Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-15
MAKING OF WATCHES
BY Frederic j. HaSkin

| 9SfNdIoiy at washington, D. c., the
| correct time is communicated twice a
cay Five minutes before each IF these
! messages as sent every wire in the
| county Is opened, and every operator
stops scn3'15 messages. Another lnan-
aer 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 OBJ
| serYatoly these balls drop.
There is one country in the world
| where no matter how careful the as
| trcnomers are, or how well made the
| clocks or watches, the proper time con.
moi oc kept. This is Japan, ard the
tr1Ible is cG used by the frequent ..Irth-
| qadkcs which occur in that country
| tfere being movement of the earth
| about every three or four days. The
sufinuuntin@ of this obstacle has Lcen
undertaken by astronomers, and a way
has been devised Of keeping correct the
| observatory clock at Toxic. Whether
| or not this device will prove a perma-
| nent means of having correct time
cannot be asoertained until it mas teal
III use for some time.
Whether made by hand or by ma
chinery the construction of curious
and ingenious watches has always been
| a source of pleasure to those concerned
in 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 completing.
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 Monteiro of
Lisbon 1t has two dials, the second
of which is protected by the case. The
foo l,D. hoe I1,o l.
| utes and seconds, four extra small
dials On these are shown the phases
and ages of the moon, days of the
month and week for 400 years, the
years ands seasons for q century, and
a chronograph for indicating the frac-
tions of a second. Among the other
| things it contains are a thermometer
a mariners compass and a dial show
ing the time in 12S different cities. This
wonderful piece of mechanism repre-
sents seven years work
| A curious fact concerning timepieces
is that the Roman nuneralis not used
for the fourth hour, as in the case of
all the others, four ones being sub
stituted. This is said to have resulted
from a whim of Charles V of France.
who, ON being brought a clock he had
ordered, remarked that there was a
mistake in the lettering of the dial
| 'Wheren?' asked the maker 1.-The
four should be four ones" "You are
mistaken, your majesty" replied the
matchmaker. 'T am not" stoutly af-
flrmed the king. Have it fixed at
once" Since this incident the figuring
of all clocks and watches numbered
with Roman numerals shows this &C.
centricity,
At a jewelers. in Saco, Me-, there is
a watch as large as d baseball in cir
lam aFC ..I,A IanIH Ill
! This extra thickness is caused by an
attachment which strikes the hours.
1t is of heavy silver and was bought at
a Chinese pawnshop in the island of
Sumatra in 1865. 1t was designed for
a powerful Battak chief as reward
for certain valuable concessions grant
ed to the English. How it found its
way to the pawnshop is not known.
Father Alexander, a Catholic priest
of Pittsburg, is the possessor of a GU
| rious watch supposed to have been
made about 1925 by Charles Haylor of
London. 1t is key Winder, with an
open face and bulls eye front It's
written in the inside of the case next
the works. 1t reads: could but our
tempers move like this machine. not
urged by passion nor delayed by spleen,
but true to natures regulating power,
by virtuous acts distinguished every
| hour, then nealtn and peace would FOL
| low 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 ogo an American watch
company made what it claimed to be
the largest watch in the world. 1t was
designed to advertise a new model
made by that company. 1t cost several
thousand dollars and its manufacture
required special tools and machinery.
1t is ten times as large as the model
it represents and is perfect in detail.
The movement is two and half inches
thick. The watch has no dial, as the
intention is to show the action of the
stem winding and stem-setting mech
anism. 1t stands on a bronze pedestal,
and from base to tip of winding crown
measures tWenty-siX inches.
Tomorrow--The Roosevelt Hunt