172 Performance of Some Timekeepers. 



the money. Their moderate price is due mainly to the 

 absence of much of that manual labour which is used in 

 other countries to finish the parts after they have been 

 formed by the machines ; so, to a watchmaker's eye, they do 

 not present that finished appearance he so dearly loves ; but, 

 as Sir Edmund Beckett says, " so long as smooth work which 

 everybody can see is easier than accurate work which few 

 people can judge of, watches, like other things, will be got 

 up for show." Old Mr. Dent used to say — " We must work 

 for the fools." First-class Walthams, however, have no lack 

 of finish — indeed, they gained the first prize at our Exhibi- 

 tion for their artistic qualities. 



Swiss watches are characterised by great delicacy of 

 construction, and by delicacy I do not necessarily mean 

 weakness. They have going barrels with stop work, so that 

 only a selected portion of the mainspring is brought into 

 action. The cases open, and the hands are set at the back ; 

 and the top pivots, instead of turning in holes made in a full 

 or three-quarter plate, work in cocks and bridge pieces, so 

 that most of the wheels may be removed without disturbing 

 the others. The best Swiss watches, though somewhat 

 expensive, are excellent timekeepers, and in the making of 

 small, complicated, and low-priced watches the Swiss are 

 unsurpassed. They also exhibit great variety in their 

 escapements. A few years ago I should have said that the 

 cylinder, or horizontal escapement, was a special feature in 

 Swiss watches. It is now, however, getting supplanted by 

 the lever. 



French and German watches were also shown at our 

 Exhibition. They are constructed somewhat like the Swiss, 

 but I think that they are scarcely brought to Australia yet 

 in commercial quantities. The former were not sent to be 

 tested at the Observatory, so that 1 cannot speak of their 

 performances ; and some of the watches sent out were not 

 exhibited at all, owing to some trouble at the Custom-house. 

 The German watches, as exhibited by the celebrated makers, 

 Lange and Sohne, of Glashiitte, near Dresden, proved them- 

 selves to be of first-rate excellence and moderate in price. 



Instead, however, of a national classification, watches for 

 scientific purposes are generally called after their escape- 

 ments. The mechanism of a watch, as is well known, 

 consists of a train of wheels impelled by a large coiled 

 spring at one end, and regulated by the reciprocating motion 

 of a very small spiral spring attached to the axis of a wheel 



