, 1889-10-06
HOW 10 1REA1 A WATCH.
Instructions for Keeping Your TImepiece
Always In Good Order.

Always In Good Order.
Having obtained a really service
able article, you should, in order to
produce satisfactory results, follow
out these rules: Wind up your watch
every day at the same hour. This is
generally done at the hour when we
retire to rest, or perhaps, better still,
the hour we rise.
Avoid putting a watch on a marble
slab, or near anything excessively
cold. The sudden transition from
heat to cold contracting the metal
may sometimes cause the handspring
to break. Indeed, the cold co~agulates
the oil, and the wheel works and piv-
OTIS working less freely affect the regu-
larity Of the timekeeper.
When we lay our watch aside we
ought to slope it on a watch case SO as
to keep it nearly in the same position
it has in the pocket. In laying aside
your watch be sure that it rests on its
case. By suspending it free the action
of the balance may cause oscillation,
which may considerably interfere
with its going.
If you would keep your watch clean
you must be quite SUR that your case
fits firmly, and never putin any pocket
&. but one made o fleather. Those pockets
which are lined with cloth, cotton or
calico give, by the constant friction,
a certain quantity of fluff, which en-
tiers most watches, even those cases of
which shut firmly.
If the watch is not a 'keyless' one
the key should be small, in order that
we may feel the resistance of the stop
work; then we can stop in time with
out forcing anything. 1t is also nee
essary that the square of the key
should correspond with that of the
watch. If it be too large it may in a
short time cause the wind up square
TO suffer from undue wear and tear,
the rectifying of which is rather ex
pensive. The hands of an ordinary
watch can be turned backward with
out much risk. 1t is, however, always
better 10 turn the hands forward to
adjust your watch to correct time.
A skillful watch maker one day thus
reasoned with a customer who com
planned of his watch: You complain
ed" said he, that your watch gains a
minute a month. Well, then, you
will congratulate yourself when you.
have heard me. You are aware that
in your watch the balance, which is
the regulator, makes five oscillations
every second, which is 432, 900 a day;
SO that your watch, exposed to all the
vicissitudes which heat and cold oc-
casion it, the varying weight of the
air, and the shaking to which it is sub
jected, has not varied more than a
minute a month or two seconds a day.
1t has only acquired with each vibra-
ton of the balance a variation of the
PIG, 000th part of n second. Judge,
then, what must be the extreme per-
lection of the mechanism of this
watch"
A watch cannot go for an indefinite
period without being repaired or clean
ed. At the expiration of a certain time
the oil dries up, dust accumulates, and
wear and tear are inevitable results to
the whole machinery, the functions
becoming irregular, frequently ceas-
ing TO act altogether.
A person possessing n watch of good
quality, and DESTROYS of preserving it
as such, should have it cleaned every
two years at least. But care should be
taken to confde the repairing or clean
ing TO careful hands; an incapable
workman may do great injury TO a
watch even of the simplest construc-
tion.-Chambers' Journal.