Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1869 — Page 4 Advertisements Column 1 [ADVERTISEMENT]

WALTHAITWATCM .A. CARD. An illuatratod record of the watches produced at the Waltham Manufactory may be not improperly prefaced with a brief mention of the considerations which induce us to press them Ujlon the attention of intelligent watch-buyers. Fifteen years’ successful experience , notify us in claiming for the Waltham Watches peculiarities of excellence which plaoe them above all foreign rivalry. The system which governs their construction Is their most obvious source of merit. The substitution of machinery for hand labor has been followed not only by greater simplicity, but by a precision in detail, and accuracy and uniformity in their time-keeping qualities, which by the old methods of manufacture are unattainable.

The application of machinery to watchmaking has, in fact, wrought a revolution in the main features of the business. In conjunction with enlarged power of production, it has enabled ua to secure the smoothness and certainty of movement which proceed from the perfect adaptation of every piece to Its place. Insteadof a feeble, sluggish, variable action, the'balance, even under the pressure of the lightest mainspring, vibrates with a wide and free motion. The several grades of watches have more than a general resemblance, each to its pattern : they are perfect in their unliormity, and may be bought and sold with entire confidence as to the qualities we assign to them. These general claims to superiority are ho longer contested. An English watchmaker, in a recent lecture before the Horological Institute of London, describing the result of two months’ close observation at the various manufactories in the United Btatea, remarks in reference to Waltham : “ On leaving the factory, I felt that the manufacture of watches on the old plan was gone.” Other foreign makers, some of them eminent, have publicly borne the same testimony. They admit that the results aimed at ih Europe by slow and costly processes are here realized with greater certainty, with an almost absolute uniformity, and at a cost which more than -compensates for the difference between manual labor in the old world and the new;

But we assert for the Waltham watches more than a general superiority. Their advantagiki in respect of quality and price, over English and Swiss watches, are not more marked than are their advantages over the products of other American manufactories. These are positive in their character, and are the natural consequences of the precedence we acquired in the trade, and the proportions to which our manufactory has attained. No industrial law is better established than that which cheapens the cost of an article in proportion to the magnitude of its production. The extent of our establishment —the combination of skilled labor on an extensive scale, with machinery perfect and ample—enables us to offer watches at lower rates than those of any other manufacturer. The aggregate of profit is the end kept in view—not the profit on any single wateh. And, acting on this principle, with reduced cost of production and an ever widening demand, our watches are offered at prices considerably below the watches of other American makers, comparing quality with quality. Our annual manufacture is double that of all otner makers in this country combined, and much larger than the entire manufacture of England.

The conditions which make this cheapness possible are also favorable to the excellence of our work. Our artisans long ago ceased to be novices. Time and effort, under a superintendence which combines the Bubtleties of science with the strength of practical skill, have produced a body of artisans whose efficiency is for the time pre-eminent We have the best workers in every department that are available—workers whose expertness and experience would be alone sufficient to secure for Waltham its Ugh position. Among other tributary causes, may be stated the readiness with which each sue ceeding invention and improvement has been tested, and* if approved, adopted. We are always ready to examine whatever experience, or art, or skill, may suggest, but We adopt nothing , x Ußtil experiments have uemonstrated its excellence. In pursuance of this rule, we have brought to our aid all the mechanical improvements and valuable inventions of the last fifteen years, whether home or foreign in their origin. We have thus acquired the exclusive possession of the best and most valuable improvements now known in connection with watch making, and secured for the Walthsm factory a force and completeness not shared by any similar establishment in the world. These constant efforts to perfect in all ways, and by all means, both the machinery of the factory and the construction of our watches, have placed within onr means the production of a greater variety in grade and finish than other American makers have attempted. In the manufacture of very fine watches we have no competitor in the United States, and only very few in Europe. The various styles of these watches have undergone the severest trials in the service of Railway Engineers, Conductors and Expressmen, the most exacting class of Watch-wearers, and the presence of over 400,000 Waltham Watches in the pockets of the people is the best proof of the public approval, and must be accepted as conclusive of their superiority by discriminating Watch-buyers, especially so since the important matter of price is also very greatly in their favor, being at least twenty-five per cent, cheaper, quality for quality, than those made elsewhere in the United States. As it would be impossible to describe the peculiarities of each style in the space allotted for that purpose, buyers are referred to respectable dealers throughout the country, who will cheerfully furnish all necessary information both as to the different grades and their respective prices. The accompanying illustrations show the upper plates, sizes, and trade marks of the different styles of our manufacture, and furnish the best possible security against the sale of worthless imitations of onr watches, under the name of the genuine, In many cases the spurious watches have similar trademarks, varying the spelling slightly, but such cases cannot deceive buyers who compare trade marks with those furnished in this article. Our watches are now so favorably known, and their valqe as„ accurate timekeepers so freely acknowledged everywhere, that to pablish certificates from individual wearers would be superfluous. From the great abundance of testimony in their fovor, we select only those of a general character.