The Fitchburg Watch - History of a Masterpiece (Hardcover, illustrated edition)

The machine age of the nineteenth century laid the groundwork for America's becoming the world's greatest super power in the twentieth. That most exquisite of machines, the mechanical watch still fascinates thousands of people today as a symbol of that age. The Fitchburg Watch, made at the height of the machine age, in a city that itself symbolizes the country's transition from a farm society to an industrial one, is an important artifact of American history. This is the story of how that watch came to be. It is the story of the people who created it, and of the community that fostered its development. THE FITCHBURG WATCH is a must read for anyone interested in the history of the American watch industry. Using an individual elegant pocket watch as a focal point, the book gives a perspective of watch manufacturing and its evolving technology as seen against the background of the country's Industrial Revolution and the fluctuations of the boom and bust economy of the nineteenth century.