The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1897-10-26
DELICATE MAINSPRINGS.
QUICK TO FEEL THE EFFECTS OF
HEAT AND COLD.

30 Sensitive That They VIII Succumb
just rs Easily tn Freezing @ Sunstroke
as VIII Man - Costs sI5 to Put "A
Handspring I'm Fine Swiss Watches.
"Mainsprings are very much like
people,, remarked New York watch
maker recently to writer for the
Star. They are as susceptible to ex-
treInes of heat and cold as human be-
lngs. When the thermometer is hover
ing around the freezing point or dane
ing away up in the nineties the sensi-
tive little handspring will succumb
just as easily to freezing or sunstroke
as man.
During the hot weather of the past
month l have received over four hun
dred watches which required new
mainsprings, and other jewelers. have
mad as many or more timepieces which
needed similar repairs. You see, this
uncertain piece of mechanism is sup
posed to be adjusted to meet the vari-
Gus degrees of temperature, but when
the changes are great and come sud
denly there is nothing that can prevent
them from swapping. Many are made
In Switzerland of the very finest q1al-
lty of steel, absolutely nawless. Very
often the matchmaker can detect n bad
spring before putting it in watch
either by its color or the softness of
its spring. These have been too tight
ly tempered in making, and instead of
being subjected merely to red heat
the fire has been brought to white
heat, thus weakening the strength of
the metal.
The finest watches that are handled
by reliable dealers in the United States
are put through cooking and freez-
ing process before they are sold, for
the purpose of testing their reliability
III all temperatures. The watch is first
placed IN little metal box, which is
made air tight. Then a strong gas
flame is turned on the under surface
of the box, and is kept there for one or
two hours, so that the watch is so hot
at the end of that time that it could not
be touched with the bare hands.
From this it is immediately taken
and put into another metallic box.
which is buried in n vessel containing
ice. There the costly watch is allowed
to freeze for an equal length of time,
when its treatment ceases, and the ex-
animation is made. If during this ex
cessive test the watch has licked mer-
rily on without deviating fractional
part of a second, it is put back in the
case and marked guaranteed for two
years. The handspring is the first
piece of mechanism that succumbs to
the test. Ii it survives nothing need
be feared.
'Mainsprings are, however, about
the only part of n watch that n ieweler
cannot successfully diagnose. They
can guarantee any of the numberless
little wheels or pivots or balances that
go to make up the anatomy of the
watch, but the handspring has as vet
baflled the most skillful makers of
watches of all countries 1t is not so
much the severe extremes of the
weather that prove fatal to the spring
as 1t is the process of changing from
heat to cold, or vice versa.
Many people who have been the
possessors of new watches but short
time often come to me much ANNOYED
declaring that they have paid n LARGE
price for their timepieces, and the
handspring has broken after only
week s use.
" That is nothing, 1 tell them.
We jewelers. have them snap in our
cases before the watch has even been
shown for sale. Others imaeine TINT
they might have wound their watches
too tight, but this does not harm it.
1T is rather the ierky, hurried wind !
ing that will eventually tell on the
temper of the metal. Besides, every
good stem winder has n stop placed i'm
the stem that prevents the winding of
watch too tight.
The cost of a new mainsDrino is
small. 1t is the putting them in. the
labor expended, that costs. 1t costs
from Sl2 to Sl5 to put handspring in
the finest Swiss watch, while in
cheap American make it costs only
from fifty cents to 81.
"A gentleman purchaeed n $3.50
watch from me about n year ago and
shortly after he left New York on n
tour around the world. He returned
about three weeks ago. brought his
watch back to me and paid Inc this
compliment: Here's n watch. soid
he, that ] paid you $3.50 for vear
ago, and while ! was travelling around
1t lost three minutes. You guaranteed
II and ] want You to make it good.
The watch was placed in my window
with this card beside it:
This watch lost only three min
utes in year in tour around the
world. Price. 1918 b"
Odd you sell it,"
Yes, within two days. Washing
ton star
Letter Travels Thirteen Yenrs.
Naf1rue ug,vrpI,.-s