The Project Gutenberg eBook of Rules and Practice for Adjusting Watches
Title: Rules and Practice for Adjusting Watches
Author: Walter J. Kleinlein
Release date: December 19, 2011 [eBook #38340]
Most recently updated: January 8, 2021
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Gísli Valgeirsson and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
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RULES AND PRACTICE
FOR
Adjusting Watches
BY
WALTER J. KLEINLEIN
PREFACE
In the early days of horology the apprentice was taught the art of making a complete watch. Production was slow, very few duplicate watches were constructed, and it was necessary that extra material be made individually by hand in the same way that the original part was produced. As time passed the value of the repairer was indicated by his ability to make new parts and to replace them so that the watch would again be in running condition. This was the prevailing situation for many years and the repairer was judged according to his skill in making and finishing the various parts.
A similar method of judging ability is still in force among some employers, although the development of the industry into machine and specialized work has made many changes in regard to the most important duties of the repairer.
It is no longer necessary for him to know how to make a complete watch and only on occasional instances is it necessary for him to make a part. Genuine material for modern watches is supplied by the manufacturer at less expense than it can be produced by the individual and in this particular branch of the work the repairer's requirements have been very considerably curtailed.
A more exacting and a higher standard of timekeeping has developed, however, and in this field the requirements of the watchmaker have increased to the extent that it is no longer sufficient to merely restore a good watch to running condition. It must keep time. This development has grown gradually and surely and the past twenty-five years may be assumed as the period of greatest advance.
It has been made possible by scientific and practical refinements which permit the adjustment of watches so that they will keep time within closely defined allowances under varying conditions.
The larger problem of the successful repairer of today, therefore, is that of understanding the principles governing close time and of knowing how and where to look for the causes of variation, so that the higher standard of timekeeping may be restored in case of damage since the original adjustment.
It is naturally essential to know when material is correct, how to make it fit in its proper place, and how to make and finish some of the individual parts. It is also commendable to be skilful in all classes of lathe work, as this at times gains prestige for the workman through restoring old model watches to running condition.
It is, however, a disadvantage to develop one's ability in making parts for watches of a bygone age and neglecting the training that happens to be most essential and of daily advantage in repairing modern watches so that they will keep time as consistently after repairs have been made as they did when new.
The object of this book is to present the essential points of watch adjusting in an elementary and non-technical way that will interest the average watchmaker and to enable him to have a convenient source of information, covering the necessary refinements that are fundamental in repairing, regulating and adjusting the better class of watches.
The author trusts that the experienced successful watchmaker will read the book with interest and also with profit and that the novice will be enabled to foresee that there is something more to the art of watchmaking and repairing than that of merely assembling a watch and making it "tick."
It so happens that the author has had many years of experience in both factories and repair shops and that a considerable part of his duties have been devoted to instruction.
He has for a long time felt the need of a book that would, above all else, be practical in its description of the rules that an adjuster follows and which would prove its value in actual experience by being personal as far as permissible in the same sense that detailed shop instruction would be.
Since writing the article entitled "The Watch Adjuster and His Work" several years ago numerous inquiries have been received, for this class of information and the present book is an effort to meet this demand in a manner that can be followed without highly technical or theoretical education.
To promote advancement and interest in everyday practical results is the foremost consideration, and to this end definite means are presented for personal development and for obtaining better results from high grade watches than can possibly be obtained without a fair knowledge of the final details which go so far toward assuring close time.