Class Xb.]
341
have awarded a Council Medal; although the objects jthemselves, as they appear in the Exhibition, are by no 1means striking, inasmuch as these watch movements arein fact only the two plates and some of the larger wheelsof the train, and the clock movements are the internalparts of the clock without the escapement. The most,indeed the only, remarkable quality in these movements,is their extraordinary cheapness. They are, however, atleast as good as any others of the same kind made in theusual way by hand; and Messrs. Japy, we are told, sellno less than half a million of them to watch and clock-makers in the course of a year. The great cheapness ofthese articles being obtained by means of a peculiar pro-cess of manufacture, it was considered that Messrs. Japymight properly receive a Council Medal for their watchmovements, as a specimen of the produce of such im-proved mode of manufacturing.
Messrs. Rotherham , of Coventry (No. 124, p. 419),exhibit a large collection of watches in all stages ofmanufacture, for which we have awarded a Prize Medal.We have also given one to Mr. Roskell, of Liverpool(No. 123, p. 419), an eminent maker, who exhibits ahandsome collection of watches and small clocks, some ofwhich are so constructed as to show the action of thevarious forms of watch escapements in general use; andto M. Redier, of Paris (No. 1425, p. 1244), for a cheapkind of watch alarum, of which a great number are soldboth in France and in this country.
It may be mentioned here that M. KrAlik, of Pesth (No. 169, p. 1016), exhibits a set of models, in whichthirteen different escapements can be fitted to one clockmovement, by merely unscrewing the part containing theescapement. This is apparently intended for illustratinglectures on watchmaking, or for experiments on theeffects of different escapements.
Mr. Jackson exhibits what he calls (with some dis-regard of etymology) a soliclave watch (No. 32, p. 411),whereby he means a watch with a solid key. However,his invention of the thing fortunately deserves morecredit than his name for it. Most people are aware thatthe pipes of watch-keys wear out; and, in so doing, theywear off the comers of the winding square on which theyact. The shorter this winding square is, the sooner ofcourse this will happen; and in thin watches of thecommon construction the winding square cannot but beshort. With the view of avoiding this, Messrs. Aubertand Klaftenbergkr’s watches (No. 52a, p. 412), andseveral foreign ones in the Exhibition, which have nofusee, have the arbor of the barrel hollow' and squaredfor a solid key to fit into it the whole depth of the barrel.But this will not do for watches with a fusee, because thefusee arbor has to turn while the watch is going, thoughthe barrel-arbor of a watch without a fusee only turnswhile it is being wound up ; and a hollow fusee arborwould be much too thick. Mr. Jackson, therefore, windsup his fusee by a small auxiliary wheel, analogous towhat is called a jack-wheel in turret-clocks; and thearbor of this small wheel is made hollow and squared toreceive the solid key. As the little wheel has nothing todo, and no pressure on it when the watch is going, thefriction of its thick arbor is inconsiderable, even sup-posing it not to be thrown out of gear, as it might bo.This also allows the fusee arbor to be smaller, and there-fore to turn with less friction than usual. We haveconsequently given Mr. Jackson (p. 411) a Prize Medalfor this invention.
We have also given a Prize Medal to M. Montandon,of Paris (No. 601, p. 1207), for his mainsprings, of whichhe is a maker of high reputation; and it is unnecessaryto say that the goodness of the mainspring is of greatimportance to the accurate performance of watches,especially of foreign ones, in which there is generally nofusee, and so the spring must be capable of acting withnearly uniform force for four or five turns of the barrel.
We agreed to mention the names of two other French watchmakers : M. Le Roy (No. 1186, p. 1234), for a col-lection of well-finished clocks and watches ; and M. I,au-main (No. 292, p. 1190) who exhibits some well-madepocket chronometers, with the escapement part made totake off separately: a9 well as the name of Mr. Bolton
j (No. 94, p. 418), an English exhibitor of some verycheap watches in German silver cases.
The Swiss exhibition of horology consists entirely(with the single exception of a clock before mentioned)of watches and watch-work; and, as is well known, alarge proportion of the watches of the world, especiallythe small and cheaper ones, are made in Switzerland .But in this instance, as in some others, it is not to heinferred that we intend the superiority of the works ofone nation over another, in any particular department, tobe measured by the number of medals which have beenawarded to each, as they were given on no such consi-deration.
We have given Prize Medals for watches to the fol-lowing Swiss exhibitorsMessrs. Audemars (Switzer-land , No. 22, p. 1267), Grandjean (No. 8, p. 1266),Grosclaudf (No. 24, p. 1268), Lecoultue (No. 262,p. 1283), Meucier (No. 175, p. 1277), Patkk and Phi-lippe (No. 99, p. 1273), and Retor (No. 101, p. 1273),except that for the last a grant of money lias been substi-tuted.
M. Audemars (No. 22, p. 1267J exhibits a watch witha contrivance for winding up the train which is requiredfor driving what is called an “ independent seconds-hand,” as well as the ordinary train, by the handle orpendant, so that when either train is fully wound up, thewinder acts on it no longer, but proceeds with the othertrain alone. He has likewise a watch with several dials,one of them indicating one-fifth of a second, and withprovisions for stopping the different hands independently.It may be mentioned here that Messrs. Cousins andWhiteside, of London (No. 86, p. 417), also exhibit alarge watch with a stop seconds-hand, indicating one-sixth of a second. M. Audemars’ collection containsvarious other watches, with different kinds of escape-ments and other peculiarities, which cannot be particu-larly described here.
M. Grandjean (p. 1266) exhibits some pocket chrono-meters, i. e., watches with the chronometer escapement;and one of them has a balance-spring of a spherical forminstead of a flat or a cylindrical one.
M. Grosclaude (p. 12G8) has sent some watches with“ independent seconds-hand,” and only a single main-spring.
M. Lecoultre’s (p. 1283) watches are remarkable forthe good execution of the wheels and pinions. He* isstated to make all his watches with the correspondingwheels of the same size, so that when any wheel is da-maged, it can at once be replaced by a new one withoutany other trouble than that of putting it in. And he,like some other makers, has a method of winding up andsetting the hands without a key, and with a provision toavoid the risk of a slight derangement of the hands inthe act of putting their adjusting work in gear, to whichsome other methods are said to be liable.
M. Mercier (p. 1277) exhibits among other well-made articles, a watch with a new recoiling escapementwith a double scape-wheel, which is ingenious and sim-ple ; but we do not profess to give any opinion on theprobability of its success.
MM. Patek and PuiLirrE (p. 1273) exhibit a largeand valuable collection of watches and pocket chronome-ters. Their articles are generally of moderate price, be-sides being well made, and some of them are highlyfinished. They have a repeater with two barrels, bothwinding in the handle, and a watch for the blind. Theyare the makers of the very small watch only '35 of aninch in diameter, which attracted much notice as thesmallest in the Exhibition.
We have recommended M. Retor (p. 1273) for a re-ward in money instead of a Prize Medal, as we under-stand that he is a person of very small means, who has hadsome difficulty in getting up the articles which he hassent to the Exhibition, and that he is also engaged inmaking experiments in watchmaking, which are ofcourse at present unremunerative. He has exhibited apocket chronometer with an ingenious escapement.
We conclude the notice of the Medals to the Swiss exhibitors of watches with the award of a Council Medalto M. Lutz, of Geneva (No. 94, p. 1272), for his watch