The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1903-02-06
WATCH THE SIZE
OF A 5-CENT PIECE,

Az oAAA"iANSo W "oSh " UuA ACA OuO
in this county has just been put on
the market, although few are on sale
yet. The new watch is the size of
scent piece.
The smallest watch which Ameri-
can watch factories had hitherto sue
ceeded in making had been as big as a
quarter, so the new watch is looked
upon as marking distinct advance in
the industry in this country, where
watches have been made only for a
little more than half a century. Watch
makers also regard it as indicating
that the time is not far distant when
Americans will soon overtake the Old
Worlds watchmakers, the Swiss, in
turning out watches of minute size.
The Swiss still make watch small
ler than the Americans, but the watch
just put on the market here by both
the WaltLam and the Elgin companies,
the two largest matchmaking con-
Germs in this country, will have the
advantage over the Swiss watches that
all other watches made here have
possessed, namely, that of being turn
ed out in quantity. Under American
methods the daily output in one fac
tory is $500 day.
The new watch is the result Of
months of patient endeavor by the
watchmakers and machinists. For
every new sized watch designed new
machines have to be make, and all the
size of the watch is reduced, by so
much must these machines be made
more delicate.
The smaller watch the harder it is
to-make. To make watch half the
size of another is just twice as hard.
When it is considered that in every
watch there are 1853 parts, it will be
seen what task the watch machine
experts had in designing machines to
make the parts for the new watch,
many of them almost infinitesimal in
size. When the machines are made
the new watch can be turned out as
fast as the larger sizes.
In Switzerland the work is let out
by the piece. A workman will make
just one part of watch, as his father
did before him. In the biggest Amer
ican factory, that of the Waltham
company, watch is turned out hy the
labor of 5000 employees.
1t has been the boast Of the Swiss
that their tiny watches could never be
made by machinery, and it has been
just as much the endeavor of Ameri-
can watchmakers to show their Swiss
rivals how sadly they underrated
American inventive genius. That is
why the new watch has been hailed
with so much pride.
The jewelers. say that there will
always he demand for watch small
Ter than the last one people could ob.
tain, so before long still smaller
watch may appear. The demand for
an American watch smaller than that
of the 25-cent piece size has long been
felt, especially since the custom came
in of wearing chatelaine watches. The
new watch is designed for this, and
also to meet the demand of a new Gus
tom lately come into vogue with wo-
men, that of wearing watch on a
chain around the neck like locket.
Despite its diminutive size, the new
~a'ch keeps as good time as the larger
ones, ani' letter time, the American
watchmakers say, than do the minia-
ture watches Of the Swiss.
DuG Guc DIV 1873 Still uOiu Tue palu
for putting the works of a watch into
the smallest compass. The smallest
watch made in any number by the
Swiss is what is known in watah nom
enclature as the "three-ligne' watch.
1t is only the size of a mans finger
nail. This watch is imported here
and is often put in pocketbooks and
leather goods.
The Swiss turn out even smaller
watches than that, but they are regar-
ed here as "freak" watches. One Of
them is a watch made to set in = ring
the s;z, Of the ordinary seal ring.
Fairly good time has been kept by
one.
Another watch made 10y the Swiss
is a watch to 60 in the
buttonhole, but it is not as wonderful
as the ring match. Though the dial
is as small, the works, hidden, under
the lapel OF the coat, are larger.-Ne,0
York Sun.
Mrs. Benham-"If mother comes to
spend d month what will you do?"
Benham-"Go away for "a month
The rate at which some people live