The Illinois Watch Company originally manufactured the pocket watch in Springfield, Illinois, in 1926 — the same year that publisher Kurt Wolff released Franz Kafka’s final novel, The Castle. Kafka was known for his surreal storytelling, leading to the development of the term “Kafkaesque,” which people use to describe situations and literary works that are bizarre or evoke a sense of existential dread. Although The Castle is one of Franz Kafka’s most famous works, the author didn’t want to release it. He passed away two years before its publication, and he instructed his friend and executor of his will Max Brod to destroy his unfinished writing, including his novels The Castle, The Trial, and Amerika. Brod ignored Kafka’s request and published the works.