Some things you do not need to know...

...about Waltham.

The city is known as the "Watch City", but you know that. Some 40 million Waltham Watches were built and the world is more "on-time" for it. Mike Case, late of the History Department of Boston College, however, likes to point out the lovely paradox of the city that corraled time yet overslept on the big day.

You see, readers, during that whole, "the British are coming, the British are coming" thing going down in April of 1775, while communities big and small had their sons up at the crack of dawn to shoot it out at Lexington (just north of Waltham) and Concord (one town northwest), the good settlers in Waltham overslept. Not a single Walthamer was awake to put the flash in the pan and knock down a Brit. So much for clock work action.

To their defense, I must point out that there was no Waltham Clock manufactory in 1775 and, at any rate, the city today has a great restaurant row...reservations accepted for 7:00 PM SHARP!