New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1863-05-02

Dlaced, They must all lheVitaoiy oe equa''y eoou'
Exac. unity is the first quality which watches,
bv whomsoever produced can possess. Exact
unity is simply unattainable by the European
processes. OF instruments, simultaneously com
pleted in foreign workshop, it is impossible to ex-
pect that they will bear more than general and su
per6cial relationship 70 one another. There Is
no tie between them to hold them to exact
iude. Deviations in regularity are always
counted upon to greater or less degree, In import
ed watches, their harmony being contingent upon
the most doubtful conditions. The dexteri'y or the
good faith of individual workmen is all that can De
trustsd 10 for correct results. Here, however,
nothing ia left to the discretion Of the artisans.
From beginning to end, all is carefully wrought out
bv unvsryipp mechanical rule. The isolated par-
Gle, must of necessity be identical in every watch
since they are modelled by force Of machinery, and
not bv labor of hand. The most practiced eye or
delicate touch might sometimes err, but the
on.rations of machinery are without flaw. The
nroof ia in tho circumstance to which We have
before alluded, that fragments from one American
watch fit perfectly and at once adjust themselves In
any other. The grand result of this verisimlltude
is. that in regard TO time.keeping the Waltham
watcbe, are oil alike. Microscopic variations,
depepdent upon accidental conditions, which under
no circumstances can ever be guarded against, DO,
Of course exist; but they sre so slight, az COM
pared with the wider reflections OF all works Of
foreign manufacture as not TO invaidate the rule OF
positive unity. The impossibility OF important
devations. indeed, becomes evident % soon a The
processes of manufacture are explained. This fact
being established, ss it has been with the
American company, from the very birth o.
their enterprise, there needs no serious
argument TO prove the general superiority o.
their watches. The only question that could arse
would be in respect Of particular possibilities. IL
certain instances there might be single instruments
of foreign production finished with an accuracy
beyond even the regular workings OF machinery
But to meet this, the American company have de
voted one department Of their factory to the con
struction of much moro elaborate article than the
usual average. Their, the advantages OF strlc
identity In component parts arc comoins'
with those Of the most dexterous workman
ship. The parts are still produced by machinery
but they are adjusted by workmen Of peculia'
Skill who through experience or natural clsverns'
have the faculty Of detecting the mnuter quaii'ie
essential to perfec. harmony and evenness In move
ment. Delicate shades Of excellence In tho jewels
or other materials used, are thus discovered anC
taken ADVANTAGE of; aud the watch passes through
sympathetic hands, which assert and regulate III
details with more particular consideration OF thei
bearing toward each other than Ia deemed necessary
in the ordinary instrument. In this way, watcher
of absolute equality with the finest results OF Euro
pesn manufacture, are, in such Quantities 9 de-
manded, regularly produced.
An important question naturally 10 that Of the
relative costliness Of European and American
watches. II appears that the advantage Of cheap
ness is also with us. The difference in prices is no,
excessive, but is sufficient to be an object to any
purchaser. The virtue Of superior durabil
ity, however, 10 ono which ought to b.
, we'll considered in this regard. American in
strumen,s will outlsst all others. 1t has BEEF
estimated that We pay Europe s. O0O, 900 year 70
, watches, and like sum for keeping them in orAr
o A, our own doors watches are manufactured at
lower price, Of better quality, less likely to becom
disordered, and arranged that in Of injury b.
s violence the injury may cheaply and expedtous
6 be repaired. We not only have to pay, in import
= ing watches, for the needless manual labor which
Q bestowed upon them, but endless tribute 10 thos
J., through whose hands they pass.
y The mandatory itself 10 situated at Watham,
/. few miles distant from Boston. 1t stands upon tn
l. border Of the River Charles and in the mids; Of
., fresh and open meadow land Within it, walls n
10 spiudss and wheels are whirrng, not with mi
is clangor but with "a Summer sound as Of doves
10 quiet neighborhoods" Def hands are moving, to-
Is with swift and dainty celebrity. There is nothir
rude or cyclopeau 10 the forging Of these fs mys
r ries of machinery. The triumphs here are those
at subtlety and cunning, not of force. To the nj
ID prscticed observation the scattered elements seem
Is silently aggregate themselves into organisms. III
watches are built like that Temple in the rearing
70 which no sound Of hammer or Of az was hear
% Little trays containing the myriad fragments pa
o from hand To hand, each successive transfer sui
tracing ethng from the dainty chaos and sddin
something TO the dainty order in which the psric,
gradually arrange themselves. Finally, after ira,
g ersins numbersss hands the perfect iDstrumer
emerges and is laid aside for registration. There
something sxquistely light and graceful in all tn
processes through which it moves from its incepto
r to the completion. As its elements are tiny an
fragile, 90 the hands which combine them are ligh
and swift and noiseless Microscopic atoms coalesce
f gosssmer flaments thread the embryo organism; b.
and by life is bresthed into the completed structure
and it palpitates forever with passonless iteration
The arti6cen are not exactly like other artiiicer,
The work upon which they are occupied involve
acute intelligence and dexterous touch. The light
ness and the cheer of the factory itself must doubt
less have its wholesome influence upon the opera
tives. Certainly the impression which they leav
upon the mind Of the visitor s very different from tina
which follows visit TO workshops,in which grosseI