The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-11-09


ology is going to be added to the
list OF professions. BY getting il
/ recognized as a learned vocation, on
; the same plane as pulling teeth OF
defending and prosecuting Grimm
ais, the Theological Institute 81
America hopes that some embryo
dentists and lawyers will be defect
! ed to horology. II is promised thai
they will find less competition and
more chance OF service in this neg
8 iected field.
IL Perhaps it should be explained
that an horologist is not a crystal
gazsr, but a matchmaker. The term
/ is going to become more familiar
! in the future. because the new
( Neurological Institute has decided
that it is a title preferable to that
/ of matchmaker.
1t might also be explained that
MATCHMAKER is not a man who
makes watches. At one time he
| was. But now. when watches are
made in a factory, the employee who
makes a certain wheel for thous-
ands of timepieces generally has
| no claim to the title of wafchmak-
er. That name is reserved for the
nah who knows the anatomy of 4
watch as a surgeon knows the hu-
man body. The matchmaker re-
pairs watches and designs new mod
| els.
The country needs 1900 more OF
these horologists than it has, and
the public is suffering accordingly,
though it may not realize it
You may have noticed that get
ting watch repaired of late years
is a difficult undertaking. You
take the watch to a watch doctor,
and he returns it in time-generally
a much longer time than you ex-
pected. 1t might have been fixed.
Or. again it might not In this lat
ter case, you try this doctor again,
or you try another. Watchmakers
who can correctly diagnose the
trouble in watch without proceed
ing by the trial or error method
are scarce.
This is a serious situation be-
cause the time we carry is newt
ably less accurate than it would
be if the country had the proper
number of expert watch repairers.
In the aggregate we are wasting
enormous amounts of time through
the decline of punctuality.
With many individuals a close &C
curacy in timepiece is not re-
garded as necessary, though al
most everyone has to catch trains
and meet important engagements
at times. With the railroad man,
on the other hand, watch that is
unreliable may mean death or in
jury to scores Of persons.
Railroad Time Vital.
There are 100000 OF these rail-
road timepieces that have to be kept
to no more than SO seconds error
in a week. At the recent horologic-
al conference it was pointed out
that while there are some excel
lent horolosists there are far too
few who are capable OF repairing
a timepiece SO important as rail
road watch And there are IN
doubtedly some doing this work who
are not qualified.
To improve conditions in the
Theological industry, the Horohgic-
formed 1t has Just held its sec
Oiitt C14NCs aAld VII It's
program. 1t has desired that watch
makers go back to the standards of
former years when the designer
and repairer of timepieces was re-
garded as an artist and a learned
man. Matchmaking was recogniI-
ed as a difficult art and it conSe-
quently attracted many promising
young men.
Now the boy or girl who wants
career rarely thinks OF this old art.
Horology requires more study and
receives less financial reward than
other professions, and so it is pass
ed over. AT present it is not class
ed with the professions, and stu
dents refuse to spend two years or
more mastering a vocation that is
generally classed as a trade.