Life, 1917-11-15 · page 5 of 40
Life — November 15, 1917 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **Waltham Watch Company advertisement**, not a satirical cartoon. The page uses a Japanese figure in traditional dress to market watches, playing on early 20th-century fascination with Japan as a modernizing industrial power. The ad's premise: Japan sought the world's finest watches and chose Waltham, supposedly proving the brand's superiority. This reflects actual historical context—Japan was rapidly industrializing and adopting Western technology around this era. The imagery relies on **Orientalist stereotyping** common to period advertising, depicting Japan as exotic yet materially ambitious. The globe and railroad imagery emphasize Waltham's role in modern commerce and transportation infrastructure globally. The tagline "The World's Watch Over Time" positions Waltham as indispensable to international progress and industrial timekeeping.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Japan, demanding the best products of the civilized world to build her empire, came to Waltham for Railroad Time REAT nations, their railroads and millions of people all over the civilized world are guided daily over the roa” 3. time by Waltham watches. Japan demanded the world’s best watch. She sent her horologists over the earth to findit. They crossed oceans, searched Europe—then came to Waltham. While you can purchase that same world’s time-keeping master- piece from your dealer, sepen has proved for you Waltham su- Periority over the best watches of London, Switzerland and Paris. This Waltham world-supremacy is the reason why there are more Waltham watches used to-day by the railroads of the world than all other makes combined. Especially is this true in the United States and Canada. Waltham was the first company to make watches exclusively for railroad use, and nearly every important advancement in watch making has come from the Waltham laboratories. Your dealer will tell you why the Waltham meets the rigid time inspection of every great railroad in the world. He will show you many . beautiful designs—watches which The Riverside for dependability are unexcelled in), ssca a Europe or America. mest degetells mete. ote price watch in the world WALTHAM WATCH COMPANY WALTHAM, MASS. CANADA: 189 St. James Street, Montreal Manufacturers of the Waltham Speedometer and Automobile Clocks latch OF ‘Time\ icbooks.com