The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-04-01
COOKING WATCHES.
How English Time-Pieces are Tested in the Kew Observatory

How English Time-Pieces are Tested il
 the Kew Observatory
 Kew Observatory has lately beer
 much in the public mind consequen
 upon the threatened Arrangement of it.
 delicately made instruments by the in
 stallation of electric tramways at Ham,
 mersmith, some miles distant.
 The very position of the observatory
 is ample testimony to the sensidvenesS
 of the wonderful machines it contains Situated about two miles from Rtch-
 mond, the solitary building stands like a beacon in the midst of a far stretch ing seq of meadow land. But the ob-
 servatory is more than home magnet
 ic mystery. They cook watches there.
 If you contemplate buying an expen-
 sive watch you can have it sent to U @
 observatory, where for fofty4ive days 1 it will undergo an ordeal thdt will test it's capabilities to the utmost
 The branch of the observatory Whel e
 this interesting operation is carried on l is known as the rating department of | the National Physical Laboratory. | The observer, F. G. Constable, eX- plained to a representative of "The | Daily Mail' who visited the observato- ry that about five hundred watches are tested yearly, and that 10,400 have
 passed through their hands since the department was opened
 On this particular day forty watches were under observation. An ambitious
 watch in pursuit of first-class certi1- cate commences it's career at Kew by standing upright for five days in an or dinary safe. It spends similar period in three other positions, and ls then placed in it's back in q refrigerator. Af- ter five days of that icy abode it is re- moved to an oven kept a. a tempera. ture of ninety degrees Fahrenheit, and Is at last restored to a normal temper ature. All this time the watchful eye of the observer has been upon +, anG the watchs behavior duly noted in books.
 Every variation of second the watch makes In .he different positions and temperatures is carefully entered, and certain marks for or against are given it. What this means will be the better appreciated when i. is explained that Kew possesses instruments capable of indicating the hundredth part of a sec ond.
 The highest marks awarded to a watch are one hundred, and if it gains over eighty the words especially good" are written on its certificate when the watch leav $ the observatory Last year the lowest marks received by q watch were forty-four and the highest 9O.1 The latter was English made.
 Quite a number of watches were in the oven stage. The oven is an ordina- ry safe, heated with 8 tubular boiler, and over it a constant supply of hot water is kept The refrigerator Is of the ordinary kind.
 All kinds of watches were there. There was an explorers watch. so wa ter tight that it would keep on ticking rnerrily at the bottom of the sea. There | was the watch of an important official | of the National Cyclists Union. which | splits seconds to infinitesimal degrees, i and comes to Kew every year. In rac- | ing time is not accepted as official un- | less the watch has gained Kew cer- tiflcate. Then there were watches des- | lined to accompany an expedition to the South Pole. and probably to tick where watches never tieked bef,re. There were cheap looking silver watches, reul- y worth between fifteen and twenty | ounds-appearances are deceptive in there was wonderful gold watch that cost three hundred | and does more things than here is space to enumerate here.
 But the most remarkable watch that las ever been baked" and frozen" at Kew cost close upon three thousand pounds. It was bought-b by sporteman with his winnings in sone horse-race. The owners monogram on the outer l. ase was surrounded with twenty-four diamonds, and picture of the horse ppeared on the other side in enamel, he artist having spent week in the tables to get an accurate drawing. The watch. however, proved to be ssful as well as ornamental, and Kew ;as able to send it's distinguished viel- or home accompanied by a certificate ,orthy of it's position in the waah Mail. Ii