The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-03-05
HANDS AND FACES.
How They Are Made In a Large Swiss
Watch Factory.

Delicate Operations With Oven and Tools
/ Required In Making Dials Expert
Workers on Hands The Wages Paid
Both Men and Women Are Excellent.
A Geneva correspondent in writing
of visit to one Of the famous watch
manufactures of that city thus de-
scribes some Of tho operations:
Now, about tho dialmaking process
| itself: First, the plain round of purest
copper must be heated to red heat in
furnace to burn off any adhering inn
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 small steel
spatula.
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 a pow
erful crusher, Then it, too, is washed in
acid, and finally it is 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
ides of the copper and then carefully
out by to wait the complete evapora-
lion of the water with which it wars
mixed. AS soon as this has been accom-
plished the dial is placed in an intense
| Iy hot gas oven, where the enamel be-
comes perfectly fused and adheres firm
ly to the plate This operation is re-
peated, with second and third appll-
cation of the enamel, and then the dial
| is ready to receive the painting of the
| hours. AS soon as this has been done
it is again put in the oven, most crit
ical operation, because the fraction of
a second overmuch would spoil every
| thing, and then, while yet warm, it is
rubbed or redressed with bit of char
coal and small metal tool especially
made for the purpose. 1t is this opera
ton that gives the dial the beautiful
smoothness, like that of dainty bit OF
china. Before that most delicate oper-
alton, the piercing for the hands, which
| is done on an instrument furnished
with diamonds fixed on steel, and some
times even the steel itself, the dial goes
|
absolutely perfect in shape.
| The painting of the hours is nearly all
done by women and girls. Several
women are also employed in the enamel
ing department. The wages paid both
| men and women are excellent. Some
| of the employees are time workers, the
| others work by the piece, many of the
latter easily earning 800 francs month,
| Naturally these are the most expert
enced workers, who have finished APP
prenticeships of at least three years.
In beginning the employees are given
| simple separate parts to do, but even
| then they may earn from 100 to $50
| francs a month. The 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 the chief employees of today have
been connected with it from the begin
ming. There are IA divisions of work
men and workwomen, each with dis
| tinct branch of his or her own. Indeed
! a DIAL before complete, passes through
at least 30 pairs of hands. Besides the
white or simple dials with the usual
black figures, there are the colored dials
| pink, blue, gray, a delicate shade OF
green and black. There are also the
| white or colored dials, with figures in
| contrasting colors or in metals, as in
| the 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 it's rate of supply to the
| largest Swiss houses is proportional.
| The making of watch hands is one
| of the most fascinating adjuncts in the
whole process of watch manufacturing.
The chief Swiss handwriting firm has
been in existence through three genera
lions. 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
icate that the workers must be literally
undisturbed in their work, and the
| pieces are SO minute that rogue, should
one enter, could easily carry off 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, staff of design
ers is kept busy, for the hands in form
as well as the dials in figures and orna-
mentation must keep pace with fash
| ions demands. The standard favorite
| designs, however, are the Louis XIV,
! the flower de-luce 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 are SO
much harder in the working.
The price of an ordinary pair of
hands is, believe, about francs, but
| have seen hands there initiated and
studded with tiny diamonds that cost
in the neighborhood of 35 or 40 francs.
Every style and every workman has it's
and his own especially cut die with
which the hands are stamped from the
thin and very elastic and highly tenn
| nered sheet of steel or from the cold or