Life, 1917-05-31 · page 5 of 38
Life — May 31, 1917 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Waltham Watch Company advertisement** disguised as satirical content, not a political cartoon. The image depicts a Chinese official or dignitary in traditional formal dress, examining a pocket watch. The satire plays on early 20th-century colonial attitudes: China is portrayed as finally joining "great democracies of the world" and adopting Western standards—specifically, trusting Waltham watches for railroad timekeeping across continents. The joke assumes Western superiority in precision timekeeping and suggests China's modernization requires adopting American products. The advertisement conflates product reliability with civilization itself, using orientalist imagery and condescending language about China "proudly" taking its place among democracies—implying it previously lacked such status. This reflects period prejudices about non-Western nations.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
(CHINA — when she proudly took her place among the great de- mocracies of the world—came to Waltham for railroad time. She followed the lead of many nations. Like them she came to Waltham. She compared the Waltham railroad watch with the world’s best timepieces. Her horological experts unanimously demanded Waltham. Here is still another proof of Waltham world dominion. The sun never sets on Waltham railroad watches keeping time on the railroads of five continents. You should insist on a Waltham. Then you will possess a watch that for accuracy, beauty and wear will pass the time-inspection of every railroad in the world. The Vanguard aa and 1 jewel The world's finest railroad watch gare jeweler to point i pats the a yam Jeweled main wheel whi also - ing indi- calor on the dial which telle at a glance whether of not your Waltham needs winding. WALTHAM WATCH COMPANY WALTHAM, MASS. CANADA: 189 St. James St., Montreal Manufacturers of the Waltham Speedometer and Automobile Clocks | comicbooks.com