Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-09-21
WATCH MAKING IN GENEVA.
HOW THE Trade IS TAUGHT IN THE
MUNICIPAL SCHOOL OF The CITY.
swiss Boys Have 10 Pass Through
seven Classes-Arduous and Delicate
work = what is Learned In Each
Clnss-rhs DInerent Processes

seven CIasses-Arduous and Delicate
4 work What is Learned in Each
Class-rhs Different Processes.
As long ago as the year 1900 watches
were made in Geneva, and. for many
years after, that city held the only inn
portant position in this industry. AL
! though watches are now manufactured
I in England and America, still the hered-
/ itary skill OF the Genevese hand causes
/ the art of watch manufacture in Geneva
| to be held in high esteem all over the
world. IL is not to be wondered at that
4 the Swiss have made watch manufacture
I a national industry, and, in order TO per-
/ feet the art, schools OF matchmaking
have been established. Foremost among
these institutions is REcole Municipale
d 'Horlogeric, situated in Geneva. Here
Swiss boys pay only five francs a month
for their instruction, while foreign boys
pay a trifie more. The pupils pay for the
material employed in their work; so at
the end of five years, when they leave the
institution, the twelve watches manu-
featured by each boy are his own prop
erty. On each dial is The mark, "Ecole
Municipale d'Horlogeric, Geneva.
Even though a pupil entering the
school has chosen the trade himself, or
has followed in the footsteps Of long
line of ancestors, the requirement OF the
art is so tedious and difficult that he is
very often discouraged, and the teachers
have to keep him at his trade by en-
couraging words ana deeds. A boy enters
the school at fourteen years OF age, and
begins in every class by making the
utensils required in he manufacture Of
a watch. even The wooden handles; then
he makes the model OF watch IN wood.
They work from September until July,
having only one month for vacation.
From five to six months are passed in
this class. Ten hours a day are passed in
this school, but not all at the work bench,
for each pupil gives seven hours of every
week 10 the study of drawing, the ele-
ments OF physics, mathematics, mechani-
cal science, and chemistry. There are
different classes FOR each OF these studies
in he school, which the boys arerequ.red
70 attend.
The second class requires stay Of
seven or eight months. This is called
the ciqsso de blanc. Here are made by
hand the insice cases for watches, chro-
nometers, ana repeaters. The cage, or
inner case, and some Of the wheels are
made OF metal which is mixture OF
copper and zinc; other wheels and screws
are made Of steel. The apprentices are
required to make twelve lever escapement
cases, one cylinder case, and
one case for a watch that strikes the
hour. hall. and quarter hour. You can
get an idea OF he amount OF patience
and work required in this class when
you learn that there are tw anty-one
small! pieces 10 be made by hand for the
rsf Il L
thirty pieces for a repeater.
In the third class, where from s to
seven months are spent, the mechanism
for winding the watch is made. There
are seven small pieces in each mechan-
ism, all made by hand.
A period OF six months is required in
the fourth Class, where the art oil making
the different parts OF the chronograph is
learned. Here the pupil makes one hum
dred different small pieces for watches
that strike the hour, and perpetual-cal-
enoar watches that denote the days.
months, year, and change OF moon. As
the work proceeds il becomes more COM
plcated. Eight months are given up in
the fifth class to the making OF eight
pieces OF the watch, the wheels and
screws which move the works and regu-
late the hands of the timepiece. Here
the pupil is required also TO make a mi
cromcter, when is an instrument which
can measure the best poss. bic thickness
oil ether wheel or screw. The exact po-
sition of the different movements is de-
termiued by mathematical problems.
Gwen the positions on the inner case OF
the watch, the pupil can determine the
exact diameter OF the vi heels and screws
Machines are used to pierce the metal,
and also to make the teeth in the wheel,
but all is finished by hand.
In the sixth class OF the school the
greatest care is required in the work, for
here the pupils are taught to make both
lever and cylinder escapsments, five or
six of the former and one OF the latter.
There are ten essential pieces to each
lever escapement, including three rubies,
which are polished and shaped here from
the rough stones. Rubies are used in
watches on account OF their hardness.
Each tooth OF the wheel of the lever
passes nine thousand times over the ruby
in an hour. The time spent in this class
is about thirteen months.
In the ast c ass the pupil works for a
year, verifying all the calculations made
in the other classes, and putting together
all The different parts (Which are first
lded) TO make a watch. The dial /
hands, and handspring OF a watch are
made by speciai factories. Chronometers +
have cylindrical or spher cal hair-springs,
while fiat ones are employed Tor watches; +
it is this hair spiral which regulates The /
watch. The springs are made in a
mould, three at time-the steel
being wound round and then heated to
keep il in shape. The hair springs for
watches are made principally by women,
their hands being better adapted to I
the delicate work. Now that the watch
is finished it must be properly regulated /
so as to keep as nearly exact time as pos
sible. In order to accomplish this, it is
submitted first to a certain degree of
heat and afterwards to a certain degree /
of cold.
1t is required that every watch made
by pupil OF the school be sent to the
Observatory, in order to be sstronomi- I
col Is sd a.