Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

339 THE MAKING OF WATCHES AND CLOCKS. THE evolution of contrivances for the measurement of time forms one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of mechanical invention. Generations before the power of steam was dreamed of John Harrison succeeded in devising a marine chronometer which in many of its details is the parent of all modern watches, and he received a grant from the State of ,£20,000 in recognition of his genius and patience. The mechanism of a timepiece is a wonderland to child and man alike; yet, complex as it is, it is merely an arrange- ment of the simple mechanical powers, and one of the oldest clocks in existence was fashioned out of pieces of wood, and of wood alone. For many centuries English watch- makers stood in the front rank of the industry, and their superior workmanship was recognised even in Shakespeare’s day, for has he not made one of his characters, in Lovés Labour s Lost, describe a woman as “ Like a German clock, Still a-repairing; ever out of frame; And never going aright.” In recent years the manufacture of cheap clocks and watches by means of swiftly running machinery has been undertaken in the United States and in certain parts of Europe, and the watch industry of Switzer- land, encouraged by a well-equipped system of technical training, has made serious inroads upon the prosperous industry which made Clerkenwell in the old days one of the most thriving hives of labour in the kingdom. To speak of English watch and clock making, however, as a dying craft is very wide of the mark indeed. At this moment of writing Clerkenwell is as busy as it can be with orders for American account, and Great Britain still stands without a rival in the fabrication of chronometers, hall clocks, office “ dials,” turret clocks, and several other branches of the industry. The Lancashire town of Prescot has established itself as the chief centre of the manufacture of watch materials in this country. Long before it turned its attention to watch-making it was already famed for its skill in the manipulation of small tools and files; and to-day, under the fostering care of a pioneer enthusiast, it has lifted itself above ordinary competition by the enterprise which it has displayed in devising machinery for turning out wheels and plates WATCH-MAKING : ESCAPEMENT MAKER.