quote:Originally posted by smd4:
The jewels were just that--small pieces of polished ruby. The jewels served as nearly frictionless surfaces for gear pivot points to rotate on. The more jewels--the thinking went--the better the watch quality.
Somewhat reminds me of the transistor radio craze of the late 1950s. The more transistors, the better the radio the public assumed. So you bought a 25 transistor radio. Only problem was 5 were working, the others weren't connected to anything and along for the advertising ride. Had a radio like that, took it apart and sure enough, only a few were active, the rest were stuffed in the board but their leads connected to themselves. But by golly, it was a 20 transitor radio!!
Of course I don't imagine watchmakers stuffed jewels in just for advertising.
