St. Landry democrat., 1890-08-23
The Watch CRYSTAL.
CHANGES SINCE THE DAYS OF GRAND.
FATHERS BULLS EYE.
"Ah, there goes another crystal"

FATHERS BULLS EYE.
''Ah, there goes another crystal"
Why don't you get hunting case p
because prefer the open face, even i
they are more expensive"
This conversation was overheard tb,
other day between two gentlemen who
were playing billiards in a fremont stree
hotel.
Here, thought the writer, is a subject OF
| interest 10 readers, and straip htforward he
visited the rooms OF one of the oldest, il
not the Oldest. dealers in watch crystals IN
the city. He was found on Court street
| up one flight, in a room which was YER
liable curiosity shop.
On one side of the room was line OF
grand father clocks whose voices had not
been heard for half century. The dust
lay on them in ridges, and their yellow
faces looked solemn and sad. Some were
| without hands, while Others were in cases
warped and scanned by age
"Can | see the proprietor of this estab-
lishment2" asked the newspaper man.
One of the bent figures arose from his
bench in response. A saow white beard
flowed down his chin, land pair of steel
bowed spectacles rested on the tip of his
nose.
81 conduct this shop" said he. "What
is wanted?'
81 came to ask you few questions re-
lating to watch crystals" responded the
scribe
'On, yes. Well, you will find me pretty
well acquainted with the business "
'What style of crystal was sold in 1884
or about the days when you first went into
business 2"
THE principal one was the Lunette for
both open faced and hunting cases. The
watches were known as bulls eyes. The
Lunette was invented by Frenchman of
that name, and he must have done an
enormous business, as the whole watch
wearing world was customer of his.
These old fashioned timepieces had de-
tachable cases, and when your grandfather
performed the important duty of winding
up his old ticker, just as the sun was
sinking in the West, he would remove the
outer covert G., hang it ON his thumb, ad-
just the key, and then solemnly and
slowly tighten the spring for another TWEEN
ty-four hours service The crystals of the
bulls eye had to be very high in the CEN
ter because the post to which the hands
were adjusted stood up nearly quarter of
an inch"
"Will you give me the process of man
ufacture3"
With pleasure. It should be under
stood, in the first place, that the finest
quality of glass Ia necessary, and in order
to make the business profitable, the factory
must be located contiguous to rich bed
of silica or pulverized flint. | am now
speaking more particularly of the prese, t
time. The glass is taken from the oven
on the blow pipe, and large globe, the
size of half barrel, formed
when cool this is taken by the oper-
ator, and, with heated piece Of thin iron,
he traces line around the GLOBE and then
quickly lif it above bis head. The sud-
den change of temperature causes the
glass to separate where the heated metal
has been in contact This is continued
until the entire sphere has been made into
hoops OF bands These are then cut iato
squares the size of the crystal it is designed
to produce.
The process is to place these squares
on whesl covered with buckskin, which
is is made to revolve under a stationary
rod, in the end of which is a diamond.
This operation produces the dice. These
are then placed on blocks of soapstone
with rounded tops, and put into little
oven at white heat, where they remain
about minute. This softens the glass,
and it settles down upon the soapstone,
conforming itself exactly to the mold.
The crystals are now ready for the grind
ers, who bring them down to sharp edge
so they shall fit snugly into the btzel."
"How are the various styles of crystals
Of the present time designated?'
First, we have the Geneva. which is
slightly crowned and quite thin. Then the
patent Geneva, made in the same form, but
with small polished space in the center.
The bulls eye is high crowned, also with
polished center. Then there is the thick
parallel. This is fiat On top and very thick.
They have been in vogue for about twelve
years, and were brought ont, believe, in
answer to demands made necessary by the
great popularity of the open face watch.
The edges are ground down so as to fit the
bezel. Th5y are very strong,
and will stand great deal of hard usage
before breaking. The miconcave has a very
slight swell, and is used mostly in la dies
watches. The thick micoDcave is for gen.
tlemen's open faced timers. The thick con-
cave is made heavy and ground out On the
under side, and has fiat top. Then there
is also the thin concave, which is almost
fat. The Lunette is oval or crowned,
running 10 height from to 8 The Verge
glass was USED largely in the old bulls
eye"
"What are the diameters of the various
,rystsls?"
"1hey run from to "a, 0 being about
The size of 10 cent piece, and "a neasur.
ing 2 5-26 inches"
The speaker here went to drawer in
cabinet and fished out q dusty package,
and upon opening it showed the writer
crystal almost large enough for a town
clock.
81 manufactured these myself" said he,
IS he held one of them up to the light.
They are made of the finest glass posi-
Die to obtain"
"You were then in the manufacturing
Yes In 1874 opened small factory
n Williamsburg, N. Y, and these glass;
am now showing you were part of my
product. In those days crystal was worth
about 81, and | concluded that they could
% produced in this country at a much
over figure. I preached the matter of
starting factory here, but all my friends
spoke very disparagingly of the project,
saying it was impossible to make salable
crystal on this side of the Atlantic. l was
lot discouraged, however, by these pessi
nistic views, and went right along and
,arried out my proposition to successful
but kept what was doing to
myself.
ut soon began to be noised around that
was underselling the market, and one of
he greatest wonder of the time was to
know how managed to do business at
uch ruinous figures" and the old white
haired dealer gave little chuckle as his
memory went back to the DAYS of his happy