The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-07-03
MIlll(l a9le
HE TTNKERS WITH TIME,
q MAN WHO REMEMBERS WATCHES
BUT FoRGETs FACES.

The PhysiognOmy of Timepiece-Have
a Regular Hour for Winding-The
Watch Case Record-How a Man Sent
a Valentine to His Son.
In lewelry store not a thousand miles
from the City hall the watch department
Is In charge of pleasant faced, good ma
tured man, whose weight must be close to
200 pounds. Among his other duties is
that of winding watches, and this is a
duty which has to be attended to on Sun
days as well as other days. 1t is his custom
TO look after the finer grades Of watches,
particularly when they are being regulated,
with especial care, and he says that good
watch ought to be wound about ths same
time IN each twenty-four hours.
THE WNDKR's WORK
Il 5s51ssz-e IN the habit Of winding your
watch zbout 1oo'ciock or O'Clock every
night" he remarked in conversation the
other afternoon, IF you are wise you will
not leave it until l or 2 O'Clock on the
nights now aIld then when you happen to
be up 50 late. Always wind it within the
space of one hour in the tweuty-four-that
Is, If your average time is hsIf-past 10,
make It rule to wind it regularly between
10 and IL; but the nearer You keep it 20 a
caFfain definite time the better. Of course
it Is impossible for me- always to wind all
of the Large number of watches here in the
store on the minute every day But with
the best witches try hard to be very reg
uaar. When come down here on Sunday
foreDOons of course | am wholly undis-
turbed, and am able to get through the
work IN about two hours. On other days
i am very likely to be called away by the
demands of customers, 50 that it may be 2
or 3 O'Clock in the afternoon before I am
ableto complete this part of my days reg
ular duty. But it is always the cheaper
and less trustworthy watches that leave
to the last.
do you know that there is something
singular about what may call the physi-
ognonay of a watc42 A good many people
win come-here that don't recognize at all,
but the pfpgneut hook at their watches l
recognize them, and in that way am able
70 identify their owners. have not good
memory for faces, but / krOw watches
from the word go, and though it may seem
singular 20 yen that the inside of a watch
should convey more definite idea to my
mind than a human face, it is really not
singular at all | have made a life long
in the world to remainder how the inside
of one watch varies from that of another.
OfoOuTBe anybody could see the difference
where they are made by. different people or
ere of different sizes. But have in par
ticular, to remember how the regulators
stand Il a customer has his watch regu-
laSed and then comes bore few weeks or
a few months afberwargl 10 have it touched
I
moved the Fegufator the last time I might
easily boteh the whole job. So 5here are
many ways in which I diTerentiate one
PERSONS watch from another, though l
couldn't point them ont il detail any more
than a mother of twins that look just alike
to the casual observer can tell precisely
= ny she has never any difficulty in telling
one from the other.
HOW HE GETS BONE.
II said that I didn't have agood memory
forSaceS Let me tell you another thing
l have an excellent idea of locality, and if
I had once been IN a place believe that l
should recognize {tegain If were suddenly
dropped into it blindfolded and then had
my eyes uncovered. Now, yoa may find it
bard 90 believe, but il Is an actual fact that
] do not know the number of my own
house. Ii happens to be the third in the
row, and In thGb way never have any diff
Guilty in finding 1T. How would it be, you
usk, ii il were the seventeenth in a long
TOW of houses all aliSes No, I should not
count UP TO seventosa every time in that
case, but should choose some landmark
on which 1 could depend. sach as a tree or
q lamppoSt, and take nay bearings from
thai On last St WaIenkine'Sday wanted
To send n yalcDtiDesbOso one OF nay boys, and
would you believe it'll actually had to
go TO the book ha=e Ia, the store in which
the addresses Of all the employees areskept
In order to find out where lived. l am
afraid if L ETerecaGed as a witness in court,
and WAS not able to belA my street mum Der,
the judge and the jury would not have
much confidence IN my testimony; and
shouldn't blame them, either. But what |
have told you rs an sszstaai fAct.
Speaking of regulating watches once
morc, there iSsa SecSIES simple device which
makes 10 much easler for the matchmaker
than it Used to be- 1t is.menely q circular
piece of paper made dagger orsEnaller so as
Just holft theinSide Of Warehouses; Of dif-
ferent sizes 1t is diSidea.into columns for
dates and other ENTRIES, SOFAS co show the
condition of the watch at the time the on
try is made. An O,iSsysicates thBt the watch
has been regulated; a star shows that it
had run down and had been set going
AGAIN. An l. indicates right and that no
change is needed. A PGEs sign shows that
the watch runs too fast, and minus sign
that it goeSstOo slow, and the number of
seconds entcEed in the next column shows
the rate of loss or gain per day. A charac-
terdike V turned upside down indicates
set This watch case record, as it Is
called, is great convenience to us and 1t
causes no trouble to the owner of the
watch in which. II is placed. Instead Of
having to sc to cur books 10 find out how
a watch was running the last time we saw
it, the record Is right under our eyes, and
if the man whose special business 1t Is TO
look after the regulating Of watches hap
pens to be out, his assistant knows pretty
well what is needed So if a man goes TO
another city and has occasion TO consult
matchmaker, the latter can get on speak,
ing terms with new watch, so 70 saw &
very short order. New y ork Tribune.