The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-08-24
BY JULIA BLANsHARD

women waste time. Some save 1t.
But Martha S. Wittnauer makes 1t!
She is Americas only woman
watchmaker-Swiss by birth but en-
phatically American by choice-a
dynamic, efficient woman.
AS head of the A. Wittnauer Com
pany, makers and importers of prize.
winning Longine and AgssSiz watch
es, she is the only woman ever elect
ed to the Neurological Society OF
America.
Chamberlin timed his flight over
the Atlantic by one of her watches.
Lindbergh wears one. Nurmi's
speed was recorded by one of her
split-second stop pieces. Most OF
Americas prize fights count their
K. O's by her tickers.
King Albert of Belgium, and the
late Rudolph Valentines tricky
timepieces that record the hour,
minute, second, day, month, year
and phase of the moon came from
her factory. Rudy's octagonal
shaped platinum timer, incrusted
with diamonds and rubies, was the
trickier of the two, for it also chimed
the hour and had tinkly alarm.
CALI Curci's jeweled watch, with a
single sparkling diamond for its
crystal, is from the Wittnauer fac
tories, too.
Miss Wittnauer has proudly
watched her watches go 10 the North
Pole, the South. under the ocean and
into the air. They're even in the
navy now, accepted for their excel
lent submarine service in the war.
Not Her Choices.
"Of course I love the business. 1t
is my whole life," Miss Wittnauer
says. Then she adds frankly: mo
woman, however, would go into such
complicated business from choice.
I inherited the business from my
three brothers, who had built their
lives and good names into it,.
when ny last brother died just
before the war, I found myself with
a million-dolls,r 60-year-old enter
prise bearing my family name. I
was staggered by the responsibility
But what was / to do?"
What she did was characteristic
of her sense of responsibility. She
knew a lot about watches and the
business just from hearing her
brothers talk. But she had had no
training having been engrossed in
home-making for those three broth
ers, first in Neuchatel Switzerland,
and then here. So she pitched in
and learned every phase of watch
making. Her department heads all
say she knows as much about their
work as they dol
Making watches for a living
gives you no time for YOURSELF"
Miss Wittnauer confesseS. No won
der, for she manages the case works
and repair factory she founded here,
oversees all the import business of
the Chicago and Montreal Offices,
and personally inspects the Swiss
factories twice each year. But she
does manage to salvage enough leis-
ure to collect antiques and raise
prize winning American apples on
her old merican farm in Connecti-
cut.
You see the old-world side of Miss
Wittnauer, visiting her factory of
flee high in building in New
York's busy wholesale district. Lacy
iron grille work from an Italian
palace fashions the entrance to her
richly panelled and frescoed sane
tum and gives an air of secIusion
strangely incongruous to the hum
ming sslleSrooms for pants, vests
and felt hats on the floors below.
Employs Ten NationaIities.
Here you note Miss Wittnauers
old-world manner of maintaining
the traditions of the craftsman's
guilds among her 100 employees of
ten nationalities. Her watch max
ers have the joy of making a whole
watch, not just standardized part
OF many. And they have a sense of
security above their jobs, many of
them having been there thirty-five
years. The only employe she has
fired was a habitual post-prohibi-
ton drinkeri
She lets old Swiss Jan 90 home
each summer to tend goats in his
Alpine home He comes back when
the snow flies. She understands
when Russian Nick is worried about
his wife or Italian Joe's boy Is sick
She carried the same personal
touch into her factory that used to
make her household so honelike
For she really believes that sue
cess, in the last analysis, is only
built on human happiness.
Running watch business has
many things in common with home
making, though" Miss Wittnauer
4 insists. THE same principles under
~ both-harmony. Given good
craftsmen, and encourage them to
cooperate and the outcome is sure
to be harmonious.
Il never imagined, when starting
how engrossing and fascinating this
business would be. But that was
because I did not see its personal
side. Now the business means not
only watches to me, but SO many
men and women to think about.