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| Stacy Perman |
Stacy Perman, a former writer for Business Week and Time magazine, is the author most recently of A Grand Complication: The Race to Build the World's Most Legendary Watch. Her other books are In-N-Out Burger and Spies, Inc. She is based in New York City.
Q: Why did you decide to
write A Grand Complication?
A: Four or five years ago I
wrote an article for Business Week about a watchmaker school in Pennsylvania. I
was intrigued by the idea that mechanical watches were out of fashion and had
come roaring back in the ‘90s...and a
whole generation of watchmakers had disappeared.
In the course of looking at
this phenomenon, I came across the Graves Complication, and it got my interest
going. It led me to Henry Graves, Jr., and his rival, James Ward Packard. I
became fascinated—the story looms large in the watch world, but it had not been
uncovered in its entirety.
There’s a bigger story—it’s
more than them, their watches, their desire to own timepieces. It [ties into]
the birth of the automobile, electricity, and [the rise of] America as a
superpower. Also timekeeping history.
Q: What surprised you in
particular as you researched the book?
A: First, that no one had
told the story before. In the watch world, two names loomed large. …It’s a very
complicated story. Henry Graves, Jr., left a very small footprint. The man was a
card-carrying member of New York society; he kept company with the
Rockefellers. Yet he was incredibly private.
Q: In the rivalry you detail
between Graves and Packard, did you have more sympathy for one than the other?
A: It would go back and
forth. James Ward Packard left a much larger footprint because of his car
company. There were books about the car company, there were papers—but there
was very little about the man himself. I was fortunate to come in contact with
relatives and descendants of people who knew him.
Henry Graves, Jr., left a
very small footprint and had few descendants. I felt like Nancy Drew a little
bit—I felt like I was on a treasure hunt. I got to know both of them pretty
well. I met some [relatives] of Henry Graves, Jr., toward the end [of the research], and I knew
more about him than they did!
Q: What does watch-collecting
among the wealthy say about society at that point?
A: They [Graves and Packard] really exemplify a
turning point in collecting. The collecting of watches was very expensive, and
[historically had been] limited to royalty and the aristocratic class, and
American industrial barons….This was a pursuit of the wealthy, and provided context to their
lives and activities.
When Packard and Graves came
on the scene [things shifted]. Packard was a self-made entrepreneur. Neither
was interested in historical timepieces—this is where everything changed. They
were very wealthy. Unlike previous collections, they commissioned specific
one-off pieces for their own use.
Q: Did the watchmakers’ role
become more important as a result of this shift?
A: It’s an interesting
dynamic between the two parties. Until the mid-19th century,
watchmakers were the most ingenious [inventors]—it was their way of dazzling
[people]. Packard and Graves really pushed them beyond that. Packard was an
engineer, and he approached watchmaking as an engineer.
Q: At the end of the book,
you write that the Graves Supercomplication watch might come up for auction
again soon. Do you have any updates on the watch you call the “Mona Lisa of timepieces”?
A: It’s in legal limbo. There’s
still a chance it will go up for auction. That it hasn’t already probably means
that there’s a labyrinth of issues going on….I don’t know exactly what’s going
on.
Q: Have you always been
interested in watches, or is it something that developed as you wrote the book?
A: It developed as I worked
on the book. I stopped wearing a watch; I use my cell phone. I have a huge
appreciation for timepieces now. The 1920s and '30s are my favorite.
Q: What are you working on
now?
A: I do have an idea for
another book, but I’m keeping it to myself for the moment.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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