The morning news., 1891-02-21
WORKOUT WATCHES.
Fulfilling the Ancient Saying That
lime is Money.

lime is Money.
From the CSHeinaoti TIRss-Star.
"what becomes of all the old watchesT'
was asked Of q busy pawnbroker this morn
ing.
''That depends upon what you term an
old watch" was the reply. "You must
know that the age at which a watch be-
| comes useless as a time keeper depends
almost entirely upon whether IL is jeweled
| or not A full-jeweled watch should run
| on forever, and watch will become useless
sooner ard sooner as it has less jewels, while
one whose bearings rest upon copper will
wear out in q short time.
''Strlctiy speaking, however" J" he went on
to say, "a watch never goes out Of use, for
the wheels can be repaired indefinitely and
transferred from one watch to another,
usually being changed to piece not so good
as the one before, until finally it reverts to
the founder and begins life anew in a fine
| watch.
"Fhe jewels, too, 60 on serving indefin-
itely, unless they become crooked in remov-
ing them from old cases, for there is no
wear-out TO Q ruby, which is the comnonesU
stone for this use. The metal, YOU know
will always wear if anything must GO, and
In good watch friction is reduced to a
minimum, so that It Is u common thing for
Y
more repairing than an occasional cleaning
out.
"What becomes of old cases9 Well, they
go to various places. Manufacturing jew
| elers purchase q great many TO be remod-
eled into late styles, or hammered into
| spoons and various articles of jeweiry or
tableware. Then the purest go in large
| quantities to the United States mint, at
| Philadelphia, where they arc melted aud
na6a
case Is exactly of the right purity to be put
directly into a mold, nor are two cases
scarcely ever OF the same degree of purity
| The assayer Tnelts up lot Of the stuff to-
| gether, and having the mass of one equal
purity, be can bring it to the proper degree
very easily. Silver and gold is purchased
| by the asSayer in quantity at all times, for
though some Of it be poor, 1t does not mat
ter much, since alloy must be used any
how.
"You would scarcely believe me If / told
you some of the tricks fellows attempt to
play on us pawnbrokers in selling old
watches A silver watch coated with gold
has all the appearance, spring and touch of
a real gold case, and many a sucker buys a
silver watch thinking he has a gold one.
| But we cannot be fooled so easily, and q
very simple test will discover the fraud.
The usual place for testing is around the
edge of the lid, and it very often happens
that case is eighteen carats pure in that
place, while the body Is but ten or twelve
carats.
Years ago pawnbrokers were in the
habit of testing gold cases on the knobs
alone, but they were broken of this habit
very suddenly by the sad experience Of a
few of their wealthy brethren. A New
York sharper got onto the fact, and what
did he do, but go to Europe and get a lou of
watches made with richly embossed cases OF
gilt, while the knob was of the finest gold.
/ forgot how many Of these he got, but il
was up in the hundreds. The cost must
have been trifipg-about $40 per watch.
| Well sir, what did that fellow do, but
take those watches one at a time, and
represent himself as rich young fellow re-
duced to the extremity of parting with the
family watch. He seemed so sorry to part
with them that the pawnbrokers, after
testing and finding the remarkable purity
of the knobs, allowed htm generous sums.
many giving as much as Sl00 on them.
After sticking almost every pawnbroker IL
New York, Brooklyn and Jersey City with
one of the pieces, the fellow departed for
unknown lands, but If he ever wants 9
warm reception, all he need do is to try the
trick over sgain.
"That was a severe lesson, and no watcl
is ever accepted now without a thorough
testing In three OF four places We have O
trade journal, by which we are kept in.
formed OF all new tricks, and 1t is not safe
for q person to try the same racket after thl
first day. Yes, we are foxy, exceedingly
foxy, aud the fellow who can fool one OF
our ancient and wideAwake profession mus
be genius indeed"