Treatise on Clock and Watch Making

PREFACE.

The Article Horology, which I contributed to the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, abridged and imperfect as it is from the limits to which I was necessarily confined, attracted the attention, and met the approbation of several scientific and practical Clock and Watchmakers; and a separate publication, in a more extended form, was called for by some, whose opinions I am bound to respect.

Retired from the active pursuit of a profession, to which my whole life has been devoted, I have endeavoured to combine my own observations with those of the best practical writers, and to give the operative Clock and Watch maker a condensed view of the Art in Great Britain and on the Continent of Europe. I am sensible the work still labours under many defects, and that I require the indulgence of the Critical Reader; yet I am unconscious of omitting, or slightly passing over any subject of essential importance.

At the advanced age of Fourscore, I have now completed a work, which will, with all its imperfections, I am willing to believe, prove a useful vade mecum to the Mechanic, for whose use chiefly it was written, and who, I doubt not, will consider the solid information it may contain, of more value to him than the blandishments of a fine style; at the same time, it illustrates, by historical and biographical details, subjects which might otherwise prove dry and uninteresting to the young Artist.