The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-02-12

/ tae SHiteu State heing the naval 10
sereatory at Washington. d. c., the
correct time Is communicated twice
a day. Five minutes before each OF
these messages is sent every wire in
/ the country is opened, and every
operator stops sending messages. An
4 other manner of announcing this
exactly is by time balls. These are
placed on the tops of buildings in
all the large cities OF the United
States. and at the exact second the
/ time Is sent from the observatory
| these balls drop.
There is one country In the world
where no matter how careful the
| astronomers are, or how well made
| the clocks or watches, the proper
| time cannot be kept. This Is Japan,
and the trouble is caused by the fire.
quent earthquakes which occur in
/ that country, there being a movement
of the earth about every three OF
! four days. The surrounding of this
1 obstacle has been undertaken by as
/ tronomers, and way has been de-
yised OF keeping correct the ohser-
| Fatory clock at Toxic. Whether or
not this device will prove a perma-
nent means of having correct time
cannot De aAcertained until 1t has
| been in use for some time.
Whether made by hand or by ma
chtnery the construction OF curious
and ingenious watches has always
been source OF pleasure TO those
concerned their making In the
+ hundreds of years In which watches
have been made there have been
numberless specimens which have
been wonders of inventive genius and
which have consumed years in COM
pletine.
Perhaps the most expensive watch
ever made was one which sold for
$4,000 This was made by Mr.. Junod
for Count A. A. De Canvalho Mon
teiro, OF Lisbon, II has two diais,
the second of which is protected by
the case. The front face has. besides
the hours. minutes and seconds, four
extra small disls On these are shown
the phases and ages of the moon,
days of the month and week for four
hundred years, the years and seasons
for a century, and chronograph for
indicating the fractions of second.
Among the other things 1t contains
| Thermometer, mariners compass
and a dial showing the time in i2S
dlfferent cities. This wonderful piece
OF mechanism represents seven
years work.
A curious fact concerning time
pieces lis that the Roman numeral Is
not used for the fourth hour as In
the case of all the others. four ones
being substituted. This Is said to
! have resulted from a within of Charles
V. of France, who, on being brought
clock he had ordered. remarked
that there was a mistake in the letter
ing of the dial Wherein 2" asked
the maker. The four should be four
ones" You are mistaken. your Ma
jesty," replied the matchmaker" Il
am. not" stoutly affirmed the King
Have 1t fixed at once Since this
incident the figuring of all clocks and
watches numbered with Roman nu-
merais shows this eccentricity.
At jewelers. In Saco, Maine, there
is a watch as large as baseball in
circumference and about half as
thick. This extra thickness is caused
by an attachment which strikes the
! hours. 1t is of heavy silver and was
bought by a Chinese pawnshop in the
island of Sumatra In 1865. 1t was
designed for a powerful Battak chief
as a reward for certain valuable con-
cessions granted to the English How
1t found its way to the pawnshop Is
not known
Father Alexander. a Catholic priest
OF Pittsburg. Pa. Is the possessor OF
a curious watch. supposed to have
been made about 1925 by Charles
with an open face and bulI's-eye
front. Its value lies in an inscrip-
ton which is written in the inside
OF the case next 10 the works. 1t
reads: Gould but our tempers move
like this machine. not urged by pas
sion nor delayed by spleen. but rrue
to natures regulating power, by viz
ftuous acts distinguished every hour,
then health and peace would follow
as they ought, the laws of reason and
restraint OF thought, sweet peace to
pass the present moments DER. and
everlasting JOY when time shall be no
more.
A few years ago an American watch
company made what In claimed to be
the largest watch in the world. 1t
was designed to advertise a new model
made by that company. 1t cost sew
eral thousand dollars. and Its manu-
facture required special tools and ma
chinery. 1t Is ten times as large as
the model II represents and is per-
feet in detail The movement Is two
and half inches thick. The watch
has no dial. as the intention Ia to
show the action of the stem winding
and stem-setting mechanism, 1t
stands on a bronze pedestal. and from
base TO tip OF winding crown measures
twenty-six inches.