CHAP. XXVI. 



JEWELLERS. 303 



clocks, partly of gold, partly of silver gilt, and 

 partly gilded on inferior metal. Chaptal remarks, 

 that the price of watches has so fallen, and the 

 progress of luxury and the easier circumstances 

 of the country have so increased, as to extend the 

 use of watches, and the consequent fabrication of 

 them. 



It appears by this account that the weight of 

 gold and silver respectively, in the watches made 

 in France, is not more than half the average 

 weight of those made in England. It is rare to 

 see double cases to French watches ; whereas in 

 England it is nearly general with those of silver, 

 and very extensively the case with those of gold. 

 Besides this, the English watches with a single 

 case are much more substantially framed than 

 those which are manufactured in France. 



Of late years many of the internal parts of the 

 French watches have, been manufactured in the 

 departments, chiefly in the Doubs, the Jura, and 

 the PAin. They are sent in an unfinished state 

 to Paris, where the movements are polished and 

 adjusted, and the whole workmanship finally com- 

 pleted. 



The labour employed in making the larger 

 articles by the gold and silversmiths in France is 

 stated by Chaptal to be no more than an eighth 

 part of the cost of the precious metal ; whilst on 

 the jewellery, the gilding, and the embroidery, 

 " the fabrication of which in Paris is immense, 



