Show AROUND THE CLOCK I lIe l lie Ie II Hus Hs Time on His fAiRer Century ut 01 Trude 1 Features ELGIN ILL Somewhere ILL Somewhere in the United States there may exist an untutored and unknown genius of like Job-like patience who after months of painstaking effort could put together a watch that would run But the odds are just about to one-million-to-one that it would fall fallar far ar short of the performance demanded of fine watches today inthe in inthe inthe the opinion of William H. H director of El Elgin 7 in ers college v I ought to know He has made watches for more than 50 years Now teaching others the profession profession profession pro pro- I at the Elgin school he received received received re re- re- re his first introduction into the lore from his father who at one onetime onetime onetime time was the royal watchmaker of Sweden came to America as a lad in 1881 Today he is still active in the profession an honorary honorary honorary honor honor- ary member of at least eight state associations and the dean of American fine ers Always ready to talk about his lifes life's work Samel us explained some of the reasons why making a watch is not the easiest thing in the world Our ClOur students learn that the best watches must be within a limited limited limited lim lim- tolerance of time fast or slow before they are released from the factory he says They learn to maintain tolerances of of an aninch aninch aninch inch to fit parts into precision watch movements They master all the in individual individual individual in- in manufacturing operations necessary to restore a watch to its timekeeping ability An idea of how liow small these tolerances arc can be gained from the fact that ten one-ten thousandth thousandth thousandth thou thou- cf cI an inch is the size of ofa a human hair after it has been split the long way 30 times students also work with roller jewels that are so small that weigh a pound Some of the screws used in watch manufacture are so tiny that of them just barely fill an ordinary sewing thimble Despite their size each screw has a perfect thread and its head is perfectly slotted Some of students become become become be be- come proficient in the art in a period of from 11 to 14 months Although he has been in the business for more than half a century still manages to keep posted on latest developments in the field He admits that making watches today is considerably considerably considerably con con- easier than it was 50 years ago He attributes this in part to innovations in repair equipment and parts |