THE WATCH MAKER.

Watch-making is an employment so well known as to require no description, but it is usually combined, particularly in the country,
with that of clock-making.

The ancients were contented with reckoning their time from the rising of the sun of one day to the rising of the sun on the next, as the Babylonians ; or as the Romans, from the setting of the sun of one day to the setting of the sun of the next. This last method of dividing time, is still in use at Rome, and many other cities of Italy. But it is productive of great inconvenience.

All the knowledge which the ancients appear to have had of measuring time, was confined to the sun-dial : to the clepsydra or water clocks, and to hour-glasses. Till the twelfth century, the knowledge of reckoning time, by means of wheels with teeth, regularly divided, was, most probably, unknown.

It is not known to whom we are indebted for the invention of the ingenious and useful art of making clocks of metal, for measuring
time, and striking the hours. The first clock we hear of in England was placed in the old clock tower, which formerly stood opposite to the gate of Westminster Hall, and is said to have, been purchased with part of a fine of eight hundred marks, or 520/., imposed upon Randolph de Hengham, chief justice of the King's Bench in 1288. Soon after this another clock, which cost no more than 30/. was set up in the Cathedral of Canterbury, .1292. These most ancient clocks were probably imported from abroad, or at least made by foreign artists.

About seventy years after this : King Edward the third, invited three clock-makers from Delft to come to England, and granted
them a protection to exercise their trade in any part of the kingdom. By these means, before the end of the fourteenth century, clocks became common in our cathedrals and conventual churches. Chaucer, one of the best of our old poets, who lived at this time, compares the crowing of a cock to a church-organ for sweetness, and to a church-clock for exactness, as to time.

Of the astronomical clocks, one of the first was made by an abbot of St. Alban's, in the reign of Richard the Second. It represented
the revolutions of the sun and moon, the fixed stars, and the ebbing and flowing of the sea. When he had finished it, so deficient were we at that time in the knowledge of mechanics, that he was obliged to compose a book of directions, to managing and keeping it in order, lest it should be ruined by the ignorance of the monks.

Watches were also made, or at least used, in England, not long after the beginning of the fourteenth century. One, which belonged to Robert Bruce, who was king of Scotland, from 1306 to 1309, is now in the possession of his Majesty ; and that which belonged to Oliver Cromwell, is still preserved in the British Museum. The King of Scotland's is not of a larger size than those which are used at this day; Oliver Cromwell's, instead of a chain, winds up with cat-gat.

Pendulum watches were invented by Dr. Hooke, about the year 1688.

About a hundred years ago, Thomas Tompion was celebrated as the best watch-maker in Europe. He was originally a farrier, and
began the exemplification of his great knowledge in the equation of time, by regulating the wheels of a jack for roasting meat. He was watch-maker to Queen Mary the Second, and died Nov. 20th, 1713.

Although this business has not been known in England more than a century and a half, yet the best watches in the world are now
made in London, and an immense exportation trade in this article is carried on here.

When watches were first made, the whole business was performed by one man, who was then properly called a watch-maker ; but the name is now given to him who puts the various movements together, adjusts their several parts, and finishes the whole machine.

It is not above a century ago, when watches went upon catgut, instead of a chain; but cat-gut was materially affected by every change in the atmosphere, and of course the watch would not measure accurate time for two days together : but since the invention of the chain, and the greac improvement in the temper of the springs, our watches are but little affected .by the weather in this climate.

Watches and clocks being adapted to the same purpose, are made, or rather finished by the same artisan. The former have qiich movements, as shew the parts of time ; the latter, have such as publish it by striking on a bell. But the name of watches is usually appropriated to such as are carried in the pocket ; and that of clocks to the larger movements, whether they strike the hour or not. Watches which strike the hour are called repeaters.

Watches and clocks are composed of wheels and pinions ; in the former there is a balance or regulator, to direct the quickness and slowness of the wheels, and a spring, which communicates motion, to the whole machine: but in clocks, instead of the regulator and spring, there are a pendulum and two weights. The spring of a watch is inclosed in a barrel, on the outside of which is wound a chain : one end of this chain is fixed to the barrel itself, and the other to the fusee, which is a piece of metal in the form of a cone.

When the watch is wound up, the chain which was upon the barrel, winds upon the fusee, and by this means the spring in the barrel is stretched : for the interior end of the spring is fixed to an immoveable axis, about which the barrel revolves. The spring being
made of exceedingly elastic steel, endeavours to recover its former position, which forces the barrel to turn round ; this motion obliges the chain, which is upon the fusee, to unfold and turn. the fusee. The motion of the fusee is communicated to a wheel, which, by means of its teeth, connected with the pinion, turns another wheel, and so of the rest.

The parts of a watch are made by several mechanics. The movement-maker forges the wheels in solid metal to the exact dimensions ; from him they go to the person who cuts the teeth. This part of the operation, was formerly done by hand ; and perhaps one of the greatest improvements which watches and clocks ever received, was the invention of engines for cutting the teeth. This has reduced the expense of workmanship and time to a mere trifle in comparison to what it was before, and has besides brought the work to a degree of exactness which no hand can imitate.

The wheels come back from the cutter to the movement-maker, who finishes them, and turns the corners of the teeth. The steel
pinions are drawn at a mill, so that the watchmaker has only to file down the pivots, and fix them to the proper wheels.

The watch-springs form a trade of themselves : they are prepared by forming a very thin plate of steel into a double ring, binding
it round with wire, and putting it in a proper furnace, to give it a suitable degree of heat. It is then dropped into oil or melted fat, which gives it a hardness equal to glass ; it then undergoes several other operations, to bring it to that fine colour and polish which it possesses.

The chains are made principally by women, who cut them at a certain, and a small p rice per dozen. It requires no great ingenuity to learn theart of making watch-chains ; the instruments made use of render the work easy, which at first sight appears difficult.

There are workmen also, who make nothing else than the caps and studs for watches; others who make the cases; and others who cut and enamel the dial plates. A particular set of tradesmen, are called watch tool-makers, because their whole business consists in forming implements used by the watch and clockmakers.

When the watch-maker has obtained all the movements of the watch, and the other different parts of which it consists, he gives them to a finisher, who puts the whole together, and adjusts it to a proper time.

All the branches of this profession require a considerable share of ingenuity, and a light hand to touch those delicate instruments which are requisite in their trade. The watch-finisher not only wants a strong sight, but is obliged to make use of magnifying glasses, the frames of which are adapted to the shape of the socket of the eye. Few trades, if any, require a quicker eye, or a steadier hand.

The trade in watches is very considerable ; of course it employs a great number of hands, and the profits of master and men are considerable. A man, to be a scientific watchmaker, should understand the principles of mechanics, and something of the mathematics; a lad, therefore, intended for this business, should have a good education, particularly in these two last sciences.

Clock-making differs from watch-making, principally in the size of the works; so that a person who is conversant in the latter, is equally fitted for the former.

Clocks with balances, continued in use, till about 1650, when a new improvement in the art commenced in the application of the pendulum as a regulator.

Bersard, a professor of astronomy, at Oxford, of the last century, asserted that the Arabians used pendulums in Astronomy, long
before the above period, as we know that Tycho, Lungrenus, Galileo, and several others did, though not in conjunction with wheel
work. According to Venturi, Sanctorius applied a pendulum to clock-work, some time before the year 1625 ; and Becker mentions a native of Switzerland, called Juste Birge, who did the same in 1597 ; but these experiments, if really made, were never sufficiently made public to benefit the world.

There are two very curious and celebrated clocks at Strasburg and Lyons. In the former a cock flaps his wings, and proclaims the
hour, and an angel opens a door and salutes the virgin. In the latter, two horsemen encounter, and beat the hour on each other ; a
door opens and there appear in the theatre, the Virgin with Jesus Christ in her arms, the magi presenting their gifts, and two trumpeters to proclaim the procession.

There are many tradesmen in London, chiefly Germans, who make a good living by the manufacture of wooden clocks. In these
every wheel as well as the sides, are made of wood, and, excepting some wire, and the striking-bell, there is nothing but wood that
goes into the construction of those machines which are sold as low as five shillings each ; a very good one may be had for ten or twelve shillings. To these are often attached alarums; they then become useful for servants, to awaken them in the morning.

Some years ago the minister imposed an impolitic tax upon-watches, and although it has been long since repealed, we are assured
that the injury then done to the trade by the measure is still felt.