“…I began to research the history of David’s report and its connection to the Centennial Exhibition. The previous and conventional narrative was that American companies, notably Waltham, freely and naively shared information about their novel systems with the Swiss, which David then documented in a report. But this conception was at odds with the evidence I found, which clearly showed that David was an industrial spy. I looked for further confirmation of my suspicions and came across a 1987 Swiss academic article that, in a brief mention, also called David a spy, where the author titled David an “En veritable espion industriel” (“real industrial spy”). It was apparent that there was more to the story than had made it into the conventional narrative and the common histories of the watch industry.  

During my subsequent research, I discovered a fascinating tale of cutthroat competition, industrial espionage, societal development, and a great world’s fair. The competition in this era was so intense it was even referred to as “combat of industry” by one contemporary observer. The Swiss watchmakers and Waltham viewed their situation through such a lens, using similar bellicose imagery. David would refer to the American watch companies as “a courageous and well armed adversary.” Meanwhile, Waltham’s chief executive also viewed the situation as a protracted war: “if we can't live in peace we must live on a war-footing…I propose to make the fighting as effective as possible.”  

Prologue, Disrupting Time