Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-08-10
DOLLAR WATCHES LIKED
MILLIONS OF THEM NOW IN USE AND
MORE COMING.

Clock-Tbe Way They Are Made and
why They Are So Popular and Durable
The Works Arc Made of Brass.
About 275, 600 dollar watches were
sold by single firm of manufacturers
last year. The same firm estimates
that the sale for this year will reach
million. This is very good advance
from the figures of 1894, the first year
that the dollar watch really dawned
upon the country. The firm sold 30
600 that year. The price OF the watch
is surprising enough, but the really
astonishing thing about it is the fact
that guarantee goes with the time
piece. A dollar watch is one thing;
a guaranteed dollar watch is another;
The agreement is as follows: 1.-The
makers agree that if, without abuse,
this watch fails to keep good time,
they will upon its return to them.
direct or through agent named above,
within one year from above date, re-
pair or replace it with a new one.
"What do you mean by good
time?" asked the reporter for the New
York Sun.
"Well, that depends a good deal
on the man who buys the watch. Not
what we mean by it, but what the
purchaser considers good time Some
men are more particular than others. "
DO you guarantee exact time?"
"No. There is rarely a watch, no
matter how expensive it may be, that
keeps absolutely exact time But if
one OF our watches varies, say more
than minute day, we will make it
right or replace it with a new one.
GLOW can SO cheap a watch be
made?"
"To give literal answer: by spe-
cial machinery designed for the manu-
facture of all the different parts of the
watch, The work being done by ma
chinery, the capacity OF a plant is
enormously increased. And the out
put being so large, the profit on each
watch can be reduced to a minimum.
We manufacture 5000 watches a day
now. With working day Of ten
hours, that means five watches
every minute. We employ about coo
workmen, but, of course, many of
them are unskilled laborers. We are
our own manufacturers, our own
agents, our own jobbers, and, to a
large extent, our own retailers.
There's big saving in cutting. down
four profits to one. We make a profit,
| assure you. We are not in the bust
ness for our health. We deal in vari-
Gus other things, by the way, but the
watch is the backbone of our bust
ness"
'Is the movement the same in prin-
ciple as that of Il more expensive
watch?"
Every nearly. The dollar watch is
really an evolution of the small clock.
for several years we experimental in
making a clock which could be carried
in the pocket. We made over 200, 600
of these clocks, all the time working
over the problem of how to make it
smaller and cheaper. We made four
different watches, ranging in price
from 81 to 81. The movement is prac-
tically the same in each one The
dollar watch has a brass case, gilt or
nickel plated. With the exception of
the other watches we make, it has the
smallest lantern pinion movement
made. Including plates, it is only
three eights o. an inch in thickness.
"Of course the watch itself is
thicker than this. A good deal of the
additional thickness is due to the fact
that it is wound and set as Il clock is,
except that the back OF the case closes
over the screws for this purpose The
screw for winding has one of the
wings" which fold down when not
in use. Beside, it is the pivot for
setting. There is cap over the
works in order to exclude dust, the
case not being double one There
is not the fine adjustment which is in
expensive watches; there is noieweling
or engraving. The ornaments are alb
sent, but the necessities are there.
Only four turns of the winding screw
will run the movement from thirty to
thirty-six hours. There is full COM
plement of hands hour, minute and
second. The watch complete weighs
three ounces. The S1.25 watch is a
ctCii NluNtSl, but 10 set ny we screw
at the back. The 81. 80 watch is both
stem winning and stem setting. The
~ watch is silver-plated and has an
engraved case and back plate
One point about the construction of
these watches is that many of the DIFF
ferent parts of the works which in an
ordinary watch are made of steel are
made of brass. The makers of the
watch say that they do not emphasize
this point in describing the watch
simply because there is popular no.
tion that brass is cheap and unde-
sirable. They say that il is by no
means cheap, especially lately. They
also say that their watch will stand
rather rough treatment better than
,ne with delicate steel works. AL
though brass is liable to corrosion,
steel is a prey to rust, and, so say the
| dollar watchmakers, the rust is worse
for the watch. They say, too, that the
dollar watch is especially valuable
where insensibility TO magnetic inhu-
|