Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-06-05
HE TINKERS WITH TINE
A MAN WHO REMEMBERS WATCHES
! BUT FoRGETs FACES.


Regular Hour for winding-The
Watch Case Record-How a Man Sent
Valentine TO His Son.
In a jewelry 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 we'll 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 the same
time in each twentyfour hours.
THE wNDER's WORK.
IF you arr in the habit of winding your
watch about 10 o'clock or II o'clock every
night, he remarked, in conversation the
other afternoon, ''if you are wise you will
not leave it until l or 9 o'clock on the
nights now and then when you happen to
be up so late. Always wind it within the
space of one hour in the twenty-four-that
is, If your average time is half-past 10,
make it a rule to wind it regularly between
10 and II; but the nearer you keep it to a
certain 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 watches | try hard to be very reg
ular. When l come down here on Sunday
forenoons of course ! am wholly undis-
turbed, and / am able to get through the
work in about two hours. On other days
am very likely to be called away by the
demands of customers, so that it may be 2
or o'clock in the afternoon before am
able to complete this part of my days reg
ular duty. But it is always the cheaper
and less trustworthy watches that l leave
to the last.
'Do you know that there is something
singular about what may call the physi-
ognomy of watch7 A good many people
will come here that don't recognize at all,
but the moment look at their watches l
recognize them, and in that way am able
to identify their owners. have not good
memory for faces, but know watches
from the word go, and though it may seem
singular to you that the inside of watch
should convey a more definite idea to my
mind than human face, it is really not
singular at all. have made life long
study of Watches and it is the easiest thing
In the world to remember how the inside
of one watch varies from that of another.
OF course anybody could see the difference
where they are made by different people or
are of different sizes But have, in par
ticular, to remember how the regulators
stand If a customer has his watch regu
lated and then comes here few weeks or
few months afterward to have it touched
up again, unless remember just how far /
moved the regulator the last time might
easily botch the whole job So there are
many ways in which / differentiate one
persons watch from another, though l
couldn't point them out in detail any more
than q mother of twins that look Just alike
to the casual observer can tell precisely
why she has never any difficulty in telling
one from the other.
HOW HE GETS HOME.
81 said that didn't have a good memory
for faces. Let me tell you another thing
/ have an excellent idea of locality, and If
/ had once been in place / believe that /
should recognize it again if were suddenly
dropped into it blindfolded and then had
my eyes uncovered. Now, you may find it
hard to believe, but it is an actual fact that
| do not know the number of my own
house. 1t happens to be the third in the
row, and In that way | never have any diff
Guilty in finding it. How would it be, you
ask, il it were the seventeenth in a long
row of houses all alike? No. should not
count up to seventeen every time in that
case, but should choose some landmark
on which could depend, such as tree or
a lamppost. and take my bearings from
that On last st, Valentines day wanted
to send valentine TO one of my boys, and
would you believe it'll actually had to
30 to the book here in the store in which
the addresses of all the employees are kept
in order to find out where | lived. am
afraid if | were called as witness in court,
and was not able to tell my street number,
the judge and the jury would not have
much confidence in my testimony; and
shouldn't blame them, either. But what l
have told you is an actual fact.
Speaking of regulating watches once
more, there is Il recent simple device which
makes 1t much easier for the matchmaker
than it used to be, 1t is merely circular
piece of paper made larger or smaller SO as
lust to 1T the inside of watch cases of diff
ferent sizes 1t is divided into columns for
dates and other entries, so rs to show the
condition of the watch at the time the en-
try is made. An O indicates that 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 plus sign shows that
the watch runs too fast, and minus sign
that it goes too slow, and the number Of
seconds entered in the next column shows
the rate of loss or gain per day. a charac-
Ter like Y turned upside down indicates
set This watch case record as it is
called, is great convenience so us and 1t
causes no trouble TO the owner of the
watch in which it is placed. Instead of
having to go to our books to find out how
4 watch was running the last time we saw
ii. thd record is right under our eyes, and
if the man whose special business it is to
lool6rafter the regulating of watches hap
pefis to be out, hts assistant knows pretty
well what is needed. So il man goes to
another city and has occasion 10 consult
matchmaker, the latter can get on speak
ing terms with new watch, so to say, IN
very short order. New York Tribune.
Various Applications of Paper,
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