Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

THE MAKING OF WATCHES AND CLOCKS.. 341 are seldom used, except to the balance cocks of English watches, and the import- ance of hardness will be appreciated when it is mentioned that the balance wheel, turning upon an axle only 2*oth of an inch in diameter, would, if it travelled bicycle fashion, cover a distance of twenty-two miles every day. Some of these processes may be studied in the photographs, which have been specially secured with the courte- ous co-operation of Messrs. George Oram and Son, of Clerkenwell. compromise was recently made by a valuable female polisher to the trade, who agreed to continue her labours after marriage, but only in the case of her husband’s own work. While these operations are in progress another workman is engaged upon the patient task of tapping a length of steel wire with innumerable taps, until it is reduced to a flat ribbon, in which form it becomes known as the hair spring. These pieces of mechanism are produced in Birmingham and London, usually by manual labour. Steam CLOCK - MAKING : PINION CUTTING (BRITISH UNITED CLOCK CO., BIRMINGHAM). A large proportion of jewel holes are drilled by girls, and it is gratifying to know that America has to come to London for a good deal of its requirements in this department. There is a factory in Hertford- shire in which a dozen girls are constantly employed upon this delicate operation, and in this connection it may be added that the labour of polishing the parts of the watch is frequently entrusted to the nimble fingers of women. In other branches of the industry the feminine element is also to be met with, although women workers usually abandon the trade when they are married, and therefore seldom acquire the extreme skill which comes from a lifetime of practice. An amusing rolling is resorted to in Geneva and Besangon, but there is a well-founded prejudice among the best makers for the slower process, which is indispensable in the case of chronometers. The making of the dial involves the attention of several distinct trades. A plate of copper is placed before an enameller, who solders the feet upon its rim, and then besmears it with a powder which is melted by heat and spread evenly upon the surface. The polishing of the white surface is an art in itself, and this being done, and the surface fired, it is passed on to the dial painter, whose days are spent in the task of painting the figures upon the dial with a deft brush. The figures are hereupon burnt in with the