The world's most well-known clock is perhaps Big Ben. This new book chronicles the history of the watch, from its inception in the 1830s-following the destruction of the historic Palace of Westminster by fire-through its emergence as a national timepiece and a symbol of Britain up to the present. In The Thirty-Nine Steps, one of the characters hangs to Big Ben's hands as he swings above London. Big Ben is a figure and an emblem, but it is also a masterpiece of horological engineering designed to set the time for Parliament. It is the apex of turret clockmaking, created by the most forward-thinking of clockmakers. The history of the bells was not as peaceful and tranquil as its music.