Disrupting Time
Industrial combat, espionage, and the downfall of a great American company
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.
More than a story about watches, Disrupting Time 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.
Recently visited the historical archives section of Baker Library at Harvard Business School while on a trip to Boston. I spent many days there while researching the book. To my excitement, they had Disrupting Time on display!
Speaking at the ‘Mill Talks’ at the Charles River Museum in Waltham, MA. Thanks to the Lowell Institute & GBH Boston for sponsoring and filming. A recording of the talk should be out soon.
Drawing on newly surfaced archival documents, correspondence, and exhibition records, Disrupting Time 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.
Set during the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, a great world’s fair in Philadelphia, it details the story of Jacques David and Theo Gribi. Having attended the Centennial Exhibition and witnessed the powerful Waltham Watch Company’s frighteningly novel assembly line exhibit, they knew it spelled the end of their Swiss industry. Rather than be deterred, 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. Disrupting Time 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.
Sinead O’Sullivan of The Currency News says “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.”
Disrupting Time has been widely reviewed in publications and podcasts that cover business to finance to history. Please check out what others are saying about the book.
Praise for Disrupting Time
“Aaron Stark pulls back the curtain on perhaps the single most important case of industrial spying in the history of watchmaking – and one whose full details, incredibly, weren’t fully known until just last year.”
“Disrupting Time is 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!”