I was introduced into the watch-maker's work-shops by M. Viande, one of the merchants of Geneva, a man of great humanity, and also of rare amiability of disposition and character. I could not have had a better guide, even with regard to the moral inquiries which I wished to make.
We began with the schools of pupils, where young girls learn, for a term of three years, to make every part of a watch. After this time, they select that particular part for which they have most inclination, or in the doing of which they are most expert. The perfected pupil may be sure, on leaving the school, of obtaining immediate employment amongst the watch-makers. Young girls from twelve to eighteen years of age appear very healthy and well cared for. Each one has her own little table and her own window-niche for her work.
The manufacture of pocket-watches is, at the present time, carried to a great extent at Geneva. An immense number are required for the Chinese market. A well-equipped China-man, I have been told, carries a watch on each side of his breast, that he may be able to regulate the one by the other. Wealthy Chinese cover the walls of their rooms with watches. These watches are of a more ornamental character, and have more filigree-work upon them, than those made for Europeans. Long live the Chinese!
At one of the greatest and best-conducted manufactories of Geneva, nothing but watch-faces are prepared, and elderly, well dressed, and well looking women, sat by twenties and thirties in clean, well-warmed rooms, working upon——watch-faces.
