MASSACHUSETTS— BEEHIVE OF BUSINESS 



233 



Photograph by L,eon H. Abdalian 



REPAIRING BALANCE-WHEELS IN A MASSACHUSETTS WATCH FACTORY 



The balance-wheel must divide time correctly, to the infinitesimal fraction of a second. 

 It plies back and forth nearly half a million times a day. To make one of these wheels re- 

 quires some six hundred detailed operations. 



the upper of a button shoe and more in 

 a lace shoe. To have each bit of lining 

 and each piece of leather meet its respect- 

 ice seam-fellow and counterpart, at the 

 proper moment, in the stitching depart- 

 ment, is a task for the organizer. 



The linings go from the assembly 

 room to be transformed from individual 

 pieces into the canvas counterpart of the 

 leather upper. The quarters are joined 



at the back and stayed with a reinforce- 

 ment. The vamps are cemented into 

 shape ready for inclusion in the finished 

 upper. 



The tips go to the toe-cap room, where 

 they are perforated at the edge to give 

 them a pleasing appearance on the foot 

 of the wearer. Fourteen different proc- 

 esses are required to transform a piece 

 of tip leather into a finished cap, with 



