Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1895-08-24
WATCHES CHEAP AND GOOD
Women the chief Victims Nowadays of
tho Craze to Possess "a Gold Time

women the thtef victims nowadays OF
tho Craze to Possess "a Gold Time
piece.
Good watches were probably never
before nearly so cheap as they now are.
You may buy for less than $12 "A watch
warranted to vary not more than a few
seconds a month, says the New York
sun. The silver I'm the case Of a watch
never was an important part of the
.ost of a good ~timekeeper and now that
silver is so cheap watch cases at whole
sale are of trifing cost. The watch
making business has been greatly sub
divided Crystals are made at one
place. cases at another and works at
still another. There is a growing be-
lief among men of moderate means
hat a gold watch is a vanity and that
he sole important thing in a watch is
the works. These were never so good
and so cheap as now.
The number of men who carry cheap
watches Is constantly on the increase.
The watch clubs of some years ago
could hardly succeed 90 because men
are less under the fetch of the gold
watch than formerly. Many men lay
aside their gold watches, heirlooms.
gifts and the like and carry good time
Keepers hat cost only one tenth as
much. At the same time some men OF
much less means are willing to save
and deny themselves in order to buy
gold watches. The we'll to do mer-
chant is perhaps more likely to carry
a gold watch than the professional man
Of ten times his income.
There are still in use a few Die key
winding silver watches of the sort hat
began to disappear with the advent OF
the stem winders. Many of these are
excellent timekeepers. They cost when
new from $25 to $50 and have stood the
wear of "A quarter of a century. They
are better than the s. and Sc stem wind
ers freely offered now, though the key
winders bring almost nothing in ex-
change. 1t would take half a dozen
good timekeeping silver cased key wind
ers To buy one OF the cheap stem wind
ers. The dial of the modern cheap
watch Is usually numbered I'm Arabic
instead of Roman numerals. and any
watch bearing the latter is usually far
from new.
Women still cling Ia the gold watch,
and among the most expensive watches
are those made in Switzerland for
women 1t is not unusual for one OF
these small and richly enameled affairs
to cost $3.50. and he prices run from
that into the thousands. The gold faced
watch is such a nuisance hat ii is dis
appearing. The expensive watches
made for women are usually excellent
~timekeepers. There are, however, many
cheap and gaudy watches made In an
swer to the craze for watches as ri
ments, and these cannot so well be de-
pended upon. Watches nat have more
or less gold in the case are very CHEAP
now. Women Of all sorts have them
and 1t Is o unusual to see one I'm the
hands Of a maid servant. Snowy
watches are made to be given as prizes
for those that play the hundred and
one gambling devices set up In saloons
Some saloonkeepers get watches of the
same sort and offer them as prizes fol
the man getting a certain numbered
ticket-A ticket being given out with
every drink sold. These watches are
always advertised as gold. Their cheap
ness Is proclaimed in the character OF
the decoration, which Is crudely elab
crate.