The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-12-26
HANDS AND FACES.
HOW THEY ARE MADE IN A LARGE
SWISS WATCH FACTORY.

Required In Making Dials- Expert
Workers on Hands Tho Wages Paid
Both Mon and Women Are Excellent,
A Geneva correspondent in writing
Of visit to one of tho famous watch
manufactures of that city thus de-
scribes some of tho operations:
Now, about the dialmalking process
Itself: First, tho plain round Of purest
copper must be heated to red heat in
furnace to burn off any adhering i'm
purity. Leaving the fire, it is plunged
into an acid bath, and in that way it
becomes SO smooth that it may easily
be rubbed into form with IL small steel
epatula.
The enamel, which comes from France
and Switzerland and looks like great
Jumps of white porcelain, is first re-
duced to the finest of powders in pow
erful crusher. Then it, too, is washed in
acid, and finally it ia washed again in
many renewings of pure water. After
this it is made into sort of paste,
which is applied in thin strata to both
sides of tho copper and then carefully
put by to wait tho complete cvapora-
ton Of tho water with which it was
mixed. AS soon as this has been accom-
plishcd the dial is placed in IN intense
ly hot gas oven, where tho enamel be-
comes perfectly fused and adheres firm
ly to the plate. This operation is re-
peated, with a second and third appli-
cation of the enamel, and then the dial
Is ready to receive the painting of the
hours. AS soon rs this has been done
1t is again put in the oven, n most crit
ical operation, because the fraction Of
second overmuch would spoil every
thing, and then, while yet warm, it is
rubbed or rcdressed with bit of char
coal and small metal tool especially
made for tho purpose. 1t is this opera
ton that gives the dial tho beautiful
smoothness, like that of dainty bit of
china Before that most delicate oper-
alton, the piercing for the hands, which
is dono OH an instrument furnished
with diamonds fixed OH steel, and some
times even tho steel itself, the dial goes
to tho automatic filler and is rendered
absolutely perfect in shape.
The painting Of the hours is nearly all
done by women and girls. Several
women are also employed in tho enamel
ing department. The wages paid both
men and women are excellent. Some
of tho employees arc timo workers, the
others work by tho piece, many of the
latter easily earning 800 francs n month
Naturally these arc tho most expert
enced workers, who have finished ap-
prenticeships Of mt least three years.
In beginning the employees arc given
simple separate parts to do, but even
then they may earn from 100 to $50
francs month. Tho women who earn
the highest wages, 200 francs, work also
by the piece, polishing or rubbing off the
second dial
The firm was organized in 1885, and
all tho chief employees of today have
been connected with it from tho begin
ming. There arc II divisions Of work
men and wOrkwomen, each with n dis
tinct branch of his or her own. Indeed
dial, before complete, passes through
at least 20 pairs of hands. Besides the
white or simple dials with tho usual
black figures, there are tho colored dials
pink, blue, gray, Il delicate shade Of
green and black. There arc also tho
whito or colored dials, with figures in
contrasting colors or in metals as in
tho very latest fashion in decoration
there is an artistic combination with
golden dots. This firm sends dials to
America by the hundreds of thousands
annually, and its rate of supply to tho
largest Swiss houses is proportional.
Tho making of watch hands is one
of the most fascinating adjuncts in the
whole process of watch manufacturing.
Tho chief Swiss handwriting firm has
been in existence through three genera
tions. AS all its heads have been not
ably expert artisans and devoted work
men, it is little wonder that the hands
now produced by this house have be-
come celebrated. The process is so del
lcato that tho workers must be literally
nndisturbcd in their work, and the
pieces are SO minute that a rogue, should
one enter, could easily carry off a large
number unobserved; hence the business
is conducted behind locked doors, and
all outside communications are through
closely barred windows. 1t is almost in
credible, but here, too, Il staff of design
ers is kept busy, for tho hands in form
as well as tho dials in figures and orna-
mentation must keep pace with fash
ions demands. The standard favorite
designs, however, arc the Louis XIV.
thc flowcr-deluce and the good old fash
toned spade and open hands. The steel
hands cost quite as much as the ordi-
nary gold hands, because they arc so
much harder in the working.
The price of an ordinary Dair Of