The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1894-01-12
HANDS AND FACES.
OW THEY ARE MADE IN A LARGE
SWISS WATCH FACTORY.
Delicate Operations with Oven and Tools
Required In Making Dials- Expert
Workers on Hand, The ages Paid

Both Men and Women Are Excellent.
AGeneva correspondent i'll writing
Of a visit to one of the famous watch
manufactures of that city thus de.
-cribes some of the operations:
Now, about the dialmaking process
itself: First. the plain round of purest
copper must be heated To a red heat in
"A furnace to burn off any adhering inn
purity. Leaving the fire. il is plunged
into an acid bath. and in that way il
becomes so smooth that il may easily
be rubbed into form with a small steel
spatula.
The enamel, which comes from France
and Switzerland and looks like great
humps OF white porcelain. is first re
duced t. the finest of powders III 4 pow
erfui crusher. Then it. 100. Is washed in
acid. and finally it j. washed again in
many ~renewincs of pJ re water After
this il il made into a sort Of paste,
which i applied in I in strata To both
sides Of rhe copper nd then carefully
put by - wait the complete evdpora-
ton OF the water with which it was
mixed. As soon a. his has been accom-
plished tho dial l. laced in an intense
ly hot gas oven. = lere tn. enamel be-
comes perfectly { >pd and adheres firm
ly 10 the plate. This Operation is re-
peated, with a : .gud and third appli-
cation Of the az mel, and then the dial
Is ready to rec I'VE the painting of the
hours. As soon as this has been lone
it is again put in the oven. "A most Cit
ical operation. because the fraction of
a second ovrTmuch would spoil every
thing. and then, while yet warm, il l.
rubbed or redre>sed with a hit IF char.
coal and "A small metal tool especially
made for the purpose. IL Is this opera
ton that gives the dial the beautiful
smOothness. like that Of a dainty lit of
china. Before that most delicate oper
alton, the piercing for the hands. which
Is done on an instrument furnished
with diamonds fixed OIL eel. and some
times even the steel itself, the dial goes
TO the automatic G,.- and Is rendered
absolutely perfect an shape.
The paintin-uits To-. t.u"- s. l ."r.r a.
done by women al -iri-. Sy,,
women arr glsa,u-' .-. liutra oftn- 3.
ing department. T. WA I4.. I...
men and women an. ,Er .irrt. So
Of the employees ar il-t" worker. t:-
others work lv tie +. "". many 'f =
latter easily earning 5000 lraur,Hi-autl..
Naturally these are thu most cruali
enced workers. who na~. finished "g.
premiership Of at least three YEAR,.
In beginning tae employees are give.
simple separate parts To do, but ,ysI
Their they may earn from 100 To- 10
francs a month. The women who earn
the highest wg- -. -uo francs. work also
by tine piece. polishing Or rubbing Off the
second dial.
The firm WAS organized in 1855. and
all the chief employees # today have
been connected with il from the begin
nIng. There are II divisions OF work
men Il w~orkEuuen. each with a d.
tIuct branch OF hi- Of her own. Indeed
a dial. before complete. passes through
at least 20 pairs of hands. Besides the
white or -.tHrl" aIal- with the usual
black tigura~, there are the colored dials
pink, blue. gray. q. delicate shade of
green and black. There are also the
white or cuIored dial,. with figures III
contrasting color- or in metals. as in
the very latest fashion in decoration
there Is an artistic combination with
golden dots. Thu firm sends dials to
by the hundreds of thousa..is
annually, and IT, ratdTof supply to the
Swiss houses Is proportional.
the making Of watch hands is
of the most fascinating adiuncts in the
process of watch manufacturing.
The chief Swiss handmaking firm has
been in existence through three genera
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 nave be-
corse celebrated. The process is so del
that the workers must be literally
undisturbed in their work, and the
pieces are s. minnie that a rogue, should
enter, could easily carry oft a large
unobserved; hence the business
Is conducted behind locked doors. and
Ill outside communications are through
barred windows. 1t Is almost in
credible, but here. too, a staff OF design
MS is kept busy, for the hands in form
rs well as the dials in figures and orna-
nentation must keep pace with fash
Iou's demands. The standard favorite
however, are the Louis Nv.
the fower-de-luce and the good old fash
ioned spade and open hands. The steel
hands cost quite as much al the ordi-
nary gold hands. because they are so
much harder in the working.
The price of an ordinary pair of
hands is, / believe, about s francs, but
have seen hands there initiated and
with tiny diamonds that cost
the n~eighborhood of 81 or 40 francs.
Every style and every workman has its
md his own especially cut die with
the hands are stamped from the
and very elastic and highly tenn
perad sheet nf staal or from the gold or