The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-06-26
HOW TO TREAT A WATCH.
some Simple Suggestions Which Are Worth
Foilowine-Sensitive Machinery.

Foilowins-sensitive Machinery.
New York Mai ond Express.
lyon want to know how TO care for a fine
watch. emf" said the old Matchmaker, as
he took oft his glasses and wiped them
with his handkerchief. Let me see your
watch"
The reporter handed over his timepiece.
and the old man examined It. carefully.
well. my boy" be said. finally. bear in
mind continually that a watch Ia. in its
aniem as the human system. As II is nee
essary fer a man who wishes TO keep In
good health TO take his meals regularly, so
IT is necessary to feed the watch at regular
intervals. You feed O watch by winding
1t up. Therefore,. have = certain hour for
winding your watch and never deviate
from IL.
"In this case there are probably one hun
dred watches. Not one OF them 10 running.
On this rack there are eighteen. and all are
goIps. l wind them the hret thing IN the
morning. starting with the one in the lower
left-hand corner. They get their meals
regularly.
will only study its peculiarities. See this
little arm1 Well, If your watch 10 running
slow. turn that arm with the blade Of yOnr
~penknIfe a tri1e toward the letter r. If
IL is running fast turn In the Opposite d.
rectlon toward - Don't move the arm
more rhan a fraction of nm inch. for If that
will not snffice your watch needs q watch
makers care.
Don't open the inner case Of your watch
more than Is absolutely necessary. Every
time yOn open 1t dust sweeps in upon the
works. and it takes very little dust to put a
watch out of order. In nine times out of
ten when q watch 10 brought to me to be
ness the owner of tho watch follows. i ex-
amined a watch the other day. and told my
customer that he worked in wool. He ad-
mitted the fact. / had found small parti-
IL - =. IL ----l-
Have q chamOis case for your watch. or
q chamois lining to your watch pocket. 1t
preserves the case and keeps it from getting
scratched. / have heard men say that o
watch with q chamois case will keep better
time thnn one without such protection, but
that is nonsense.
III work near electric instruments pr
rite on electric cars you should have Your
watch d~emagnetized. A few years ago
such an operation cost . great dcnl of
a customer that in order to mako a thor
ouPh job of it every piece in the watch
would have TO he treated Independently
first positively and then negatively-in or
der to receive a magnetic or electric
equilibrium. have known matchmaker
to charge SIS for d~emaenetizine q watch.
The real cost is almost nothing. There
is a machine for the purpose. You place
the watch on the positive side and then on
the negative. There 10 no more work
about it than there is in the baking of q
loaf of bread.
Il have heard men say that 1t was I'M
possible 10 take p sick watch to n jeweler
without being told that the trouble lay in
n broken handspring. But how little men
who wear watches know about MAIN
springs. Broken mair-springs come a. %
sort of epidemic. Don't laugh. Pm sim
ply telling you 10 fact. A year ago this
spring l WAS flooded with watches, the
mainsprincs of which had snapped. A Pc
culiarity ofthe breaking was that each of
the twenty-five or more turns 10 the spring
was severed. and thar the breaks wero in a
straight lins from the center to the cIrcum-
ference OF the spring.
Every matchmaker In New York had
an experience. SIMILAR to my own last
spring. We have often compared notes.
but we have been unable to account for
the epidemics, except upon the hypothesis
that atmospheric conditions are the cause.
What those conditions are remains To be
1t has been asserted that
when the northern lights ara the brightest
mainsprings are most apt to snap. You
probably remember that in February the
aurora bOrealls was pbenomenally brill
liant, and yet during that period no watch
with a broken handspring was brought so
me. / cant account Tor the pbenomeD on,
and l don't believe there is a watch-maker
III New York who knows more about il
than i do.
Now let me say q few words as q sort of
finale. The best as well as the cheapest
watch movements In the world are made in
America. It's all we'll enough TO talk
about Swiss watches, but let me tell you
that IN point of accurate time-deeping
there never has been made n $500 Swiss
watch that was a whit superior To q SIS
watch III America.
"Buy American watches with American
movements. Wind your watch regularly,
regulate l t study its moods in both hot
and cold weather. keep the inner cass
closed. get Ii aguetized. and don't call
a matchmaker a rObber when be tells Won
that the main spring of your watch needs
renewal"