The following text is taken from the 1897 Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalogue.
As gold filled cases have become so popular in the last thirty years, and there is so little known by the general public of the relative proportions to the different materials that enter into their construction and the methods employed in making them, we feel it would be interesting to our customers and their friends to know more about such an important industry. With every line that we handle and list in our catalogue, we make ourselves thoroughly familiar as to the manner in which the goods are made, and the quality and proportion of each kind of material which enters into their construction. It is very necessary for us to do this in order to protect the interests of our customers, for their interests are our own. We employ men in each department who are thoroughly familiar with the construction of the goods they handle, know where to look for weak and strong points, and are thoroughly competent to judge and to protect the interests of both our customers and ourselves from being imposed upon by fraudulent concerns whose only object is to make up cheap, showy goods and market them to the unsuspecting public in competition with goods of real merit, which, if bought right, can even be owned for the same or even less than the shoddy goods. We can say without fear of contradiction that the average merchant does not employ competent people and even himself is not a practical man. Let us repeat that we leave nothing undone to thoroughly understand and know the merits of everything we sell.
There are at the present time eleven watch case factories in the United States, with a daily average of about 4,500 filled cases, or about 1,498,500 per year. Most of the watch case factories in operation at the present time are reputable makers who have been established a great many years, and have proven by the experience of over a quarter of a century that gold filled cases, when properly made, are not only theoretically, but practically, a success, and have given their owners entire satisfaction. We might say that is has been our good fortune and pleasure to have had the privilege of examining a great many gold filled cases which have been in constant use from 20 to 30 years, and, without exception, we found all of these which were made by reputable concerns to be in good condition and to all appearances to be equal to a solid gold case. (Of course, the joints were somewhat loose from wear, which is a natural consequence with any watch case.)Even thought the first gold filled cases were satisfactory as to wear and appearance, improve machinery and years of experience have made it possible to turn out cases at a very low price, which for style and appearance are far superior to a solid gold case and for wear are all that could be wished for. The following article, together with the accompanying illustrations, will give the reader a good general idea of how gold filled cases are made.
The first operation is to prepare a sheet of material which is composed of two sheets of gold with a plate of hard composition metal between. Instead of rolling all three plates out to the required thickness before soldering them together, which would be a very difficult operation and attended with unsatisfactory results, such as uneven thickness of the plates, not being soldered well together, etc. the material is made ready, as shown in Figure 1, by taking one piece of gold about 4 inches long and 2 inches wide, and another of the same length but thinner for the inside of the case, as there is no wear on the inside. Now, a hard piece of composition metal of the same width and length is placed between the two pieces of gold, and after placing a few bits of hard gold solder between the plates the three are put into a furnace and kept at a very high heat by a charcoal fire and a hot air blast. The solder soon melts, and all three of the original pieces of metal are in one solid piece as seen in Figure 1.
This piece is passed between adjustable hard steel rollers, which are brought closer together by a set screw each time the plate has been passed through until it is reduced to a thin sheet less than 1-16 of an inch in thickness. Figure 2 represents a plate after having passed through several times. By this method all three of the original sheets are reduced proportionally equal so that neither all the gold nor the composition metal will be thicker in one place than another.
The next operation is to cut the plate into strips of such width as to accommodate the different parts of the case, which are to be stamped out by large rotary presses. The back, front and cap of the cases are stamped out in a circular plate as shown in Fig. 3, and the piece of the strip that is left represented by Fig. 4. Cuts are about one-third size.
By a single operation these round plates are forced into a steel die in a large rotary press which turns up the edges all round so as to give it a bowl shaped appearance, as shown in Fig. 5. In another operation the edges are turned down as shown in Fig. 6, which is called the snap.
The next step is to place the piece thus shaped into a sectional hard steel concave die. On the inside is operated with very heavy pressure a small hard steel polished roller (see Fig. 8. Which forces the metal into the die in all parts, which shapes the piece to conform to the style of case which is being made. If the case is to have corrugated edges, or Star vermicelli work, or heavy engraving, it is formed in this die. This operation also shapes the inside edges of the piece so as to form the snap as seen in Fig. 7.
The piece this shaped is put on the head of a lathe and the inside edge is turned out a little with a sharp tool to make it snap and fit perfectly on the center of the case. After this is done a rotary cutter propelled at high speed is run across the edge to cut the seat for the joint (hinge). Two pieces of gold joint wire about 3/8 of an inch in length (joint wire is made in sticks about 4 inches in length with a small hole running the entire length, and is cut into pieces of the required length with a saw), is placed in the seat cut by the tool and bound into place with fine wire. Some bits of fine hard gold solder are then laid over the crevice and the pieces are held in a gas jet which is stimulated by an air blast. The solder is melted and secures the joints, after which the binding wire is taken off. A piece of solid gold is soldered on in the same way on the edge of the back of case to form the thumb piece.
The center of the case is made by taking a strip of stock (prepared in the same way as described in the first part of this article) about of an inch wide and 7 inches long (see Fig. 9), which is bent in a circle and the ends soldered so as to form a band or ring a little over two inches in diameter. This piece is places in a sectional die (see Fig. 10), which is held securely in a very heavy frame. A small hard polished roller is rolled on the inside of the ring with very heavy pressure until the metal comes into contact with every part of the die. The inside of the die is made in the exact shape of the outside of center of case so that when the metal has been well pressed in, it is shaped complete as seen in Fig. 12. The rough edges on the inside are now turned out (on the lathe) to the standard size to fit the movement.
The seats for the joints are milled out and joints soldered on as described above, except that one piece of joint wire instead of two are put on. The pendant (see Fig. 13) is made by forcing a small piece of stock into a die. A small concave seat is cut in the center (Fig. 12) to receive it, and it is bound in place and soldered with gold solder.
The pendant bow (usually called the ring) is made of solid gold. The bezel (crystal ring) is made in much the same way as the center. All the joints (hinges) are now filed and broached so as to fit perfectly, the case springs are secured in their places and the different parts of the case are fitted together.
The next operation is to engrave the case, which is done by hand with a small tool about five inches in length (see Fig. 14) which is held as seen in Fig. 15. Engraving is very fine work and requires years of practice as well as a natural ability to master the art. After the engraving is done, the case is polished inside and out on cotton buff wheels from one to five inches in diameter, which run at the rate of about 3,000 revolutions a minute and are saturated with alcohol and red rouge (very fine powdered oxide of iron). The case is now washed carefully, put in a soft cotton bag, and is ready for the market.
As gold filled cases have become so popular in the last thirty years, and there is so little known by the general public of the relative proportions to the different materials that enter into their construction and the methods employed in making them, we feel it would be interesting to our customers and their friends to know more about such an important industry. With every line that we handle and list in our catalogue, we make ourselves thoroughly familiar as to the manner in which the goods are made, and the quality and proportion of each kind of material which enters into their construction. It is very necessary for us to do this in order to protect the interests of our customers, for their interests are our own. We employ men in each department who are thoroughly familiar with the construction of the goods they handle, know where to look for weak and strong points, and are thoroughly competent to judge and to protect the interests of both our customers and ourselves from being imposed upon by fraudulent concerns whose only object is to make up cheap, showy goods and market them to the unsuspecting public in competition with goods of real merit, which, if bought right, can even be owned for the same or even less than the shoddy goods. We can say without fear of contradiction that the average merchant does not employ competent people and even himself is not a practical man. Let us repeat that we leave nothing undone to thoroughly understand and know the merits of everything we sell.
There are at the present time eleven watch case factories in the United States, with a daily average of about 4,500 filled cases, or about 1,498,500 per year. Most of the watch case factories in operation at the present time are reputable makers who have been established a great many years, and have proven by the experience of over a quarter of a century that gold filled cases, when properly made, are not only theoretically, but practically, a success, and have given their owners entire satisfaction. We might say that is has been our good fortune and pleasure to have had the privilege of examining a great many gold filled cases which have been in constant use from 20 to 30 years, and, without exception, we found all of these which were made by reputable concerns to be in good condition and to all appearances to be equal to a solid gold case. (Of course, the joints were somewhat loose from wear, which is a natural consequence with any watch case.)Even thought the first gold filled cases were satisfactory as to wear and appearance, improve machinery and years of experience have made it possible to turn out cases at a very low price, which for style and appearance are far superior to a solid gold case and for wear are all that could be wished for. The following article, together with the accompanying illustrations, will give the reader a good general idea of how gold filled cases are made.
The first operation is to prepare a sheet of material which is composed of two sheets of gold with a plate of hard composition metal between. Instead of rolling all three plates out to the required thickness before soldering them together, which would be a very difficult operation and attended with unsatisfactory results, such as uneven thickness of the plates, not being soldered well together, etc. the material is made ready, as shown in Figure 1, by taking one piece of gold about 4 inches long and 2 inches wide, and another of the same length but thinner for the inside of the case, as there is no wear on the inside. Now, a hard piece of composition metal of the same width and length is placed between the two pieces of gold, and after placing a few bits of hard gold solder between the plates the three are put into a furnace and kept at a very high heat by a charcoal fire and a hot air blast. The solder soon melts, and all three of the original pieces of metal are in one solid piece as seen in Figure 1.
This piece is passed between adjustable hard steel rollers, which are brought closer together by a set screw each time the plate has been passed through until it is reduced to a thin sheet less than 1-16 of an inch in thickness. Figure 2 represents a plate after having passed through several times. By this method all three of the original sheets are reduced proportionally equal so that neither all the gold nor the composition metal will be thicker in one place than another.
The next operation is to cut the plate into strips of such width as to accommodate the different parts of the case, which are to be stamped out by large rotary presses. The back, front and cap of the cases are stamped out in a circular plate as shown in Fig. 3, and the piece of the strip that is left represented by Fig. 4. Cuts are about one-third size.
By a single operation these round plates are forced into a steel die in a large rotary press which turns up the edges all round so as to give it a bowl shaped appearance, as shown in Fig. 5. In another operation the edges are turned down as shown in Fig. 6, which is called the snap.
The next step is to place the piece thus shaped into a sectional hard steel concave die. On the inside is operated with very heavy pressure a small hard steel polished roller (see Fig. 8. Which forces the metal into the die in all parts, which shapes the piece to conform to the style of case which is being made. If the case is to have corrugated edges, or Star vermicelli work, or heavy engraving, it is formed in this die. This operation also shapes the inside edges of the piece so as to form the snap as seen in Fig. 7.
The piece this shaped is put on the head of a lathe and the inside edge is turned out a little with a sharp tool to make it snap and fit perfectly on the center of the case. After this is done a rotary cutter propelled at high speed is run across the edge to cut the seat for the joint (hinge). Two pieces of gold joint wire about 3/8 of an inch in length (joint wire is made in sticks about 4 inches in length with a small hole running the entire length, and is cut into pieces of the required length with a saw), is placed in the seat cut by the tool and bound into place with fine wire. Some bits of fine hard gold solder are then laid over the crevice and the pieces are held in a gas jet which is stimulated by an air blast. The solder is melted and secures the joints, after which the binding wire is taken off. A piece of solid gold is soldered on in the same way on the edge of the back of case to form the thumb piece.
The center of the case is made by taking a strip of stock (prepared in the same way as described in the first part of this article) about of an inch wide and 7 inches long (see Fig. 9), which is bent in a circle and the ends soldered so as to form a band or ring a little over two inches in diameter. This piece is places in a sectional die (see Fig. 10), which is held securely in a very heavy frame. A small hard polished roller is rolled on the inside of the ring with very heavy pressure until the metal comes into contact with every part of the die. The inside of the die is made in the exact shape of the outside of center of case so that when the metal has been well pressed in, it is shaped complete as seen in Fig. 12. The rough edges on the inside are now turned out (on the lathe) to the standard size to fit the movement.
The seats for the joints are milled out and joints soldered on as described above, except that one piece of joint wire instead of two are put on. The pendant (see Fig. 13) is made by forcing a small piece of stock into a die. A small concave seat is cut in the center (Fig. 12) to receive it, and it is bound in place and soldered with gold solder.
The pendant bow (usually called the ring) is made of solid gold. The bezel (crystal ring) is made in much the same way as the center. All the joints (hinges) are now filed and broached so as to fit perfectly, the case springs are secured in their places and the different parts of the case are fitted together.
The next operation is to engrave the case, which is done by hand with a small tool about five inches in length (see Fig. 14) which is held as seen in Fig. 15. Engraving is very fine work and requires years of practice as well as a natural ability to master the art. After the engraving is done, the case is polished inside and out on cotton buff wheels from one to five inches in diameter, which run at the rate of about 3,000 revolutions a minute and are saturated with alcohol and red rouge (very fine powdered oxide of iron). The case is now washed carefully, put in a soft cotton bag, and is ready for the market.
