The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-01-16
WEBB c. BALL.

watch borrowed that morning from a
female member OF his household.
Sometimes Reads Wrong.
Occasionally an accident occurs be-
cause an engineer with q closed watch
removes the case that IS over the dial
that he may see the hands and face
and know the time at a hurried glance.
The stem OF an opeH-faced watch, you
understand. is opposite the figure twelve.
while in a closed watch it is opposite
the figure three. Thus If an engineer
forgets himself. he may wrongly read
his dial and serious trouble Is almost
sure to follow. Not long ago a freight
engineer with watch so changed mixed
his hands and his figures and made
mistake of fifteen minutes. Rounding
curve, lie went head-on into another
train with fatal results to several en-
ployes and the wreck Of TWO engines"
Would 1t be practicable for railways
TO buy good watches and 10 issue them
to its men whenever they so on duty"
I inquired.
The Pennsylvania Railroad made such
an experiment, but gave it UP. Men were
! careless with the watches and In some
instances took them to paWnshOps. The
railroad empIoye is never compelled 10
supply any Of the tools with which he
works. In that respect he is favored over
! the carpenter, the mason. and the 0rdi-
nary mechanic. It Is believed however
that he ought TO own a watch. and being
his personal property, he will take care
Of it and haye a pride in it. I see that
ne IS not otercharged, that he can pay
the debt by instaIments, and that his re
pair bills are always reasonable"
What does a standard railroad watch
cost"
Cost of Good Watches.
a filled case-that is, a case with a
sheet of gold on the outside thick enough
10 wear for twenty-five years-and a
standard movement can be bought for
so Fifteen years ago such watch
would have cost $50. There are many
thousands Of watches Of the kind I have
| described that will not vary ten seconds
In two weeks. The watches that I ap-
prove are adjusted 10 temperature. rang
ing from 90 degrees 10 IS degrees, because
the balance wheels Of brass and steel
change with heat and cold. They are
also adjusted to FIVE different positions.
All standard railroad watches must con-
! tain at least seventeen jewels: some are
made with nineteen and some with TWEEN
ty-one jewels-any more than twenty-one
would be useless. A watch manufacturer,
several years ago, advertised twenty-slx
| tewels-he screwed in the extra Jewels
as a tailor might sew extra and I'M
needed buttons on a coat. His talk sound
| ell well and his watch looked rather gay,
/ but the 30 cents worth Of additional
| Jewels that he sold to railroad men for
! 50 were of no utility whatever I had a
| long fight with him but l compelled him
| to conform to my requirements.
THE jewels Of a watch" Mr.. Ball eX-
/ planned are its bearings. They are made
of rubies OF white sapphres and the
holes in some Of them are so small that
/ they cannot be seen with the naked eye
Most OF them come from Switzerland. the
| ancient center OF the watchmaker's guild
where the fine touches Of the art are
! passed on from father TO son. generation
| after generation. Americans are too i'm
patient and In too much of a hurry to
bore invisible holes in rubies ard white
sapphires that are smaller than the head
OF pin. Besides, the wages of the Swiss
matchmaker average but 71-3 cents ar
hour We annually buy about 2, 500, 600 OF
Swiss watches and watch parts, the
enameled cases from that country being
especially artistic and the main springs
and dlals being unusually good. Certain