The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 4, April, 1852Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 4, April, 1852
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
Perhaps the most remarkable repeating watch extant, is that in the
Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, and which, like the old Nuremberg
watches, is about the size of an egg: within is represented the holy
sepulchre, with the sentinels, and the stone at the mouth; and while the
spectator is admiring this curious piece of mechanism, the stone is
suddenly removed, the sentinels drop down, the angels appear, the women
enter the tomb, and the same chant is heard which is performed in the
Greek Church on Easter Eve.
Germany, by the way, has always been famous for the manufacture of
clocks and watches, these latter claiming Nuremberg for their
birthplace; and from this circumstance, and their oval shape,
Dopplemayer tells us they were originally known as Nuremberg _animated
eggs_.
At present this branch of horometry is chiefly to be found on the other
side of the Alps, at or near Geneva, and at Chaux de Fond, in the
principality of Neufchatel, where vast numbers of watches are
manufactured. But the wooden clocks, which tick on every cottage wall,
and which are erroneously called Dutch, are in fact German, and are
nearly all made in the Black Forest, the village of Freyburg being the
centre of the manufacture, whence it is said 180,000 wooden clocks on an
average are yearly exported.
The Swiss, or _Geneva_ watches, as they are commonly called, owing to
the poverty of the workmen, the employment of women, and the subdivision
of labor, which is carried to even a greater extent than with us, sell
at a much lower price than those made in England; but an English watch
has hitherto been a desideratum in every part of the world. Here, at
present, the term watch-maker is no longer applicable, every portion of
the instrument being the work of a different artisan, and the separate
parts are often sent hundreds of miles, to meet in the metropolis, and
make a whole of excellent workmanship. There are innumerable places in
which some branch or other of the manufacture is carried on; but the
best movements are made at Prescot, in Lancashire, while the town of
Whitchurch, in Hampshire, is employed wholly in making hands. In London,
Clerkenwall Green has long been the resort of artificers employed in the
various nice and delicate manipulations requisite in the construction of
our subject: here, slide-makers, jewellers, motion-makers,
wheel-cutters, cap-makers, dial-plate-makers, the painter, the
case-maker, the joint-finisher, the pendent-maker, the engraver, the
piercer, the escapement-maker, the spring-maker, the chain-maker, the
finisher, the gilder, the fusee-cutter, the hand-maker, the glass-maker,
and pendulum spring wire-drawer, are all located; for, owing to the
minute division of labor, which tends greatly to facilitate its
execution after the movements (which have previously passed through
thirteen workmen's hands in the provinces) are received in town, the
watch progresses through those of these other twenty-one artificers
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account