WATCHMAKING IN THE UNITED STATES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5032, 10 May 1877, Page 3

WATCHMAKING IN THE UNITED STATES.

Extracts from a speech delivered in the amphitheatre of the Primary College of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Tuesday, the 14th of November, by M. Edouard Favre-Ferret, member of the International Jury on Watches of. the Exhibition at Philadelphia, and one of the Swiss Commissioners to the United States.

Gentlemen, —I must, to start with, announce to you that you have not an orator before you, but a manufacturer, and as such I ask your indulgence. I shall give you information which, unluckily, is not cheerful, on the condition of Swiss watchmaking compared with American competition. I shall tell you of facts simply, such as I have seen them. Frankness is here more necessary than anything else, for it is not by palliating the bad sides of a difficult' situation that we can succeed in improving it. We have treated the American manufacture as we have treated the neighboring manufactures, in the future of which we did hot wish to believe at first, and which form to-day a most serious competition. Well, gentlemen, we are on the same road as regards the United States. For a long time America has been the principal market for our watches—our milk cow, so to speak. To-day we must earnestly prepare to struggle with the Americans on the fields where hitherto we have been the masters. Some of you have known Mr. Dennison, who was, we may say, the father of American watchmaking. After his return to the United States he founded a factory at Boston, “ The Boston Watch Company." This was in 1854. The capital—scarcely 100,000dols.— was subscribed by capitalists more than by practical business men. In the beginuing the company turned out only the rough skeleton movement and attended to the finishing ; all other parts, such as trains, balances,jewels, &c., were imported from Switzerland. Little by little, however, the factory extended its operations and produced other parts. Notwithstanding all this progress, this mode of doing things not suiting the American character, so little inclined to let capital remain almost unproductive, the capitalists abandoned the factory, and it failed in 1856. Another American, Mr. Bobbins, whom you have also known, gentlemen, when he; had business relations with us, scented a good speculation, and bought in the entire factory, tools included, for 75,000d015, Then, a year after, he incorporated it at 145,000 dots, in a new company, “The American Watch Company, with a capital of 200j00pdols. Soon this capital became insufficient, and it was increased to 300,000d015. before the War of Secession. i, ,

The capital was increased to 750,000d01g., and the operations of the. new company'grew to immense proportions. During the following years business went on so well that everywhere new watch factories sprung up. Every one wanted to make watches. ; To-day you can count about eleven factories. The Waltham Company give employment to 900 workmen, and make about 425 movements per day.. The company again increased their capital in 1872 ; it amounts to-day to 1,500,000d015., besides 300,000dois. as reserve fund, or a capital of 9,000,000 francs. This Watch factory is a real power,; there' is none like it in Europe. We have seen it in all its details, and we have admired its.splendid organisation. Their tools work so regularly that all parts of the watch may be interchanged, by a simple order on a postal card, without necessitating the forwarding of adjoining piece. The question has often been, asked whether the Americans can sufficiently supply the demands of their markets. Yes, they can ; we are driven out of the American market. I herein exclude, however, complicated watches, in which we are now, aud I hope we shall always remain masters. '

In 1860 the American companies produced only 15,000 watches ; in 1863, 100,000| Today they produce 250,000, and this figure cap be easily doubled in case the crisis, wliich so severely prevails there as t wcll as here, should come to an end. The ‘Americans have already commenced to send .their manufacture to Europe. In England they sell annually from ‘20,000 to 30,000 watches. The American watch commences to drive from the English market the Swhs and evep the English watch. The Americans commenced by creating a demand for their goods in the Indies and in ‘Australia ; and then, thanks to some powerful exporting houses, they invaded England. In America everything is. made' by machinery ; here we make everything by, hand. We count in Switzerland about 40,000 ; workmen, making on an average each per annum 40 watches. In the United States the average is 150 watches. Therefore the machine produces three and a half to four times more than the workmen. It remains for us to solve the situation,, But how can we get out out of the corner into which we have been driven ? To-day, even;without machines, we cannot dispose of 1,600,000 watches which our! people can manufacture. How will it [be if we establish machines which will thrice increase our production ? We must either dimmish the number of bands and make machines, or else cling to our system and be resigned to see our industry decline., * ■■- J j It lias been said, and it has been complacently repeated, that the Americans Ido not make the entire watch, and that they are dependent upon Switzerland for several parts of the watch- This is a mistake. The Waltham Company make the entire watch—from the first screw to the c.ise and dial. It would even be difficult for them to use our so great is the regularity, so minute the precision with which their machines work. They arrive at the .regulation of the watch—so, to say—without having seen it. When the watch is given to the adjuster, the foreman delivers to him the corresponding liair ; spring, and the watch is regulated. (Sensation among the audience). Here is what I have seen, gentlemen ! I asked from the director of the Waltham Company a watch of the fifth grade, A large safe was opened before me ; at random I took a watch out of it and fastened it to my chain. The director having asked me to let him have the watch for two or three days, so as to observe its motion, I answered, “ On the contrary, I persist in wearing it just as it is, to obtain an exact idea of your manufacture.” At Paris I set my watch by a regulator on the Boulevard, and on the sixth day I observed that it varied 32 seconds. And this watch is of the fifth American grade; it cost 75 francs (movement without case). At my arrival at Lode I showed the watch to one of our first adjusters, who asked permission to ‘‘take it down”—in other words, to take it to pieces. I, however, wished first to observe it; and here is the result which I noted: Hanging, daily variation seconds; variation in different positions, from 4to 8 seconds; in the “heated room” the variation was but slight. Having thus observed it I handed the watch to the adjuster, who took it down. After the lapse of a few days, he came to me and said, word for word, “ I am completely overwhelmed; the result is incredible, one would not find one such a watch among fifty thousand of our manufacture.”

This watchj gentlemen,-,1 repeat to you, I took at hazard—out. of a heap as we say. You understand from this example that the American watch may be preferred to the Swiss. I have finished, gentlemen, and I have told you of things such as I have seen them. It remains for us to profit from this sad experience, and to improve our manufacture. Competent men are not wanting among us, they must go to work at once. A round of applause followed the speaker as he descended the tribune.