Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-04-05
TIMEPIECES.
CURIOUS WATCHES OF THE
PAST AND THE PRESENT.
Pawnbrokers and Curiosity Shop
hecpcrs Get Most OF tho Old
Watches An Odd Chinese
Picco OF Workmanahip.

Sometimes wc meet people for whom
but, oddly enough, man rarely be-.
comes seized with tho desire to make
collection, us In other hobbies. Collcc.
lions exist but few private individuals
own them. Undoubtedly tho finest pri-
vato collection in this country, If not in
tho world, is that Of Giovanni p. Moro.
SIM, which is kept ut his homo at Irving
ton, on tho Hudson. Ho has from ilvo
hundred to ono thousand. Some Of them
are two centuries old, aud many of them
possess moro or less historic value. Tho
collecting OF these timcpieccs has Goen
.he work OF all tho leisure time of his
hie. lie has given very high prices for
some wachcs, particularly those that be.
lonScd to members Of the English aud
French nobility. Mr.. Morosini's collec.
ton alone is roundly estimated to DO
worth $40 900
Watchmakcrs believe that greater
progress has been made toward pcrfcc-
tlon in tho manufacture of timepicces
than IN anything else requiring the skill
OF the mechanic, aud that tho AIT of to-
iay has almost reached its limit for i'm.
provenent Most OF the curious old
watches of the last century are indincr-
cnt timokeepcrs and if used for the pur
pose need repairs frequently. but this is
not so much due to poor work manship
originally, us TO old age. In nearly ali
families tracing back descent for four
iivc or more generations their are hoir.
looms of this sort, but the owners sell
uom carry them, though solicitous, us IL
iulo. that they shall be kept in order.
others Of these relics, i'll due course of
time, find their why TO the pawnbrokor
and tho curiosity shop. and hero it is
that tho man who desires to own ono
hunts for his prize. Unlike coins, raro
cooks and other objects of tho collectors
search, watches of tho old time have Ind
no fancy prices put OH them, except whom
they have been owned by some noted
parsonage or have marked time nj somo
great event. As rule they sell only for
about the va nc of the gold and silver in
their composition.
This HEX Of n ready market sends
most OF tho timers to tho melting pot.
Compared with tho watches of too ny.
those of tho seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries are bulky and mwicdy; but
with all tho improvements, il is remark.
able that some of tho mechanism of
eighty years ago has withstood all tests
mud is in use to-day. One of the great
difficulties confronting tho caricr
watchmakcrs WIS the invention of n
compromising balance to allow for tho
variations of temperature. After long
study, Earnshnw, eighty years ago, per-
iccicd this balance, and il is in use to-
uny. In the case of the chronomcter
escapemcnt nlso, it wns discarded for
llity years, and then again brought into
| use.
j. Abner Harper, of Harper IL brothers,
mas nh old and curious watch OF tho
last century, but he does not place much
store on it beyond its original cost. lilo
picked il up in curiosity shop. II is
only n little larger than the ordinary
watch OF to-day, and was mndo by Du
Bols ct I'll of Paris about one hundred
years ago. 1t is of gold and opened
laced and is musical rcpcnter. Tho
dial numbers are Arabic, and, like many
ni the ropcatcrs Of to-day, time can be
told in the dark within lficon minutes
Of the hour. Pressure on the tenn is fol.
lowed by number of strokes indicating
lhc hour, md, after pause, one, two or
thee strokes sound for tho quarter il
may be- Within two minutes of each
hour the mechanism starts n miniature
music box, which plnysa melody until
the repeater strikes.
Some three months ngo Edward
Morgan found Chinese watch in n
Bowcry pawnshop. 1t WINS made of sill.
yer, and he became the owner of il for
SS. 1t is about three inches in diameter
and an inch thick, but differs but litllo
from the English and French watches of
liity years ago. The works nrc of
splendid finish, but very Intricate, and it
Is mn excellent timekccpcr.
u used to BE the fashion among tho
ola wntchmnkcrs to make their rcpcnt.
crs with groicsque and fantastic figures
going through the motions of binck.
smiths continually boating anvils, and
they carried these conccits to tho extent
oil making the watchcascs in singular aud
odd shapes. A revival of this IL, in II
modified form, going on in Coventry,
England. matchmaker there has con
cclycd the idea Of manufacturing watches
with the figures Of celebrities holding
the hands on the dials and thus marking
the time.
Mr.. A; L. Jconard, of Tiffany & Co,
knows all about watches, modern and
antique. "Old Watches" he said care
chic y OF interest to study the changes
That have taken place since about 1000,
""'i .ho WSI pocket CLOCK evOlutcu
from tho water clock. 1t was first made
with u spring and balance wheel, and
1t was nearly century before the watch
had the latter. Then the improvements
In the chronomctcr arc marvellous from
IFS when John Harrison first perfected
1t, followed by Bcrthoud and icRoy in
France. The honor OF Invcnting tho
balance wheel is disputcd,hetwecnIiookc
liuygens and DclIautcfeuilc. We have
had any number of old watches here.
and a short time ago we had quite n col,
lection, but we disposed of them to tho
Smithsonian Institute. / am not nc
quainted with any private collectors of
old watches. though presume there
arc some. One of tho curious thinps
about Matchmaking is tho way some Of
tho cd fancies of construction will re-
vivc from time TO time When | was
learning the business twenty-five years
ngo, the groicsquc and musical French
watches were very common" - Me,o
York Star.
Tho BnIrinn Unrr.