West-Jersey pioneer., 1877-01-11
AMERICAN WATCHES.

If the great Centennial Exhibition re-
Gently closed has accomplished nothing else
it has certainly demonstrated the fact that
as matchmaking people, we Americans
have no superiors. In no branch of industry
have we made more progress than this
Scarce twenty years have passed since the
first watch was manufactured in this coun-
try, and yet today we control the trade OF
the world having surpassed in turn the
Germans, French and the Swiss. NJ Edo
ward Favre-Perret, member of the Inter
national Jury on watches of the Exhibition
at Philadelphia, recently delivered speech
at Neuchatel, Switzerland, on the progress
of American matchmaking. The appended
extracts from this speech ere conclusive as
to the superiority of the American wa CHI
''The first watch facto.y in America was
started at Boston in 1854. It failed in 1856
A new company, ''The American Watch
Company" was afterward form &c, with a
capital of $500, 1000. Soon this capi'a al be-
came insufficient, and it was inc eased to
$500, 900, before the War of Seces, ion-
This war, which seemed calculated to dee
troy such an en- erprise, was, on The con-
trary, tie cause of its prosperi y. America
put on foot a million of so dies, ard as
every ore wafted his wa: ch. IL ere was
great animation in the w2tch bus ness. At
this juno ure, which night have been lucky
one fo~ orr irdrsry, we failed to comp =
1
good watches 10 the Ame. &c; MS. TIE worst
trash was sent. Had mere skeleton move.
ments been sent in cases hey wolld have
been thought good enough! The Ameri-
cans, however, went to work on all entirely
different plan. The company increased
their plan, and turned out better ordinary
watch than the Swiss wa, Oh. Al the end
of several years, and with the aid of patriot
ism, the American watch enjoyed a good
reputation, while our own YVES discredited
every where. In 1865 tie cap; I'll wsS ~
creased to $3.50, 900, and the opera ions of
the new company grew to i'm rense prcpor-
tiors. During the following ye.rs business
went on so well that eve wheie new watch
factories sprung up. Every ore wanted to
make watches. To-day you can count
about eleven factories. The HOS import-
ant after the Waltham Company is the Que
at Elgin, which tn ms out about 800 move
ments day. The Waltham Company give
employment to 900 wo l;nen, ID make
about 1926 moye.ne, per day. The Gem
pany again Increased her p't.,l in 1872;
it amounts to-day to s., ,J00,C coo, besides
100000 as reserve fund, or capitol of o.
600. 900 francs. This watch ffctoTy is
real power; there is nothing Ii e il in Eu-
rope. We have seen it in all IFS details, and
we have admired It's splendid or. ..alz,.,ioa.
1t has been said, and It has been @ apla
Gently repeated, that the Amercals do 1oj
make the entire wa,ch, and chat hey are
dependent upon Switze. land for several
parts of the waSch. This is mis- axe
The Waltham Company make ne Ell Ire
watch-from he first screw 20 the case "a
dial. 1t would even be difficult for her
to use our products, so great is he ie3ul,
ity, so minute the precision. wi h w'lich
their machines work. They arrive at .he
regulation of the watch 80 to sav-wi, honf
having seen it. When the watch CIV
to the adjuS5er, the forena1 delivers o hin
the corresponding hair p ing, apf -ht
watch is regulated. CSensa ion among he
audience Here is what | have seen. gen
tlemenl | asked from the director of The
Waltham Company w& Oh OF he I'll h
grade A large safe was onened before me:
at random I took watch out of it AID
fastened it to my chain. ! he director hav-
ing asked me to let him have the watch for
rwo OF three days, so as to observe its mo
tion, answered, son the CONTRA r. T,e.i.
sist in wearing it just as it is, to obtain an
exact idea Of your manufacture. At Paris
| set my watch by regulator on the Boul-
evard. and on the sixth day observed that
it had varied 80 seconds And this watch
is of the fifth American grade; it costs y
francs movement without case At my
arrival at Locle showed the watch to one
of our first adjusters, who asked permission
to take it down''-in other words, to take
serve it; and here is the result, which
noted Hanging, daily variation II seconds;
variation in different positions, from to
seconds; in the cheated room" the varia-
tion was but very slight. Having thus Oh
served it, handed the watch to the ad-
juster, who took it down. After the lapse
of few days, he came to me and said,
word for word; 81 am completely over
whelmed; the result is Incredible; one
would not find one such watch among fifty
thousand of our manufacture
This watch, gentlemen, ! repeat to you,
l took at hazard out of heap, as we say.
You understand from this example that
the American watch may be preferred to
the Swiss l have finished, gentlemen and
have told yon of things such as have
seen them. II remains for US to profit from
this sad experience, and to improve our
manufactured -