Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1869-12-17
The orolde watch Trade.

latter, for the more extensive any legiu.
mate business Is, the greater inducement
1t offers TO knsves and swindlers to coun.
terfeit IL. In nothing Is this truth so APP
parent as the watch trade.
We have in this city 10 genuine inn
porters aud wholesale traders, besides a
large army Of retail dealers and others,
who are every year beaten in their bust,
ness by the bogus watch importer, backed
by about 90 dealers in the goods. Not
less than 100000 of these bogus and oroide
watches were sold in this country last year,
and as the demand Is constantly increas.
ing, the number disposed of this current
year win probably exceed this. Their
shops are usually slowed away in little
Railways, in dark easements, or up two or
three flights Of stairs in some large build.
ing where there is likely to be great deal
OF traffic on other accounts. The, extent
OF their profits is almost fabulous, 'fot, be
ing in IN nillegitimate business, conceived
and carried ON in deception and fraud,
these dealers have no scruplos about the
means Of disposing of their wares. aliul
Indeed, so extensive Is the business trans.
acted by some of the bogus watch dealers
that one of them on Broadway boldly pro.
claims the character of his trade, and yet,
We understand, sells from $30,0 to $40
900 worth a month. Poor humanity loves
to be duped and swindled, and like gam.
bling or drinking or any other passion,
when this desire 70 gain million by in.
Vesting thousand in lottery, or which
is the same thing differently applied, the
passion to get $3.50 gold watch for
81 in paper, grows upon a man he actu.
ally places himself in positions to be
swindled. Now, strictly honest and
honorable man, who will not take a thing
without rendering full equivalent, can
never be deceived by such flimsy shows
And yet some well-meaning men are very
often deceived by these sharp and shrewd
ones.
In Switzerland the several pieces that
go to make the complete watch are made
at separate factories remote from each
other, and the matchmaker is the party
who puts the different pieces together.
The matchmaker purchases his stock by
the thousand or ten thousand pieces from
the different factories. AS CONSEQUENCE
of such want of system in making the
different pieces, there are always large
quantities improperly finished and lmper
feet. These imperfect pieces are again
slightly altered and put together, and con.
stitute the movement for ths oroide watch
These movements are placed in brass
casses manufactured for this very purpose,
costing about seventy-five cents each, and
exported to England and America, where
it has been definitely settled, the greatest
number of fools exist The French
Government will not admit them unless
properly described, and the English GOV
ernment places them under the ban
in 80 far as to prohibit the Cd use
of genuine names or trade marks; but
like our own Government, IL rsaps profit
from their importation and sale. These
are the famous oroide watches They are
worth, according to some of the largest
genuine practical dealers and watchmakers
in this city, from $3.50 to 81 each, The
very best quality cost but $55 a dozen,
They sell in the bogus stores for from 81
to $25 each, and, as our City Marshal
Tooker's complaint-book can testify, otter
for double and treble these sums. aai
The bogus watch dealer dresses lou(
and fashy. You may see him any day
on Broadway, Fulton, Nassau, and othel
streets down town. He sports two ol
more diamond rings on his fingers, and 8
sparkling diamond of immense size in hii
shirt BOSOM His attire is faultless wher
he lays for wealthy game. But when he
wants to entrap the green countrymen, he
can put on a seedy suit, and be very limo.
cent and hard up-ready, indeed, to part
with the gold watch for q few dollarsto pay
his board. The bargain appears to be Sc
great that the verdant is only too eager to
close 1t and pocket his prize. But after q
few days or hours he finds out that all is
not gold that glitters. In his little cubby.
hole, the bogus is extreamly obseguious il
he thinks you want to trade, or'fif You
show any desire for spending q dollar on
chance. For, attached to nearly, if not
quite, every one of them is lottery game,
In which all the prizes are taken by the
bogus himself. 1nf..'53,..,7t -. 1919 ,',,'il
To make the fraud more complete and
the better TO deceive the too gulliblG pub
lie, the oroide dealers adopt the trademarks
of respectable manufacturers, and adver-
tise in the same style, and, as far as posi-
BILE, in the same papers throughout the
country as the legitimate manufacturers
and dealers For instance, these dealers
know that the watches made at Waltham
are known by their different trade marks,
and numbered in proper order, (alid that
the gold cases are everywhere slammed,
indicating whether it Is IA, l6 or Is carats
fine; and that the silver cases are all
marked coin silver, and american Watch
Co." stamped on the case. Thus the
American Watch Company makes watch
bearing the wellknown trademark of p.
s. Bartlett, Waltham, Mass. On the imi-
tation watch Bartlett is marked BaltLey,
Wdltihan, indicating clearly purpose TO
deceive, and is sold by the bogus dealers,
with the private marks, numbers and
everything, except that "Waltham is
spelled Wdldhdm. The uninitiated would
hardly detect the substitution of the letter
cd" for ct" in this fraud, and yet there
is no such city or town in Massachusetts,
as Waldham, and of course the rogues
know it, but their dupes do not. g-.5
We examined the store OF G e. Col
Inns & Co., wishing to see the styles of
watches they so freely advertise, and
found that those Of the highest grade were
marked as "Waldham" watches. With
these watches he offers to give guaran-
tee for one year, but we have been as
will not keep correct time, nor average
more than DiK months to run at all. r. r
Z The djsphYed ladYertisqnehts are filed
with high sounding praises Of the oroides,
and newspaper comments of genuine
dations Of these sWindles, which were
W " fttee'SN- @AAey ~ -
vertised a. !" fuil; ;jeWelled, adjusted to heat
and cold, p TO differences of climate and
temperature, and warranted, and at the
same time offered for $25 EACH Now, we
have the assurance of a practical watch
maker and jcweler, that TO merely adjust
the works of watch would Of itself cost
$35-ten dollars more than the total cost
Of these oroide sWindles. OF course,
under these circumstances there must be
a swindle somewhere, and somebody mus
be sWindled. M a ..,.i.
It is perhaps useless for us TO warn the
infatuated who are locking fpr fortunes in
street cutters or in. oroide lottery shops,
and never finding them but 10 the hon
estly ignorant and l'unsuspecting into
whose hands this article may fall, we
would suggest that they pay no heed
whatever 70 the flaming advertisements
Of the "oroides," |" and that they purchase
genuine goods of genuine Dealers who
will give a written guarantee Of every
article, and pay falr prices for, the same !
for in the end that Is the cheapest which
Ia hngt Aaaa H,.eI O,sa Nonatal l.sys O1