Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1892-12-17
CARE OF A WATCH.
DELICATE MECHANISM WHICH NEEDS
REGULAR ATTENTION.

Entertaining Talk on the Treatment "t
Timepicc,s information on II subject "i
General Interest.
You want to know how to care for n
fine watch eh q said the old Matchmaker,
as hr took off his glasses and wiped
them with his handkcrchief Let me
see your watch.
The reporter handed over his time
piece, and the old man examined it
carefully.
Well. my boy" he said, finally,
"bear in mind continually that a watch
is, in its way, almost as delicate Il piece
of mechanism as the human system.
As it is necessary for a man who wishes
to keep in good health to take his
meals regularly, SO is it necessary to
feed a watch at regular intervals. You
feed watch by winding it up. There
fore, have certain hour for wind
ing your watch, and never deviate
from it.
In this case there are probably one
hundred watches. Not one of them
is running. On this rack there are
eighteen, and all are going. | wind
them the first thing in the morning,
starting with the one in the lower left
hand corner They get their meals
regularly.
You can regulate your own watch if
YOU will only study its peculiaritieS.
See this little arm Well, if your watch
is running slow, turn that arm with the
blade of your penknife a trifie toward
Al,
turn in the opposite direction toward
IS Don't move the arm more than Il
fraction of an inch, for if that will not
suffice, your watch needs watchmakcr's
care.
Don't open the inner case of your
watch more than is absolutely necessary.
Every time you open it dust sweeps i'll
upon the works, and it takes very little
dust to put a watch out of order In
ninp eases out of ten, when a watch is
brought to me to he cleaned | can tell
With my glass the business the owner
al the watch follows. ! examined
Nltrh the other day, and told my Gus
,ou,cr that he worked in wool. He Adj
nitted the fact [ had found small
PARTICLES of wool in the works of hi
watch
Have chamois case for Your watch,
ftr caamos lining to your watch pocket.
Il preserves the case and keeps it from
letting scratched. | have heard men
~ay that watch with Il chamois case
WII keep no better than one without
such protection. but that is nonsense.
." If YOU work near electric iustrrl-
in"nts. or ride on electric cars you
sh""td have your watch dcmagnetized.
: fcW wears ago such an operation cost II
LAT dead Of money. Unprinciplcd
..n.''"r~ would tell customer thai in
"r,,",' t" make thorough job of it every
- rr III the watch would have to be
,'"'}t",l Independently, first positively,
tot, then negatively, in order to re-
':i~e 4 magnetic or electric equilibrium.
have known watchmakers to charge
tN"uty five dollars for demagnctizing Il
M;stri,
Tho real cost is almost nothing.
i!'ere is Il machine for the purpose.
h"u place the watch on the positive
side and then ON the negative There
Is n" more work about it than there is
in In" baking of loaf of bread
| have heard men say that it was
Impossible to take a sick watch to Il
.""rIicr without being told that the
trouble lay in broken handspring.
Bat how little men who wear watches
know about main prings Broken
manNrrin9s come as sort of cpl
druic. Don't laugh. Tn simply tell
in% you fact. A year ago this spring
| Was flooded with watches the main
springs of which had snapped \ pc
cil,iarity of the breaking was that each
Of the twenty-five or more turns to the
spring was severed and that the break.
were III n straight line from the centre
to the circumference of the spring
Every matchmaker in New York ha!
an experience similar to my own last
Spriug. We have often compared
notes, but we have been unable to ar-
count for the epidemics, except upon
The hypothesis that atmospheric condi,
tions are the cause. What these condi-
tiuns are remains to be determined,
1t has been asserted that when the
northern lights are the brightest main
springs are most apt to snap. You
probably remember that in February
the aurora borealis was phenominally
brilliant, and yet during that period no
watch with broken handspring WAS
brought to me. / can't account for the
phenomena, and | don't believe there is
Il matchmaker in New York who knows
more about it than / do.
Now let me add few words II,
sort of finale The best as well a. the
cheapest watch movements in the world
are made i'll America. It's all welt
enough to talk about Swiss watches,
but i'll point of accurate timckecpiug
there never has been made five hun
dred dollar Swiss watch that was Il Whit
superior to twenty-five dollar watch lii
America.
Buy American watches with Amer-
ran movements. Wind YOUR watch
regularly, regulate it, study its moods
III both hot and cold weather Keep
he inner case closed, get it demagnct.
tH"l, and don't call the matchmaker
.''hrr when he tells you the majl-
ing Of your watch needs renewal