Life, 1919-08-07 · page 5 of 44
Life — August 7, 1919 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising rather than satire**. It's a Waltham Watch company advertisement from *Life* magazine (page 221). The top illustration depicts a watchmaker or jeweler at work—likely representing Waltham's manufacturing expertise. The accompanying text explains watch mechanics to consumers: specifically, how the escapement (the heart of a watch) regulates timekeeping. The advertisement emphasizes Waltham's superior craftsmanship, particularly their precision-cut impulse surfaces on escape wheels, which they claim gives them quality advantages over foreign competitors. The "Waltham Colonial A" watch image and specifications appear below the educational text. The slogan "**The World's Watch Over Time**" plays on Waltham's reliability and global reputation. This is straightforward product marketing, not political or social satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“ENT (ALLY BULLY Information to Protect You in Buying a Watch HE escapement is the heart of a watch. Just as | the heart pumps or pulsates the blood through the human body to maintain life and energy, so the escapement controls the power generated by the mainspring and transfers it into elements of time. The Waltham watch escapement controls the power transmitted from the mainspring through the train wheels to the balance wheel, which, in turn, divides the motion into intervals of time, pulsating 18,000. beats per hour — and this pulse beat is recorded on the dial by the hands, The escapement consists of the escape wheel, two pallet stones set in the pallet, and a fork, a roller and a roller jewel. The purpose of the paliet and two pallet stones is to stop and release the escape wheel at the end of the train, at equal time intervals of about one-fifth of a second. The Waltham escape wheel has exclusive features. For instance, the most important part of the escape wheel is the impulse surface. In the Waltham watch this impulse surface is trued by a diamond-cutting tool, which not only cuts it to absolute exactness, but gives it the high polish ‘Wcitesn Cilaniai'K required by the Waltham standard of quality at the same time. Extremely thin at no In the foreign-built watch the impulse surface of the escape wheel is pol- encetfice Of accuracy, ished with a compound by hand, which invariably charges the surface Mase eon with cutting pigments that practically defeat the vital reason for polish- Riverside movement ing, and is, therefore, detrimental to the component mechanism. jewels a ‘ $135 to $255 of more This is one of the most important and one of the many reasons why you depending upon thecase Should insist that your watch be a Waltham. This story is continued in a beautiful booklet in which you will find @ liberal watch education. Sent free upon request. WALTHAM THE WORLD'S WATCH OVER TIME comicbooks.com