Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1906-12-21
IS CARELESS
OF HER WATCH
WOMAN WILL FORGET TIME.
PIECE FOR DAYS At
A TIME,


the opinion of some of the leading
watchmakers.
A man connected with one of the
pioneer factories of this country let
in a good deal Of light on the subject.
A woman sailed into a jewelry es-
adjustment and made for the watch
department. Evidently she was a reg
ular customer.
Something ails this watch" she
began in an injured tone of voice.
Half of the time it refuses to go and
this is one of the times. And | paid
enough for 1t goodness knows"
DO you wind it regularity" asked
the man behind the counter.
why, certainly" answered the
woman, with an infection which
clearly meant what silly question:
The man took the watch and began
turning the stem. He wound and
wound and wound and presently the
thing began to tick.
THE watch was run down." he OBJ
served mildly.
81 don't understand how that could
be. I'm positive wound it last night"
the owner insisted with some asper-
ity.
''The spring indicates that the
watch had not been wound in more
than twenty-four hours commented
the man.
well, certainly thought l wound
it last night"-this in a little less
confident tone.
IF you will leave the watch, mad.
am. will have it looked over careful
ly and put in perfect condition" was
the rejoinder and the customer swept
out.
Should Wind it Regularly.
mo use in the world the clerk
commented, ito insist that all the
watch needs is to be wound regularly
Every matchmaker, every repairer of
watches has this experience often
and there is none who has ever met
a woman who did not resent being
told she was careless"
''As rule" explained the man first
referred to, "the watch is the most
abused article in the world. Women
in particular are almost criminally
careless in their treatment of time
piece. Generally speaking. a man
wears his watch all the time. WON.
an, on the other hand, wears her
watch one day and keeps it in the top
bureau draw for the next two or three
days, where it has every chance to
get filled with dust. In the meantime
she forgets to wind it up. Ask most
women and they will confess that they
never think to wind their watch un-
til it runs down.
''As for taking watch once year
to be cleaned and oiled, probably not
not one man even in hundred
dreams Of doing such a thing and new
err woman. The usual mode Of pro-
cedure is to wait until the watch
begins to stop unexpectedly or to
lose time.
"A good watch needs only one drop
of oil a year to keep it in first rate
condition, but that one drop it must
have and seldom Or never gets.
The small wheel of watch in one
year covers as much space in its revo-
lutions as would bridge the distance
from here to London, and all it asks
and doesn't often get in return is a
drop of oil and busting out once IN
twelve months.
This carelessness is of compare.
lively recent date and an outcome to
some extent of the increased supply
of watches and their lower cost. If
women now treated their watches as
women treated them fifty years ago
it's scarcely likely that 20 per cent Of
the more than 100000 watches man
ufactured in the United States last
year would have been designed for
women. Why, in 1911 think that
was the year-when the first woman's
watch of American make was turned
out in Waltham, Mass, and presented
to Mrs. N. P. Banks, wife of General
Banks, woman lucky enough to
possess a watch treated it as if it
were prize. 1t was kept in a case
when not worn, which was only on
state occasions and to let it knock
around in bureau drawer or on top
of dressing table would have been
considered sacrilege.
although it is possible in these
days to get watch to keep practi.
cally exace time, the average woman
is satisfied to have her watch gain
or lose several minutes a day.
Business Women Careless too.
Business women are almost as
careless as are the idlers of fashion
One Of the former, at the head of the
wOrkroom of a large manufacturing
concern, was amazed when | told he!
one day that were she employed by a
railroad she would have to carry a
watch that kept time.
What do you mean?' she asked
1 consider that my watch keeps ex
cellent time. 1t is only four minutes
fast now
Four minutes | repeated. Why
twenty seconds a week is all the dew
iation from correct times allowed by
the railroads, and to gain this end the
trainmen, conductors, brakemen, engi
neers and other employees connected
with 10000 miles of the railroads OF
this country are obliged to submit fol
inspection their watches at least once
month, and each must carry, say, d
seventeen-jeweled watch adjusted tC
at least three positions
, mo, such a watch need not neces
sarily be expensive. In a silver case
the price would not be much over 500
or less than one-third what it would
! have cost fifty years ago. There are
, pretty little fancy Swiss watches fol-
. women which may be bought for g
very few dollars, American competi
; ton having brought down the price:
! of foreign makers. An excellent time
keeper in a silver case can be bought
for $40.
Take it all in ALL" said he. won
en- care good deal more about the
outside looks of their Watcn mar