DELICACY OF' HUMAN TOUCH

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 26 August 1933, Page 11

DELICACY OF' HUMAN TOUCH

unioniployment cannot invade the home workshop whete M. Edouard Jeajnrichard' and his eon, Marcel, produce wait chefs «o individual that they have no need o.f patents (says the ‘ ‘Christian, Science Monitor”). Hand tools line the walls of the modest ‘ ‘ eomptoi'r,” with its benches along two corner windows and its wood) stove in the rear. A small mo tor-driven lathe is the only con'cessiom to machinery. No hint is given in the simple room of magnificent products bearing the. name Jcanrichard in smart shops of Paris, Loudon, and other cities. Yet beneath simplicity lies meticulous craftsmanship. The tall grandfather clock case contains an astronomical regulator to test watches down to hundredths of a-second. No- machine could equal the delicate touch given to the workman’s lingers by years of ardent devotion to his metier.

Several factories are in view from! the windows, lying below in the Jura Mountain town of Lc Lode. Such skill as the JeamricbardS possess is at a premium for putting the final touches on machine-made watches of high qual-

Final Adjustment to Machines’ Work

ity. Yet father and son choose to carry on among dwindling representatives of household industry, a halfcentury after it's heyday. M. JcamriChard represents the finest in Switzerland’s tradition of mountain; watchmaking. Not -lo<nig! ago motion picture cameras were brought into l his Wiorkshop to record its historical story. For generations the Jeanrichard' family has 'specialised in precision movements. M. Virgile JeanTichardi, from whom the l>cy Edouard received instruct ion at home and in the then newly-founded l Eeolc d’horlogerie at Le Lode-, was known for his work oin 'escapement®. The co.mptoir is noted' foT its development of specialty watches —extra, thin for the pocket', extra small to go in rings, and, finally, equipped with ingenious devices 'to. replace calendar's and play carillons. These novelties are only a side line with Monsieur jeanrichard. They are so complicated that ho usually cannot take time from his regular business for them. So he amuses him'self with them at night, anifi insists .that in this painstaking work he finds his most satisfying recreation.