Disrupting Time

<p><strong style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>In the fall of 1876 two Swiss spies came to America and conducted some of the most covert and consequential industrial espionage in history changing the course of the global watch industry forever. Had the events of 1876 never happened we would likely know little of Swiss watches today.</strong></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>More than a story about watches </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Disrupting Time</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> is a true story of how technological leadership is built how it can be quietly transferred and how commanding advantages can erode faster than their creators expect. Spanning the years 1857 to 1900 it examines a period contemporaries called the combat of industry revealing how strategic choices information asymmetry and industrial espionage shaped global markets.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Drawing on newly surfaced archival documents correspondence and exhibition records </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Disrupting Time</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> tells the full story of this secret mission and its aftermath. The book explores how the Swiss did not simply copy American methods but adapted them transforming a cottage industry into a modern manufacturing powerhouse. Within a generation Swiss firms had overtaken their American rivals while Waltham entered a steep decline.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Set during the Centennial Exhibition in 1876 a great world's fair in Philadelphia it details the story of Jacques David and Theo Gribi. Gribi and David were commissioned by the Society of Jura Industries a Swiss trade association to acquire the secrets of America's technology sector - the American watch industry. They captured their intelligence in a 130-page report that would remain mostly secret until 1992. </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Disrupting Time</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> details the never-before-told story of David and Gribi's secrets and mission showing how they used disguises agent recruitments and other classic espionage methods to steal the secrets of America's technology sector of the era.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Sinead O'Sullivan of The Currency News says </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Aaron Stark says that it's a book about watches but it's really a book about innovation long-term thinking and industrial policy. This is the book that you never knew you needed to read.</em></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>The former CIA officer behind Watches of Espionage calls </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Disrupting Time a fantastic story of real-life 'watches of espionage.' It is a thrilling read full of details that will change everything you thought you knew about the origin of Swiss watches - definitely not the narrative the watch industry has told you. If you are into watches intelligence history or business this book is a must read!</em></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Learn more at aaronstarkbooks .com</span></p>