Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-06-10
CURING A WET WATCH.

What to Do if Your Timepiece
Falls In the Water.
POP 1T in A CUP OF ALCOHOL
Then Take the Cup, Just as 1t 10, to
the Repairer and Let Him Do the
Restsome Things an Inquisitive
Customer Learned From, JeweIer.s Y
My wife set her watch on slippery
glass shelf" said the customer as he
laid a small Swiss timepiece in the
watch repairer's hand minus its crys-
tai. The gold chain pulled it off the
shelf, and II landed In the bathtub
and smashed the works all up, so my
wife says.
"Any water in the tub?" asked the
watch man quickly.
NO III n
"Good!"
The repairer adjusted his eyepiece
and looked inside the watch. Then he
took q tiny screwdriver, set it on one
Of the bearings and twirled it between
his fingers delicately. Presently he
held up a tiny cogwheel with hair
spring curling its microscopic three,ds
around an axis and springing up and
down with the instability Of quicksil-
yer as the man gently shook 1t. s 7
Eyes" he said, replacing the delicate
mechanism, Its all broken up on the
inside, handspring and pinion and
everything. The new parts will have
to be, made. You can't buy them in
this country. It will cost about $6, but
your watch will be as good as new
Perhaps If there had been some wa
ter in the tub 1t would have broken the
fall and the works wouldn't have been
broken up SO much
The repairer shrugged his shoulders.
Watches that have rusted are those
which most outrage the jewelers. sense
Of all that is proper and sane. The
man who opens his watch in moist or
dusty weather is his pet object OF
L IL "a
APART and cleaned thoroughly. Even
then 1t may not run, and IL 1t does It
| usually doesn't run accurately.
The repairer told the above In as
many words or more to the owner Of
the watch.
Eyes, ] know" said the owner. Il
know it makes you watchmakers shud-
der to get watches that have been
soaked. l had a relative once who
used to be matchmaker In his early
gdays. He had fine gold chronometer
that had descended to him from his
grandfather, who in his. time was a
great race track man.
Eve went out motor boating one day
/ with our families and sailed around a
little chain Of fresh water lakes. This
fellow had left that chronometer at
home as many as fifty times on vari-
GUS occasions for fear Of getting into
the water with II, but on this trip he
took the chances or forgot. y
1He was standing out on the after
decking, pulling In trolling line that
/ we had had out for bite, when the
boat ran on submerged pile and sud
denly tried to duck one gunwale under
/ the water and then as we all jumped
for the other side as quickly tried to
get that gunwale under. Instructive
sense Of equilibrium made us all lie
down in the bottom Of the boat but
just then she righted herself and lay
on an even keel again. +
i 'sWe were sorting out the children
and recovering from our fright when
we saw a sight which made us burst
out laughing. About thirty feet asteru
of us stood the owner Of the $40C
watch up to his breast In, water and
1 rubbing It out OF his eyes and ears
while he mumbled something heartily
and long which did not sound the least
bit like the Lords Prayer, s;s
"sOh-oh, Henry! Help him!' shrek.
ed his wife. @ & II
"'He's all right. He's got his feet
on dry land said. And my say-sc
seemed to satisfy the woman perfect.
| ", for she began to laugh In her turn.
'fWell. we picked him up In the
launch and headed for home. II was
four miles and raw October weather
but that fellows thoughts were not on
pneumonia The one thought he had
was to get to watchmaker's inside 81
two hours. He said that if he couldn.t
get that chronometer into q tlmbler Of
| alcohol inside Of two hours 1t would
never be any good amy more. Well
he did," q & e. ~
Yes, alcohol Is very good, " said the
repairer as he gave the customer 3
ticket to sign and hung the little Swiss
timepiece on book along with a hun
bred other watches. Alcohol Is good
It absorbs the water ~
"And makes them dry quickly" sug
gested the customer.
"Oh, mol You want to leave them II
the stun. You want to bring then
| right here In the glass Of alcohol
Have you ever heard OF a watch be
i ing restored several days after 1t go
into the water?'' asked the customer.
No. It's pretty hard to make mucl
/ out Of a badly rusted watch. =
Il Its strange have friend wht
Inherited d very fine watch from hi
greatuncle, who was drowned In sal
Z - -.