications provide important insights into empirical investigations of maintenance and repair work which raise stimulating questions for engineering studies, where these activities are often overlooked.