Article May 30, 1901 Issue

Largest Watch in the World

Brooklyn Eagle

The largest watch in the world has just been finished by a watch manufacturing company of Boston. The mammoth timepiece was built for a watch company in Manhattan, which will place it in front of its Fulton Street store for advertising purposes. Work has been in progress for some time on the foundation, and it is expected that the watch will be in place and indicating the time of day in about a week. It is not an advertising watch in the sense that such instruments usually are, but it is a timepiece of the highest order. The works are equal to any that have ever been made, and the unusual size of them makes it possible to employ adjustments and error-correcting devices that could not be used in an ordinary watch. Besides the usual adjustments for heat and cold, etc., that are to be found in all good works, this watch contains adjustments for correcting astronomical variations and changes of cycles. In addition to this, the case is plated with 22-carat gold.

When placed upon its seven-foot pedestal the top of the timepiece will be fifteen feet above the sidewalk. To the pedestal will be affixed several long rods that will extend through the sidewalk, and will be bolted to the cellar foundation. The watch has no back, but is a double dial, so that time may be distinguished from both directions. At night the interior will be illuminated with electric lights, so that the dials can be seen at a distance of several blocks. The faces of the watch are more than four feet across. The watch, including the stem and ring, is about six feet high. The timepiece had to be made unusually thick in proportion to the diameter, as the lights inside could not be brought into close contact with the dials and works. But its thickness of two feet will not appear to be so great, as it is surmounted by an immense stem ten inches in diameter. The crystals are three feet in diameter, and will produce a telescopic effect to the distant observer, so that the hands can be readily distinguished for blocks away.

Several thousand dollars' worth of 22-carat gold will be used in the case, and this will stand upon the sidewalk night and day every day in the year. As the whole affair weighs two and a half tons, it is not feared that any one will carry it away surreptitiously. It has taken nearly a year to build the watch, and by the time it is placed the whole thing will have cost about $5,000.

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