HOW THE WATERBURY WATCH CAME INTO THE WORLD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9020, 5 April 1888, Page 6

HOW THE WATERBURY WATCH CAME INTO THE WORLD.

Accurate accounts are kept by a simple system of bookkeeping, of every block of metal given out and every piece of finished work brought back. Each workman or workwoman must return just as many as he or she receives, including the broken pieces, or make up the loss. When the work is done these finished parts go to the material room to be stored in quantities until wanted for the assembly department. Having seen the inside of the Water bury Factory, let us now look inside the watch itself.

On opening the back (which, by the way, the makers especially request you not to do, unless you are a practical watchmaker) may be seen a steel spring, coiled upon a nickel plate that nearly fills the entire.back of the case. This mainspring is 9 feet in length, and, as has been explained in our description of the factory, has a very fine tension, its extreme length and thinness adapting it more to change of temperature than " the ordinary short-set, thick mainspring." This plate has a toothed edge and gears - with the pinion to which the winding crown is attached, so that in winding the entire plate bearing the spring is made to revolve, and winds it on to a fixed arbor attached to the movement beneath.

This is free to turn upon an axis which is pivoted in the cap and in the dialplate. As a preventive against over-winding, there is round the case, in the hard metal, a series of notched teeth, into which a stopwork is forced as soon as the mainspring is fully wound. This holds everything firm. You may twist off the stem, but you cannot break the spring by over-winding. , When the watch is wound up the energy stored in the spring is now realised ana is made to turn the entire interior movement, which makes the revolution in the case once every hour. The minute-hand on the face of- the watch turns with the works, and thus by this simple device all the machinery heeded in the ordinary watch to turn the minutehand is got rid of. Here is also seen a horological wonder—a pinion with one number of teeth working into two wheels having different numbers of teeth. By this means the motion of the hour-hand is regulated, and by these two devices the cost of the watch is reduced. - ;.. i ... The next thing to complete the watch is the train of three wheels, oalance and hairspring, which are supported in the plates of the movement. This is the whole storya spring, a revolving wheel work and balance, and a " train" of three wheels. YpjioarufSt have less than this and have a watch. Take every screws, pinions, wheels, case, springs, and fittings together— are only fifty-seven parts in all, and one less than this is not possible if the watch is to go and keep good time. Another point in connection with the " Waterbury" is that, as all the works revolve around the centre of the case every hour, it is evident , that the bearings of all wheels (those parts which wear most) will be continually shifting their position. The pressure and weight upon the bearings will thus be continually changing, and if there is any wear it will be distributed equally. Hence there is not the equal necessity for jewels, as in complicated watches. Besides, such a watch will keep good time in all positions, whether lying down or standing upright. Whatever its position, the wear will be even, because the watch is continually adjusting itself to new positions. . The escapement used in this watch is duplex, and has as yet, it seems, never been produced in any other low-priced watch with success. It is well known for its accurate time-keeping qualities and performance. In fact, the name and fame of " The Waterbury " is in every corner of the civilised world. Its name is a synonym for accurate time, and its possession is "a joy for ever." ' ■ , ,

The genuine, Waterbury is sold by E. Porter and Co. at 13s 6d, and cdn always be repaired by them at a price which will never exceed half-a-crown, unless it has been opened and, tampered with. • There are several trashy Swiss, imitations of the Waterbury daily sold at various prices from 7s 6d to lis, according to the cupidity of the dealer; but these are perfectly , worthless as , timekeepers, and can never be repaired at any cost. , None of, these watches unll be repaired by the Waterbury Watch Company's agents, who will hot adjust any watch which does not bear the company's private mark. Dealers will tell you " any jeweller can repair them," but this is untrue. Buy the genuine Waterbury from E. Porter and Co., and run no risk. '•* -j