KEEP WATCH!

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 25, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 39.

Like human beings, watches suffer from exposure—they take cold or they may catch the contagion of dynamos.

Watches often suffer from changes of temperature. After a watch has been worn next to a warm body all day, it should not be left over night on cold marble or near an open window. The cold is likely to contract the metal pivots, and, however slightly, tighten up the works. The next morning, for no apparent reason, one’s watch will be found to be losing time. It frequently happens that watches are slightly magnetized by electricity given off by the human body. Dark people are more likely to exert this influence over their watches. This influence is, besides, more common among women than with men. Persons of this sort can never hope to carry the correct time unless they carry their watches in rubber or steel cases. One must not lay his watch down for the night in a horizontal position. It should always be hung vertically, as it is carried during the day. If the pivot of the balance wheel is in the least worn, this change of position tends to loosen the “cap jewel.”

Every one has had a watch suddenly stop for no apparent reason and go on again when slightly shaken. This may not happen once a year, but all watches are liable to such an accident. This is due usually to the catching of the delicate hair spring. It is caused by some sudden movement, such as jumping on or off a car. The jolt must come at the exact fraction of a second when the spring is in position to catch, so that the chances

of such an accident are rare. A watch should be oiled every eighteen months. Women are said to be the best customers of the watch-doctor, since they seldom wind their watches regularly. A watch should be wound early in the day, and not, as is the common practise, at bedtime. The reason for this is that the spring is the tightest during the day, while the watch is being carried and is less sensitive.—The Scotsman.