Life, 1919-07-03 · page 5 of 52
Life — July 3, 1919 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **product advertisement**, not satire. The page promotes Waltham watches by emphasizing American manufacturing superiority over foreign competitors. The left sidebar contrasts "Waltham the scientifically built watch" with "the foreign built watch," establishing a nationalist marketing angle. The main text boasts about precision manufacturing—specifically highlighting screws so tiny that 47,000 fit in a thimble, and machine-made consistency that surpasses hand-crafted foreign alternatives. The illustration shows a watchmaker at work. The advertisement appeals to buyers' pride in American industrial achievement and craftsmanship, positioning Waltham as the superior choice for "the world's leading horologists." This reflects early-20th-century American confidence in industrial production capabilities.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SCENT ICALLY BUILT WATCH ‘ Know These Facts Before — You Buy a Watch ve "Tose are turning operations upon metal made by Waltham machinery that are so minute, so wondrous in their delicacy, so exacting in precision, that the mind is amazed at these triumphs of American skill in watchmaking. Imagine a machine turning out by the many thousands, screws so small that the naked human eye sees them as points of metal shining under reflected light— screws that measure 254 threads to the inch, and you can put 47,000 of them in a small thimble! Screws that are hardened and tempered, each one polished on the top — screws that are perfect in sphericity, perfect in thread, perfect for their place in the mechanism of that ladies’ Waltham watch movement, which, when completed, is actually smaller in diameter than a dime — a ten cent piece ! The screws in the foreign made watch are made by hand. But comparing them under the magnifying glass we see the difference between these hand- made screws and the Waltham machine-made product. The foreign screw varies — the Waltham screw is standardized in size and perfection of work- manship. No human hand could ever match the quantity and quality performance of Waltham 714 Ligne machinery that creates such miracles as these. The ssoweeneak etally exller thane diane This is one more of the many reasons why the world’s leading horologists $150 to $1,000 or more came to Waltham for time, and still another reason why your selection depending upon the case should emphatically be a WALTHAM THE WORLD'S WATCH OVER TIME comicbooks.com