Pins, gears, and a comb of steel teeth: the story of the music box, from a Geneva watchmaker's bench to a New Jersey factory floor.
By J.J. Dakota
Wind a music box, and before a single note sounds you can feel it: a small, tight resistance under your fingers as the spring takes up the tension. Then you let go, something inside begins to turn, and a tune comes out of a wooden box as if it had been waiting there all along.
Now that music lives in our pockets, it's easy to forget how strange that...