Perman takes us to the early twentieth century to tell the story of horological rivals: Wall Street society figure Henry Graves, Jr., and James Ward Packard, the inventor and automobile tycoon behind the Packard Motorcar. These archetypes of American success went head to head, driving the finest watchmakers push the boundaries of mathematics, astronomy, craftsmanship, and technology, to win a personal race against time. Theirs is a story of passion, money-fueled epochs and economic collapse, the obsessive world of watches, and how it influenced the expression of wealth and luxury through gadgets and toys that have become symbols of status.