Gruen Time Magazine

A MESSAGE FROM MR. KATZ

 

In this, the first issue of our house organ, G-MEN, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the editors for their enterprise in launching this new venture. At the same time I should like to urge the entire personnel of the Gruen Watch Company to extend every cooperation to those responsible for this publication to assure its success and long life.

 

All  of us here at Time Hill are striving to achieve the same goal – the manufacture and sale of the finest watches that the finest watchmakers in the world know how to make, and the progress we have made in the last five years must be a great source of satisfaction to all of us.

 

I know that we are all anxious to continue this progress, and to that end all of us will continue to exert our best ability and experience and cooperate with each other. In this way every consumer and every jeweler in the United States will appreciate the fact that our watch offers the greatest dollar-for-dollar value in the industry from a standpoint of quality and style. It will also be realized that our main desire is to serve to the best of our ability both the consumer and the retail jeweler.

 

This magazine should be a splendid thing. It will show all of us exactly what the other fellow is doing to make Gruen Watch the superior product that it is. Understanding the problems of each other will enable us to cooperate with each other better than ever before for the benefit of the millions of wearers of Gruen Watches, and the thousands of authorized Gruen Jewelers.

 

It is my sincere belief that with the cooperation of the entire organization with the editors of G-MEN, it will increase in value to all of us and we will all anxiously await the appearance of each new issue.

 

WELCOME BACK, MR. KATZ!

 

Mr. Katz has spoken about everyone working with each other. He has always handled our production and has been the guiding genius between our European production and our factory. In spite of the unpleasantness of the situation he did not hesitate to make this trip to Europe because it was part of his job. In this same manner we expect everybody else to do his job. Our hats are off to the best Gruen worker, and we are glad to see him back.

 

WHY HAVE A HOUSE ORGAN?

 

 

G-MEN makes its bow to the employees of The Gruen Watch Company, The Gruen National Watch Case Company, The Gruen Watch Company of Canada, Ltd., and The Gruen Watch Manufacturing Company with this issue. Its purpose is to acquaint all the employees with general progress being made by the company as a whole and with various happenings in other portions of the plant that might otherwise escape notice. In other words, it is hoped that this publication will enable each employee to be informed about what is going on in each and every department.

 

Each month G-MEN will bring a message from some executive of the company, which should prove of value to you in your work. But the publication is designed for each individual. It is for that person that the editors solicit the cooperation of every member of the company and request that each of you submit material from time to time for YOUR magazine.

 

In inaugurating this house organ, we are doing nothing new. The idea was born in 1865 when the Travelers Protection, published by the Travelers, of Hartford, Conn., made its first appearance. It was so successful that other companies began to issue publications, and today almost a thousand of them are in existence. These include only publications which are distributed among salesmen, dealers, and retail salespeople, and prospective buyers of a product or service. The total is swelled to even greater dimensions when it includes publications issued solely for plant workers and employees.

 

By starting this magazine, we hope to add to your pleasure and to your knowledge of the business. We can merge these two goals, because instruction, properly presented, is in itself pleasurable.

 

From time to time in these pages you may read articles about phases of the business other than your own. In addition you will read about merchandising and advertising. Also, the policies of the company will be interpreted.

 

It is a generally accepted fact that the more a person learns about his work, the more he enjoys it. This is easy to understand. If a man is at all practical, his job is the most important thing in his life. By truly understanding his job and the jobs of others in his business he is able to take pride in his company’s achievements.

 

For that reason, we will in this publication endeavor to limit our comment to things which will help you learn more about the Gruen Watch Company and your relation to it. Undoubtedly you have noticed house organs of a different nature; ones which were filled with jokes and irrelevant comments about most everything except the business at hand. In the main, these are publications which suffer an early demise. A good house organ is one which is primarily for instruction and which leaves humor to the professional humorists.

 

This does not at all men that G-MEN will be a collection of sermons. As we explained in the first paragraph, this magazine is designed for pleasure and instruction.

 

To enable us to make this publication the finest one of its kind, please feel free to write us letters of suggestion and criticism in addition to ideas for articles.

 

WE’LL NEED YOUR HELP AND WE’LL PAY FOR IT!

 

 

Always anxious to improve its efficiency, the Gruen Watch Company offers a monthly prize of five dollars for the best suggestion sent in by any employee as to how his or her department can be improved.

 

G-MEN will appear on the fifteenth of each month and all copy must be in the hands of the editor by the first of the month. Send your letters with your suggestions to the editors right away! Announcement of the winner and his prize-winning idea will be printed each issue in this column.

 

Send your idea to Lee Allen, Advertising Dept. Certainly you must have some idea of a way in which your department can function better.

 

TABLOID FORM USED IN NEW GRUEN GUIDE

 

Presentation of the Gruen Watch Company’s Spring Graduation campaign has recently been made in the Gruen Guide, a neat tabloid newspaper, and has been mailed to all Gruen dealers. This 32-page newspaper also explains the various dealer help material which the Gruen Company is making available to its authorized distributors.

 

This season Gruen advertisements will reach a total of 102,750,000 readers, who will again be told “Gifts From Your Jeweler Are Gifts At Their Best.” This slogan, devised two years ago to direct the customer to the jewelry store as opposed to other outlets of the trade, has proved exceptionally effective.

 

New Gruen signs and displays have also been designed; and the newspaper mat service will again be available to authorized Gruen dealers, including special “booster” mats of individual watches.

 

COLLEGIATE CONTEST TO BE ANNUAL EVENT

 

So pleased were officials of the Gruen Watch Company with the success of the collegiate advertising contest that Mr. Teviah Sachs, Vice President, has announced that this contest will become an annual event with even more lucrative prizes to be offered.

 

Winner of the contest, just completed was Robert Roadstrum, a student of Wayne University, Detroit, Mich. He was presented with a $500 cash scholarship by Mr. S. C. Gershey, Midwest Sales Manager of the Gruen Company. A second prize, a $250 cash scholarship, went to Henry A. Shull, a student of Northwestern University, Evanston, III. Ten other students were awarded beautiful Veri-Thin watches as prize-winner in his class was given a handsome Curvex watch.

 

Contestants were asked to submit sketches of outdoor posters, advertising layouts for magazines, or ideas for radio programs for the Gruen Watch Company. Almost eight hundred students from eighty universities and colleges located in thirty-two states submitted their entries.

 

At the McCann-Erickson, Inc., art exhibit gallery, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City, these entries were posted for two weeks and studied by the jury. In addition they attracted the attention of hundreds of visitors.

 

The jury included Myron Everts, President of the National Retail Jewelers’ Association; Roy Dickinson, President of Printers’ Ink; Clay Morgan, Vice President of the National Broadcasting System; Don Hobart, Director of Research for the Curtis Publishing Company; Stanford Briggs and John J. McCarthy, Vice Presidents of McCann-Erickson, Inc.; and Howard Scott, who designed the outdoor poster used by the Gruen Watch Company during the last Christmas season.

 

Before the contest began, Mr. Sachs wrote letters to professors throughout the country asking their reaction to the staging of such a contest. Their replies were so favorable and enthusiastic that the contest was undertaken immediately.

 

Everything is done with thinking and reason. The purpose of sponsoring these contests each year is to plant in the minds of young men and women about to enter the business world a knowledge of Gruen and also a desire to own a Gruen watch.

 

SPEAKING OF SPORTS

 

The intra-mural bowling schedule of the Gruen employees continues merrily into its second half, and by April 15 the bowlers will lay their strikes and spares aside and call it a winter. As the following table shows, the Curvex team is leading the pack, with a two-game margin over the Veri-Thin boys. Phil Scheider leads the individual score with a game average of 184, and Al Benzinger is just a step behind with a 179 average.

 

Team	Won	Lost	Total Pins	Avg.
Curvex	43	26	54293	786
Veri-Thin	41	28	53826	780
Ristside	37	32	52542	761
Precision	35	34	52914	766
Comet	27	42	51741	749
Victor	25	44	51851	751

 

An oddity of the season is that Victor, in last place, holds the record for high team score of the season, rolling up natty 927 total. Individual high score was made by T. Reis, with a spectacular 256. That’s the stuff, Ted, we’ll enter you in the next National Bowling Congress.

 

Plans are now in formation for the Gruen Watch Company to enter a soft ball team in the Ohio Valley League. This group held a meeting this month and made definite plans for drawing up a schedule. However, the plan, as it is now constituted, is merely in its formative stage, and may undergo several changes before the teams actually take the field.

 

According to Fred J. Kramer, Secretary of the league, here are the present arrangements. Each Team is to be assessed ten dollars and each player is to be assessed two dollars. From this sum, $1.25 will be set aside for a stag party at the end of the season. The remainder of the fund will go to pay for prizes, which are numerous.

 

The winning team will be given a valuable trophy, and there will be other awards to the player having the highest batting average, the pitcher recording the most strikeouts, the leader in home runs, triples, doubles, base hits, and the pitcher allowing the fewest walks. The latter award is doubtless made in order that people may leave the park before dawn. All prizes will consist of merchandise selected by the league officers. The officers will consist of three executives from different companies represented in the league.

 

The schedule is to consist of fourteen games, all twilight affairs. The approximate cost to each sponsor will be around fifty dollars, including balls, scorers, umpires, and diamond fees. It is recalled that last season, under Manager Al Benzinger, the Gruen entry finished fourth in an eight-club league. This season Benzinger will probably be at the helm again, and he is now occupied in selecting a roster. Bill McKechnie piloted the Reds from the cellar to a pennant in two years, so all Al has to do is to bring us up from fourth!

 

Assuming that the members of the Gruen plant are normal Cincinnati citizens and therefore rabid about the Cincinnati Reds, this column will monthly run data on the fortunes of Bill McKechnie’s lads.

 

The Reds are about ready to leave their Tampa proving grounds and start the northward trek that will prepare them for the curtain-raiser against Gabby Hartnett’s Chicago Cubs on April 16.

 

The Reds are anxious to win the pennant again this season and thus become the first National League team to cop the bunting twice in succession since the New York Giants turned the trick in 1936 and ’37.

AN EXECUTIVE HAS PRACTICALLY NOTHING TO DO

 

… That is … Except

 

To decide what is to be done … to tell somebody to do it … to listen to reasons why it should not be done … why it should be done by somebody else … or why it should be done in a different way … to prepare arguments in rebuttal that shall be convincing and conclusive. To follow up to see if the thing has been done … to discover that it has not been done … to inquire why it has not been done … to listen to excuses from the person who should have done it … and did not do it … to follow up a second time to see if the thing has been done … to discover. That it has been done but done incorrectly … to point out how it should have been done … to conclude that as long as it has been done … it may as well be left as it is. To wonder if it is not time to get rid of a person who cannot do a thing correctly … to reflect that the person in fault has a wife and seven children … that certainly. No other executive in the world would put up with him for another moment. And that … in all probability … any successor would be just as bad … and probably worse … to consider how much simpler and better the thing would have been had he done it himself … he would have been able to do it right. In twenty minutes … but that as things turned out … he himself spent two days trying to find out why it was that it had taken somebody else three weeks to do it wrong … and then realized that such an idea would strike at the very foundation of belief of all employees that …

 

AN EXECUTIVE HAS NOTHING TO DO

 

LOOK WHO’S HERE

 

Each month in this column we will list the visitors who from time to time drop in on us here at Time Hill.

 

This month Mr. R. Hinz and Mr. R. Hoppe, both of whom are connected with the Service Department of the Elgin National Watch Company, came to Time Hill to make a study of our methods to see if there is any way they could improve their own Service Department. They had conferences with Mr. Sachs, Mr. Wessels, and Mr. Masters, after which Mr. Masters showed them through our plant.

 

Mr. Archie Starcher, representative of Dector’s, well-known retail jeweler in far-away Honolulu, Hawaii, was a recent guest at Time Hill. Mr. Starcher annually visits the United States to go through the plants which supply his store.

 

GRUEN GIRL PROMOTION OVER

 

After being exhibited in window displays and newspaper advertisements by more than three hundred stores throughout the country, the Gruen Girl promotion has been completed. This promotion featured a dress sponsored by the Gruen Watch Company, one of six clients who took part in the campaign. The Gruen Girl was featured in a full-page advertisement in YOU on February 15.

 

WELL, LOOK AT THIS!

 

Each month the Gruen Watch Company will award a baseball, autographed by some prominent member of the Cincinnati Reds, autograph to be decided by the winner, to the person submitting the best article to G-MEN. Each issue will contain the name of the person who submitted the best article, and the article, during the past month.

 

This offer is being made to inspire everyone at Time Hill to send in material for G-MEN, and after the baseball season is over, some other prize will be awarded in place of an autographed ball.

TIME HILL TOPICS

 

The Gruen Watch Company has been named as one of the companies winning prizes for designing the year’s best packages in the 1939 All-America Package Competition, in an article appearing in Modern Packaging Magazine this month.

 

The award will be presented at a dinner in the Waldorf-Astoria, on March 27^th. Mr. Harry Goldstein, Eastern Sales Manager, will accept the award. Sixty prize-winning packages were selected from more than 30,000 entries. The contest was limited to packages put on the market in 1939.

 

It was the moulded package for the Gruen Curvex that won the prize winning award.

 

Latest addition to the sales force of the Gruen Company is Si Mosesohn, serving in New York State. A native of Rochester, Mr. Mosesohn has spent the past eleven years with the Germanow-Simon Company, and in that connection traveled throughout the entire country as their representative.

 

Robbers who smashed the store window of Marcus & Goldner, Nashville, Tennessee, retail jewelers, demonstrated that they knew quality when they saw it. Although timepieces of many makes were displayed there, the robbers confined their loot to eight handsome GRUENS. Later the watches were recovered.

 

Mr. Tom Jeary has just returned from a visit to Toronto, where he audited the books of the Gruen Watch Company of Canada, Ltd., of which he is auditor.

ODD INCIDENT INVOLVES GRUEN WATCH

 

Frank T. Garrett, Cincinnati Gruen jeweler whose store is at 504 Broadway, had an odd experience this month when a customer, Brice Hendrixson, of Batavia, Ohio, brought in a Gruen watch for repair.

 

Garrett noticed that the watch was engraved with the name, “Thomas Lee”. “That’s odd,” he told Hendrixon. “I knew a ‘Thomas Lee’ years ago in France, during the first World War. In fact, I was working on a sterilizing machine in a hospital at Le Mans, France, when Lee died. His leg had just been amputated and a hospital sergeant handed me the leg to burn in the sterilizer. I wonder if this could be the same fellow.”

 

“It’s the same guy,” Hendrixon replied, “in fact, I’m the hospital sergeant who handed you the leg. Lee and I were old buddies. Five minutes after the amputation, he knew he was going to die and gave me the watch, his most cherished possession. I’ve kept it ever since.”

 

This strange meeting between Garrett and Hendrixson was the start of a friendship that might have begun more than twenty years before.

GRUEN EFFECTS TIE-UP WITH ANOTHER AIR LINE

 

Arrangements have been completed by Mr. Teviah Sachs, Vice-President, and Mr. George E. Bounds, Advertising Manager of the Chicago and Southern Air Lines, Inc., so that Gruen will become an official timepiece of that line. Each hostess will wear a professional Veri-Thin watch with a sweep second hand, and Gruen will be advertised in the passenger kits supplied to each traveler.

 

Gruen watches are now the official timepieces of three important air lines, the other two being the Canadian Colonial Air Lines and the Continental Air Lines.

 

Watch the April issue of G-MEN for more articles about you and your job. The April issue will contain a message from Mr. Teviah Sachs, an article on Social Security, and one on Hospitalization. And don’t forget! Any article submitted by a Gruen employee will be appreciated.

HOW WATCHES ARE NAMED

By

J.E. WESSELS,

Assistant Sales Manager

 

 

Watches are not named haphazardly, but each model is presented with its name after much deliberation. There is as much care taken with the naming of watches as there is with the naming of thoroughbred race horses.

 

The first obstacle to overcome in naming a watch is to avoid using the same designation that other watch companies have used. There is, naturally, a great deal of duplication, but recently there has been a gentleman’s agreement to avoid using any name that has previously been used by another firm, with the result that the situation has been greatly improved.

 

There is a close relationship between the name and the price of a watch. It would obviously be ridiculous to design a fine diamond watch and then name it the Clipper, just as it would be equally ridiculous to name out cheapest model the Maharajah.

 

There is also a relationship between the name and the style of a watch. For example, in naming our Veri-Thin watches, we tried to select names that typified slimness and grace. Notable examples are the Arrow, the Comet, the Mercury, and the Wisp.

 

The Curvex line has been named with an eye to regal things, so they carry such names as the Countess, the Duchess, the Duke, and the Emperor.

 

Another factor is the fact that since watches are a quality product, their names should suggest smartness. That accounts for names such as the Moderne, the Biltmore, the Rhapsody, and the New Yorker.

 

Many of our most expensive diamond platinum watches are named after famous resorts, such as the Lido, the Biarritz, the Moritz, and the Naragansett.

 

Watch companies are always alert to names prominent in the news, which give them additional names for the models. This has often had amusing results, as companies have raced to obtain title to a name.

 

Some companies prefer not to name their watches, and designate them merely by numbers. But an appropriate name for a watch is more easily remembered by both customers and jewelers.

WE’RE IN BUSINESS FOR YOUR WEALTH!

 

We’re running a business, not a picnic. But basic to that business is a realization, here at Gruen, that the more we help you prosper, the more we’ll prosper ourselves. The more Gruen watches you can sell at a profit … the more Gruen watches we can sell here at Time Hill. That’s why we offer such a stack of fine, pre-tested dealer sales helps … and why we urge you now to use ‘em all! Go ahead … hurry up and get rich selling Gruens. We’re all for you! The Gruen Watch Company, Time Hill. Cincinnati, Ohio. In Canada, Toronto, Ont.

OBJECTIVES, AND HOW WE ACHIEVE THEM

By TEVIAH SACHS, VICE PRESIDENT

 

It is a generally acknowledged axiom of the business world that the retailer can, in most instances, sell any product that he desires to sell. For that reason our chief job here is to arouse the desire of our dealers to sell Gruen watches as their preference. And the best way in which we can create such a desire is by giving the dealer a good reason why he should sell Gruen watches.

 

First of all there are our salesmen who solicit the orders. Their job is to faithfully interpret the policy of the Gruen Watch Company so that the jeweler will feel and say, “Gruen is a nice firm to do business with.” We insist on this good representation at the point of contact.

 

After the salesman has taken the order, the maintenance of our policy rests with people the customer never sees; that is, all of who work at Time Hill. We make “the finest watches that the finest watchmakers in the world know how to make.” From their inception they are designed to give maximum service to the ultimate consumer. Long life, accuracy, quality, and styling are the chief considerations.

 

From the time the movements arrive here, they get preferred attention. Even the custom house employees are aware of our good reputation, because we are as considerate of them as we are of our dealers. After the movements arrive here, each one who unpacks the boxes or keeps the reserve shelf clean is doing his part to further our reputation.

 

Visitors at Time Hill have often remarked that “it is a nice inside as it is beautiful outside.” I believe that this should be stated the other way around, “as beautiful outside as it is nice inside.”

 

We are all familiar with the routine in filling orders and how all the departments cooperate to insure efficiency. The credit department approaches the dealer with the same consideration as does the salesman. The Case Company also adds its effort to establish our prestige. And the service department is the pride of the plant. Customers have often remarked on how much better they are treated by our service department than by similar departments of other firms. The advertising department has also been most cooperative. Those engaged in tagging, boxing, shipping, and packaging all aid the production too.

 

As a result of all this, it is possible for us to supply maximum quality even when there is a large flow of business. New movements, new designs in cases, and new advertising methods have all merited the approval that the industry has not been slow to grant us.

 

After all, my experience here is short, and at first it was difficult. Each year since 1935 I can see our product has gained more favor in the jewelry store, and now we possess a favored spot in these stores because of our policy. Gruen is now by far the leader in the popular priced field with retail watch salesmen, and everyone at Time Hill contributes to this.

 

The responsibility for the direction of our affairs rests, of course, with a few, but it is cooperation of all that has enabled us to flourish.

 

We have no time for shirkers or trouble-makers. We have one end to accomplish, and we will not let anything interfere with that end. The inefficient ones have been eliminated and we will make every effort to keep the maximum of efficiency. Every one of us is on a probationary period the first six months he is here, and we will wait that length of time to pass judgment. Those people we do not want, certainly you do not want, and we will not have.

 

Thus, as we increase our competence, we hope that our friends, our neighbors, and all of us here will hold for the Gruen Watch Company the same esteem in which the jeweler regards us.

 

In conclusion, each one of us, no matter what job we do, plays an important part in making Gruen the outstanding watch in the industry. It has been shown how we have secured that reputation with everyone with whom we have come in contact. So, as long as we remember that what we do is a factor in perfecting our entire policy, we shall be assured of even improving our record in the future. The events of the past years have indeed been heartening, but we are not standing still, and in the years to come we must make an even more admirable record.

DO YOU WANT TO WIN A CURVEX?

 

G-MEN is only a tentative title for our house organ. The consensus of opinion is that a much more suitable name could be found. For that reason we are offering a handsome Curvex, either a man’s or lady’s style as the winner prefers, to the person who submits the best name for our house organ. Even if the name submitted is not used, we will still award the Curvex to the best name an employee submits before the next issue.

 

Just drop a piece of paper with the little you like best into one of the three suggestion boxes that we have placed here at Time Hill; one at each time clock.

 

Please submit your titles just as soon as possible, so that the next issue of the house organ can bear its new title and so that your Curvex may be awarded promptly.

OUR OFFER STILL STANDS

 

We have a nice shiny batch of National League baseballs autographed by prominent members of the Cincinnati Reds for the best articles submitted to G-MEN by Gruen employees each month. So far we have not received any contributions. But now that there is suggestion box placed at each time clock it will be easy for everyone to get his article to our attention. Employees who are not located at Time Hill should send their articles of interest to Lee Allen, Editor of G-MEN, here at Time Hill.

WE’VE GOT YOUR HELP AND WE PAID FOR IT

 

 

$5 goes to Ed Heckerman, of the Order Department, for the best suggestion submitted to G-MEN this month. Here is Mr. Heckerman’s suggestion: “In order to help the advertisement of our watches, it might give people a chance to get better acquainted with the names of our models if the name of each model was included on the price marker.”

 

There are several drawbacks to Mr. Heckerman’s suggestion. We are trying to impress the consumer with the name GRUEN first of all, and then impress them with the CURVEX and VERI-THIN lines. The names of individual models often change. Sometimes a watch in one price bracket will bear a name that formerly was a watch in another price bracket. To enable the consumer to learn all the names of our models would be virtually impossible.

 

However, Mr. Heckerman’s suggestion was the best one of the month. Don’t forget. $5 will be awarded each month to the best suggestion as to how your department can be made more efficient. Just drop your ideas into any of the three suggestion boxes at Time Hill.

 “THIS MODERN EDUCATION”

 

When the students from the Greenhills Public School were being taken through the plant this month by Ed Brunst, Jr., the latter paused in front of the clock in the main lobby and said, “Now see. It is just ten o’clock. That means that it is only seven o’clock on the Pacific Coast and people are just getting up.” “Not my uncle,” piped up one of the children, “He’s a night owl.”

 

Just what reply Mr. Brunst was able to make has not been revealed, but we assume he was momentarily stymied.

HOW SOCIAL SECURITY HELPS YOU

By FRED DIXON, Ass’t Credit Manager

 

The Social Security Act of 1935 grew out of the changes and complexities in the modern way of life. For the most part the kind of protection offered under the plan is accepted as a necessary desirable function of the government by most of our people. It is now believed that security for the great bulk of the people can no longer be a homemade product. The entire resources of the country are now called upon to provide some measure of protection for the millions of people who are unable to meet the burdens of unemployment, physical disability, or the lack of earning power of old age.

 

Several parts of the Act deal with groups of people whose troubles we have recognized for many years. These provisions consider the people who are too young, too old, too ill, or too physically handicapped. Other provisions recognize the risk of sickness and provide aid to the states to help them give service for the health of mothers and children and to strengthen and extend public health services. It provides, in cooperation with the states, unemployment compensation as a protection to workers who find their means of livelihood gone in times of economic depression. The money for these purposes comes from taxes paid by both employer and employee. The rate paid by each is based on wages earned up to $3,000 for each employee, one per cent through 1942, two per cent from 1943 to 1946, and three per cent thereafter.

 

The new forms of protection and probably the most important for the great bulk of us are the old age and survivors benefits which became available on the first of the year. Monthly old age benefits are now being paid to insured wage earners after they reach the age of 65 and stop work, to their wives at the same age, and to their young children. Similar monthly payments are provided for the young children, widows, or dependents of qualified workers who die either before or after retirement age. Revisions of the plan made on January 1, 1940 provide that a worker is entitled to monthly benefits for the rest of his life after he reaches the age of 65, provided he has been employed in a covered occupation for one-half of the calendar quarters which have elapsed since January 1, 1937, up to the date of his retirement. He must have earned a minimum of $50 in any one calendar quarter to be counted as covered employment, and to be fully insured he must have a minimum of six quarters of coverage. After a worker has forty quarters of coverage, he is fully insured for life, regardless of whether he is engaged in covered employment thereafter.

 

In order to be eligible for monthly benefits a wage earner must meet four requirements: (a) He must be at least 65 years old, (b) He must file an application at the nearest Social Security office for benefits, (c) He must be fully insured, as previously outlined, and (d) He must stop work in any employment covered by the plan under which he would earn $15 or more monthly.

 

In addition, a worker’s wife is also entitled to benefits when she becomes 65. These are equal to one-half the wage earner’s own benefits. Children are also entitled to benefits equal to one – they are 16, or 18 if they remain in half the father’s benefit up to the time school.

 

There are maximum and minimum standards governing the amount of income which may be received by any one family. The total of all monthly benefits payable with respect to an individual worker’s wage may not exceed (a) $85, (b) Twice the wage earner’s primary benefit, or (c) 80% of the wage earner’s average monthly wage. Of these three figures, whichever amount is smallest will be taken.

 

These upper limits do not apply to benefits totaling $20 or less, nor do they operate to reduce the benefits below $20. The minimum monthly benefit which will be paid to any wage earner will not be less than $10 a month. The minimum monthly benefit payable to a wage earner of 65 will be $15, plus $5 for each child up to the age of 16, or 18 if such children remain in school.

 

PART II

 

The important insurance feature of the Social Security Plan for younger wage earners is the benefits available upon their death to their widows having dependent children. A widow of a fully insured wage earner, regardless of her age, is entitled to monthly benefits beginning immediately upon the death of the wage earner provided she has in her care children under the ages of 16, or 18 if they are in school. Her benefits are figured on the basis of three-fourths of the benefit to which the wage earner himself would be entitled as of the date of his death. Each dependent child of such a wage earner would also be entitled to monthly benefits equal to one-half of the wage earner’s primary benefits and such monthly payments benefits and such monthly payments would be available until the children reached the age of 16, or 18 if they remain in school. Survivor’s benefits are also available under certain conditions to aged parents for whom the deceased wage earner has been the sole support. Monthly benefits to a widow under the age of 65 cease when her dependent children reach the age of 16 or 18. However, the widow is again entitled to monthly benefits when she reaches the age of 65, provided she has not in the meantime re-married.

 

Survivor’s benefits are of considerable importance from now on to all wage earners in covered employment. They and their families should understand the plan in order that they may properly file their claims and take advantage of the protection when circumstances entitle them to do so.

 

Should a wage earner die before reaching the age of 65, leaving a widow or dependent parents with no minor children, such a widow or dependent parents, are entitled to a lump sum payment equivalent to six times the monthly primary benefits to which the wage earner would be entitled at the time of his death. In the event that the deceased wage earner leaves no surviving widow, minor children, or dependent parents, whoever pays the burial expenses may be repaid under the plan up to an amount equal to six times the worker’s primary benefit upon presentation of evidence that such expenses have been incurred.

 

Mr. Dixon will conclude his article on Social Security in next issue.

SPEAKING OF SPORTS

 

Al Benzinger, manager of the Gruen entry in the Ohio Valley Softball League, has devised a plan whereby he will kill two birds with one stone. Instead of playing a league game one night and holding a practice session the next, as was the custom last summer, Al has arranged for an entrance into two leagues, thus improving the quantity if not the quality of Time Hill softball.

 

The Mt. Auburn Civic League has admitted the Gruen team to its ranks, with games to be played Wednesday of one week and Friday of the following week, this program to continue all season. All games in the Mt. Auburn Civic League will get under way at 6:30 at Deer Creek No. 3. The Ohio Valley League games will be played each Thursday.

 

Al has worked hard in order to line up an appropriate schedule for our softballers and deserves a great deal of credit. It is hoped that increasing the number of games will also increase the interest shown by the players.

 

With only one more round remaining in the intra-mural bowling tournament, the Curvex team still leads the Veri-Thin aggregation. But their slender lead has now been whittled down to one full game, as the following standings will show:

 

Team	Won	Lost	Total Pins	Average
Curvex	53	34	66305	789
Veri-Thin	52	35	66157	787
Precision	45	42	64767	771
Ristside	43	44	64600	769
Victor	35	52	63747	758
Comet	34	53	63025	750

 

The Gruen bowling team traveled to Toledo last week to compete in the annual tournament of the Ohio State Bowling Association. Manager Al Benzinger, Fred Ebel, Frank Fellens, Oval Payne, and Joe Fellens made up the squad, and Al Swift went along as sort of an advisor and chaperone. The five men accounted for a total of 2685 pins, not a bad record when it is considered that the bowling was done on unfamiliar aleys.

 

High score was made by Joe Fellens, who tallied a nifty 211 in his second game, while Al Benzinger scored a neat 203 in his first encounter. These were the only boys able to top 200.

 

The opening game at Crosley Field, Tuesday, was the most satisfactory opening game from a Cincinnati point of view since 1932, when the Reds also defeated the Cubs. The jammed grandstand testified once again that Cincinnati is indeed the best baseball city in the nation. Up in Boston the Bees took the field and were greeted by 3,500 fans, which is hardly a multitude.

 

Throughout the major leagues it was a great day for baseball’s great pitchers. Paul Derringer, classiest moundsman in the National League, demonstrated once more his superiority over the Cubs; Lefty Grove, who is getting to be almost legendary, came up with a two-hitter; and Bob Feller, most sensational of baseball’s hurlers, achieved immortality with his no-hitter. It was a well-deserved victory for Rapid Robert, who held his foes to a single hit on three previous occasions.

COAST JEWELER FEATURES GRUEN

 

John J. McCarthy, Vice-President of McCann-Erickson, Inc., was a visitor to Time Hill recently to discuss advertising plans for the Fall with Mr. Katz and Mr. Sachs, Mr. McCarthy, who is well known to many of you here, makes his office in New York.

 

Gruen watches are to be presented again this year to winners in the annual All-American Soap Box Derby, sponsored by the Chicago Herald-American.

WATCH FOR THESE ADS

 

Five advertisements which will appear in national magazines have been scheduled by the Gruen Watch Company for May. Watch for them on the newsstands. The complete list follows:

 

Saturday Evening Post, May 4 (on newsstands May 1)

 

Esquire (June issue ­­– on newsstands May 15)

 

Saturday Evening Post, May 25 (on newsstands May 22)

 

Liberty, June 1 (on newsstands May 22)

 

Life, June 3 (on newsstands May 31)

LOOK WHO’S HERE

 

 

Each month in this column we will list the visitors who from time to time drop in on us here at Time Hill.

 

Dr. Kinwald of the Lorenz Diamond Co., Santa Ana, California, was here on March 13 to purchase his “bill of goods” for his new store, the Mayor Jewelry Company of Burbank, California.

 

On March 28 a group of 50 children from the Greenhills Public School were at Time Hill and were escorted through the plant.

 

Mr. Stan Smith, our customer from Mankato, Minnesota, was at Time Hill on March 19 to see the plant and confer with the Sales and Credit Department.

 

Mr. Frank Demmer, who was formerly employed here in our service department and who is a brother of Hans Demmer, who is now in the same department, stopped here for a visit last week and told us he is going into business for himself at Dayton, Ohio. I’m sure his host of friends here wish him well in his new venture. He just been appointed an authorized Gruen dealer.

TABLE TENNIS TOURNAMENT NOW BEING HELD

 

 

Employees are cordially urged to enter the ping pong tournament, which is to be staged at the latter part of this week. All matches will be played at the lunchroom in the third floor.

 

Suitable prizes will be awarded in both singles and doubles, and there is still time to file your entry. This is the first tournament of its kind to be held here, and if it proves popular, as is expected, it will be duplicated later in the year. Record your entry with either George Gruen, Jr., Ed Brunst, Jr., or Albert Benzinger.

SEE TIME HILL WITH US

 

 

We’re proud of our plant, and we want you to be. If you have any friends or relatives who would like to see Time Hill, bring them around and we’ll be glad to escort them through the plant. Or if your work prevents you from seeing the plant in action, we’ll see that you are taken on a tour too.

 

Our sales representative, Mr. Tom Nacol, visited Time Hill for a few days this month and has now resumed his travels in Kentucky and Tennessee. Mr. Irving Urdang, our material representative, was also here for a day or so before making the long trek to the Pacific Coast.

 

In the G-MEN for May there will be an article on hospitalization, as well as the concluding article by Mr. Fred Dixon on Social Security.

AGAIN GRUEN LEADS THE FIELD

 

The April issue of Jewelers-Circular Keystone devotes an entire page to the collegiate advertising contest the Gruen Watch Company recently sponsored, with pictures. Reprints have been made of this and have been mailed out to the students and professors throughout the country and to the trade.

MAP FOR VISITORS

 

 

The Gruen Watch Company has prepared a map of Cincinnati, showing the chief items of interest throughout the city items of interest throughout the city, which is available to all visitors at Time Hill. Included in it is a belief history of the Gruen Watch Company.

MEET HENRI THIEBAUD

Director General, Gruen Watch Mfg. Co., Biel, Switzerland

 

 

Henri Thiebaud, in charge of production at the Gruen Watch Company plant at Biel, Switzerland, is internationally famed as the inventor of the Curvex and Veri-Thin, but he exhibited his genius in many other ways since his birth on September 18, 1906, at Saint Imier.

 

Descended from an old and distinguished watch family, his grandfather was manager of the watch factory Courvoisier, supplier of the Russian imperial court, and his father was foreman at the Longines watch factory, after which he was associated with his two brothers in the manufacture of timepieces, Thiebaud was educated at Chaux-de-fonds, and later at the Cantonal Tecknikum. He left with a diploma of technician and as possessor of first prize at the Observatory of Neuchatel. In his youth he was a great athlete and was Swiss champion in the cross-country run, an honor he achieved during the international Boy Scout jamboree at Berne in 1925.

 

In 1926 he was called for military service with the aviators and served as a flyer at Deubendorf. An injury received when his plane crashed, causing a lesion of the lung, finished his military career.

 

The next year he started in the watch industry as head of a technical office, and at that time constructed the first baguette movement for serial production. Following that triumph, he invented the first odd-shaped movement with an automatic winding system and then set to work on the Curvex movement which was to bring him widespread recognition.

 

Thiebaud was also a member of the managing committee of the federal camp for unemployed watchmakers at Berne and was charged by that body to make the opening speech at the inauguration of the camp.

 

When the Gruen Watch Company held its sales conference here in January, 1938, Thiebaud was in attendance and was interviewed by the American press. His genius has contributed to the Gruen Watch Company taking its place as the leader of the industry, and it is his untiring efforts that have helped the company to retain that place. He is married and has one child, a daughter, Francine.

 “GRUEN TIME” IS OUR NEW TITLE

 

“Gruen Time” has been selected as the permanent title of our house organ, and starting with the July issue that name will appear on the cover. This title was one of one hundred and eleven titles that were submitted in the recent title contest.

 

Frank DeNoma, Billing Department, is the man who suggested the name, “Gruen Time”, and he is to be presented with a handsome Gruen Curvex, as specified by the rules of the contest. Four persons submitted the name, “Gruen Times”, but Mr. DeNoma was the only one to choose the name that was selected.

 

Of the other titles, the most popular was “Watchword,” which was sent in by ten different people. Almost as popular were such titles as “Minute Men,” “Time Hill Topics,” and “GrueNews.”

AUTOGRAPHED BALLS AWARDED

 

Baseballs autographed by prominent members of the Cincinnati Reds, have been awarded to Fred Dixon, Assistant Credit Manager, and to Ed Schad, Traffic Manager. Mr. Dixon’s article on Social Security brought him the prize, and Mr. Schad’s description of the meanderings of the Gruen ‘Round the World Clock, printed in this issue, won the award for him. Each month a similar ball will be given to the person submitting the best article for publication.

GRUEN CLOCK HERE AFTER LONG VOYAGE

By ED SCHAD, Traffic Manager

 

A Gruen clock, designed to tell time ‘round the world, is back at Time Hill after an unscheduled trip half-way ‘round the globe itself. Here’s the story: On April 4, 1938 this clock, which had just been imported from Europe, was shipped to Vice-President Teviah Sachs at our New York office. Several days passed and the shipment had not been delivered. After carefully tracing this shipment, the Express Co. reported it had evidently been stolen from the delivery truck in New York. A settlement was made with the insurance company, and another clock ordered in its stead. Early in April, 1940 two years later, word was received from our Chicago office that a shipment containing a clock had been received by a representative of the Standard Oil Co., of Wilmette, Illinois. Contact was made with that organization and the clock was returned to us.

 

Here is what had happened. Our shipment was inadvertently placed with a group of shipments to be exported to Calcutta, India. It eventually arrived there after an ocean voyage of thousands of miles, and was placed in storage. When the crate was finally opened, the mistake was discovered and it was routed back to New York, and then to Wilmette.

 

Both the outer crate and the clock itself were found to be in perfect working order, a real tribute to the manner in which our shipments are prepared. The mileage covered by this shipment was approximately 17,000 miles.

AIR STEWARDESSES GET GRUENS

 

Fourteen air stewardesses of the Chicago & Sothern Air Line, Inc., fresh from a seven-week training period, were presented with Gruen Professional wristwatches, at a banquet in the Hawaiian Room of the Roosevelt Hotel, New Orleans, on April 28. The Chicago & Southern selected Gruen as the official timepiece of their line.

 

The picture accompanying this article shows the girls receiving their Gruens, as Carlton Putnam, President of Chicago & Southern, presents the girls with their official wings, the equivalent of a diploma.

 

This presentation was made as the Chicago & Southern launched a new service, with six new Douglas DC-3 planes operating from Chicago through Memphis; Jackson, Miss., and New Orleans. Gruen clocks are to be installed in all airports along the route, Gruen is prominently mentioned in all passenger kits, and window cards, suitable for display in airports and hotel reservation booths have been designed.

SPEAKING OF SPORTS

 

Gruen’s softball team has yet to win a game in either the Ohio Valley League or the Mt. Auburn circuit, and Manager Al Benzinger is firing his charges in an effort to crash into the win column. All the games, however, have been lost by respectable scores, and there is every indication that better things are in store for the Gruen lads, as they are beginning to work together smoothly.

 

In their inaugural contest against the Public Library, the enemy was victor by a 7 to 4 count, thus proving that the lads from the library have been reading instructive books. Then the Andrew Jergens club defeated Gruen, 6 to 4. Both these tilts were Ohio Valley affairs. In the Mt. Auburn league Gruen dropped its initial effort, 8 to 5, to the Highland Bar.

 

Because of the difficulty in getting off on the right foot, Manager Benzinger may shake-up the line-up, but here is the way the team shapes up at present. Irvin Riesz and Ray Schad have been doing the pitching, and their slants have been received by Harry Borntrager. The infield is composed of Bill Nash at first, Earl Harden at second, Ed Brunst, Jr., at short and Ed Reno at third. Ted Schad, Frank Schneider, and William Buck have been patrolling the pastures.

 

After doing yeoman service for so many years, Manager Benzinger has announced his voluntary retirement as an active player, and this year he is strictly a bench manager. Al agrees with Babe Ruth and all the other players who have been shunted to the sidelines by Old Man Time that “it’s the legs that are the first to go.” The batting eye may remain keen but is useless without cooperation from the underpinnings.

 

Plenty of opportunity is offered the boys to start a winning streak, as many games remain on the docket for May and June. The Mt. Auburn League is made up of four clubs, including Gruen, the Cavalons, Highland Bar, and Murray Drugs.

 

The Ohio Valley loop consists of eight clubs: Gruen, Central Carton, C.L. Downey, Andrew Jergens, Lockwood Mfg. Co., Public Library, Wholesale Meats, and White Swan Products. Games are played at Deer Creek, Coy Field, and Terminal Field.

 

The table tennis tournament is entering the quarter-final round, with Willis Moore, Roy Proctor, Ray Shad, and Harry Borntrager being the standouts thus far. However, many of the matches in the early brackets have not yet been completed, which slows down the field. By the end of this week, however, the round of sixteen should be run off. Results of play are posted on the tournament drawing in the lunch room.

 

President Benjamin S. Katz is presenting the winner of the tournament with a handsome silver trophy.

GRUEN ADS WIN EASTMAN AWARD

 

Two advertisements by the Gruen Watch Company which have recently been featured in national magazines have been chosen by the Eastman Kodak Company as among the best photographs of the year to be made of Eastman films. These advertisements will be exhibited at the annual convention of the National Association of Photographers convention at the Stevens Hotel, Chicago, during the third week of August.

 

The advertisements of the Gruen Company which won the honor were used in LIFE, THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, VOGUE, and YOU magazines. All the ads appeared during April and May. These advertisements, bearing the caption, “You’re looking at Two Miracles of Watchmaking” featured the Curvex and Veri-Thin models of our line.

 

After the National Association of Photographers’ convention is completed, it is customary for the Eastman Company to take the photographs that they have had on display and exhibit them in their retail stores throughout the country.

LOOK WHO’S HERE

 

On May 1 a group of twenty-eight boys and girls from the Junior and Senior classes of Palestine High School, Palestine High School, Palestine, Ohio, visited Time Hill and were escorted through the plant.

 

The Centennial edition of the Cincinnati Times-Star, published on April 25, carried a history of the Gruen Watch Company and other watch manufacturing concerns that have flourished in the city during the past century.

 

While traveling through his territory, our sales representative, Lou Herman, met with an automobile accident on April 16 in Coffeyville, Kansas. He is now recuperating after spending a few weeks in a hospital at Oklahoma City.

 

Tom Nacol, sales representative, visited Time Hill for a few days last week, and then left for Nashville, Tennessee.

 

Gruen Curvex and Veri-Thin watches are featured in the display of the James Arthur Foundation of New York University. This collection is one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of historical watches and clocks in existence. More than eighteen hundred timepieces are exhibited, presenting a story of the evolution of timekeeping from the simplest sundial and hour glass to clocks having multiple dials and complicated mechanisms. Collected over a span of forty years, more than $150, 000 was expended in assembling it.

PRIZE-WINNING IDEA SENT IN BY ART RUSCHER

 

Art Ruscher, Production Department, has won five dollars for the best idea sent in to the house organ during the past month. His suggestion, in brief, follows:

 

“Since we are in the watch industry and time is our business, I think it would be a very good idea if we had a large, electric red neon Pentagon clock lit up at night showing the correct time. This clock could be placed on top of our building or on the other side of the drive from the building where the Guild sign is erected.”

 

“This clock could be erected on top of a rustic rock pillar about twenty feet high. By combining the rustic rock with steel beams, the clock would be at a height of forty or fifty feet. The clock should be approximately ten feet in diameter. On top of the clock would be the words ‘Correct Time by Gruen’ and underneath, ‘The Home of the Gruen Watch’.”

 

Mr. Ruscher’s suggestion is being carefully investigated by officials of the company, and if the construction of such a clock is proved practical, it will be adopted.

 

Many other suggestions, many of them showing great initiative, were sent in to the editor during the past month. All have been acknowledged, and only the limitations of space prevents them from being printed here. The prize of five dollars will continue to be offered monthly, and it is hoped that many more suggestions will be received.

HOW SOCIAL SECURITY HELPS YOU

By FRED DIXON, Assistant Credit Manager

 

(Part II)

 

 

How are monthly benefits determined under the Social Security Act?

 

The workers primary benefit for any wage is calculated by taking the total earnings received from covered jobs from January 1, 1937 to the beginning of the calendar quarter in which the wage earner qualifies his monthly benefits and dividing this total pay by the number of months in the period to secure the average monthly wage. The primary benefit is then determined by taking 40% of the first $50 of this average monthly wage and adding to it 10% of the remaining difference between $50 and the average monthly wage up to $250. Benefits are figured on a maximum average monthly wage of $250. Having taken first 40% of the first $50 and added to it 10% of the difference between this $50 and the average monthly wage, the full monthly benefits are determined by adding an additional 1% of this sum for each year of coverage. The monthly primary benefit so calculated is the basis for determining the widows’ and survivors’ benefits.

 

The Social Security Board stresses the importance of each wage-earner taking care of his Social Security card and making certain that all payments made for his account by his employer are properly accredited against this account number. The Social Security card should be kept in some safe place where it may be available when any claim is to be filed for benefits. In the event that a card should be lost, the worker should immediately notify the nearest Social Security office and apply for another card having the same number. When a wage-earner changes his employment, he should notify the new employer of his account number, and make certain that the Social Security payments are properly credited to his account. The Social Security Board has provided for their Baltimore office to inform anyone covered by the Social Security Plan what credits have been made to his account for the years 1937 and 1938. Such information can be obtained by mailing to the Board at Baltimore a request for it. For this purpose Mr. Apke, our cashier, has available government postcards. It is suggested that everyone in the plan secure one of these cards and verify the fact that his account number is properly recorded, and that he has been credited correctly for his earnings in 1937 and 1938. Information regarding subsequent years will be available as the information is tabulated by the Social Security Board.

 

This whole plan, particularly the liberalized provisions of the amendments which were passed in August, 1939, is so new that it is safe to say that very few of the people concerned fully understand the real protection that is offered and the stake which they have in it. Literature is available in our office and at the local Social Security office which will further explain the various provisions of the plan. Let us urge you to familiarize yourself and, in turn, your dependents with it in order that you and they may take proper and prompt advantage of its provisions when the time comes to do so.

GRUEN AGAIN ENTER SOAP BOX DERBY

 

When the seventh annual All-American Soap-box Derby, an event sponsored by the Chicago Herald-American, gets under way on July 29, the Gruen Watch Company will again be represented as one of the sponsors. Three Gruen Ristside watches will be presented to the boys showing the best time in the trials. Over 250, 000 boys are annually eligible for this competition. They construct their own cars and have to follow rigid rules made by the Soap-box Derby authorities to insure fair competition. This event has grown to be extremely popular, and the finals are covered by newsreels, radio, and the press. Mayor Edward J. Kelly, of Chicago, has set aside the week of July 29 as All-American Soap-box Derby Week.

 

The fact that the Gruen Watch Company is one of the sponsors of this event has been featured in the Chicago Herald-Examiner, and on billboards, wagon posters, truck bumper cards, newsstand displays, buttons, and street car cards.

GRUEN CLOCKS AGAIN AT THE AQUACADE

 

Arrangements have been completed to make Gruen the official timepiece used at Billy Rose’s Aquacade at the New York World’s Fair. In addition, Gruen will tie-in with the same exhibit at the San Francisco Fair.

 

Performers will wear Gruen waterproof watches, there will be large Gruen clocks prominently displayed, and there will be a Gruen advertisement placed in the official Aquacade programs.

 

This season Buster Crabble has replaced Johnny Weissmueller at the New York Aquacade, but Eleanor Holm is again featured along with many other top-flight performers. The music of Vincent Lopez will supply the orchestral background.

 

At the San Francisco Aquacade Morton Downey, noted lyric tenor, is featured, along with Esther Williams, nationally known swimmer. Fred Warning’s Pacific Coast Glee Club has also been signed. It is possible that Jonny Weissmueller will appear, if is movie contract permits.

 

Last year the Aquacade was the most successful exhibit at the Fair, and an entirely new program, said to be the equal if not better than the 1939 performance, has been arranged for this season.

GRUEN ADOPTS NEW WORKING SCHEDULE

 

Starting on May 1, the Gruen Watch Company adopted a new working schedule, operating on a forty hour week basis of eight hours per day Monday through Friday. The new hours for the Horological Department are from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M., and all other departments from 8:30 A.M. to 5:30 P.M.

 

Although this change is in the nature of an experiment, the complete cooperation of all concerned will go far towards making this a permanent schedule.

MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS SOON TO CLOSE

 

The Gruen Watch Company will bring its Spring series of magazine advertisements to a close with a full page ad in the June 1 issue of the popular weekly, Liberty. This is the last advertisement of a series of twelve, which featured appearances of Gruen copy in Life, Liberty, The Saturday Evening Post, New Yorker, Esquire, You, Vogue, and Collier’s.

 

John J. McCarthy, Vice-President of McCann-Erickson, visited Time Hill last week to present his plans for the Fall advertising campaign to Mr. Katz and Mr. Sachs.

 ‘ROUND THE WORLD CLOCK BACK AT TIME HILL

 

Bob Herrmann, our sales representative, is recuperating nicely after an operation here in Cincinnati, at Christ Hospital. His many friends wish him a rapid and complete recovery.

 

A Gruen diamond wristwatch was recently awarded to Miss Vesta Geschwind, of Brooklyn, L. I., for placing first in a homemade hooked-rug contest sponsored by Abraham & Straus, Brooklyn’s largest department store.

 

During the several months of the contest, Gruen was on prominent display at Abraham & Straus, and numerous pictures and signs featuring the diamond watch were hung throughout the store, as an inducement for customers to submit their rugs.

 

Hundreds of rugs were submitted by women from New York and Long Island.

GRUEN WATCHES SHOWN AT CLEVELAND EXHIBIT

 

 

The Gruen Watch Company was among the exhibitors at the sixth annual convention of the United Horological Association, at the Hotel Cleveland, Ohio, from May 5 to 7. The Gruen display of antique watches was shown, in addition to the Giant Quadron movement. George T. Gruen attended the convention and gave a brief speech. The Cleveland press covered the convention, and one radio station made a broadcast from the convention, attracting many people to the various exhibits.

 

Many watch movements were displayed, demonstrating the progress that has been made in the watchmaking industry since the early days of the craft.

GRUEN CLOCK PLACED AT CROSLEY FIELD

 

 

Arrangements were completed this week with Warren C. Giles, General Manager of the Cincinnati Baseball Club, to install a large Gruen clock on the scoreboard at Crosley Field. This clock will be six feet or more in diameter and will appear to be a part of the scoreboard. The work of constructing the clock is already under way. It will carry the legend, “Gruen Watch Time,” and will be viewed by approximately a million persons yearly.

 

President Benjamin S. Katz recently spoke over a special shortwave broadcast to South America. The program featured brief speeches by prominent business men and was carried by the Mutual Broadcasting System. The program originated at a banquet at the Hotel Netherland Plaza.

FRED G. GRUEN RETIRES

 

Announced by President Benjamin S. Katz at a meeting of the Board of Directors on June 12 was the retirement of Fred G. Gruen, Chairman of the Board, who for more than forty-five years has been associated with the Gruen Watch Company. Mr. Gruen will continue as a Director of the company.

 

Son of Dietrich Gruen, Fred G. Gruen was born in Ohio and has been connected with the watch business all his life. He attended Ohio State University, taking courses in mechanical engineering and working for the Gruen Watch Company during the summers. He next attended the Horological Institute of Dresden, and was graduated there with highest honors. During the course he made several watches, which are still preserved here at Time Hill.

 

Mr. Gruen then became associated with the Gruen Watch Company on a fulltime basis, learning the business from the ground up. He started in the blacksmith shop, machine shop, plate shop, and as a die-maker, working in every department of the plant. Then he went on the road as a salesman, covering most of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. From 1911 through 1913 he spent two months of each year selling Gruen watches in some of the finest stores in Europe, including Switzerland where the competition is most severe.

 

He was the first man in America to sell watches boxed with a fixed price, the system of merchandising that is now in vogue. Previous to this, other companies had sold the movements to jobbers, who cased them, and there was a great price variance.

 

Mr. Gruen served as President of the Gruen Watch Company from 1911 to 1935, and since that time has been Chairman of the Board. During his term of Presidency, the company came up from virtual obscurity to a most important position in the industry.

 

Among the triumphs made by the Gruen Watch Company under Fred Gruen were the octagon pocket watch, the quadroon movement, and the Veri-Thin pocket watch. Cognizant of his years of untiring effort on behalf of the Gruen Watch Company, GRUEN TIME, together with all the employees, wishes Fred G. Gruen a most healthy and enjoyable period of retirement.

SALES CONFERENCE HERE JULY 1 AND 2

 

 

The semi-annual sales conference of the Gruen Watch Company will be held here on Monday and Tuesday, July 1 and 2, at Hotel Netherland Plaza. Within a few days the twenty-five Gruen salesmen will start their trek to Cincinnati from all the corners of the nation and Canada.

 

On the first day of the conference Mr. Katz will present the Fall line of Gruen watches, said to be the most beautiful line yet created. The second day of the meeting will be devoted to the Fall advertising campaign, which will again feature advertisements in the nation’s leading magazines. Displays and various other dealer helps will also be exhibited.

 

As usual, the conference will close with a banquet, and the meeting promises to be one of the most successful ever held.

PLEASE HELP US OUT!

 

 

Gruen employees will notice that cards have been placed on all the suggestion boxes at Time Hill inviting you to contribute to YOUR magazine. But in spite of these, the contributions received this month were fewer than usual. In an effort to improve the magazine, GRUEN TIME urges all Gruen employees to submit articles or suggestions.

 

Won’t you help us out?

GRUEN TIME AWARDS PRIZES TO WINNERS

 

 

This month GRUEN TIME has awarded five dollars to Andy Mayer, of the case Company, for the best suggestion submitted to the house organ since the last issue. Mr. Mayer has suggested that the first aid kit at the Case Company office be improved so that the workers will be prepared against any contingency. As a result of his suggestion, plans have been completed to increase the first aid equipment.

 

Auditor Tom Jeary has received a baseball autographed by prominent members of the Cincinnati Reds for his article on Hospitalization which appears in this issue. Because of its bearing on you and your job, every Gruen employee is urged to read this article carefully.

 

Each month these two prizes will continue to be offered to Gruen employees submitting ideas and articles to GRUEN TIME.

MR. KATZ HONORED BY “WHO’S WHO”

 

 

President Benjamin S. Katz was recently the recipient of a signal honor when he was admitted to the distinctive ranks of distinguished Americans listed in the 1940-41 edition of “Who’s Who in America”. The new edition marks the forty-second year of publication of this noted reference book.

 

Mr. Katz was one of the thirteen prominent Cincinnatians whose careers were described in “Who’s Who” this year for the first time. The article traced his career from the time of his birth in Austria on April 15, 1892, to his rise to the Presidency of The Gruen Watch Company.

JACQUES LEAL READY FOR OVERSEAS SERVICE

 

 

Jacques Leal, who left his post as Vice President of the Gruen Watch Company of Canada, Ltd., at the outbreak of hostilities in Europe, is now a First Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, and expects and hopes to leave for overseas service any day now. Mr. Leal enlisted in the army and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, but after studying hard for three months, he was promoted and commissioned as First Lieutenant after rigorous examinations.

 

Mr. Leal’s brother, a Sergeant in the French army, recently took part in the battle of Flanders and has not been heard from. All of us join Jacques in his solicitude and hope for his courageous brother.

 

The Leal family estate outside of Paris is being used as a hospital for wounded French, and Jacques’ mother is taking charge there now.

 

All Gruen employees wish Jacques the best of luck and commend him for his unselfishness and bravery.

GRUEN WORKER JOINS CANADIAN ARMY

 

 

Word has been received at Time Hill that Cyril Curtis, a watchmaker of the Gruen Watch Company of Canada, Ltd. has enlisted in the technical division of the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps. All of us join in congratulating Mr. Curtis for his courage.

RAY SCHAD WINS TABLE TENNIS PLAY

 

 

The first annual table tennis tournament was completed during the past month and the silver trophy presented by Mr. Katz was won by Ray Schad, who bested Fritz Jones, of the Advertising Department, in a hectic four game match. The scores were 21-16, 18-21, 21-19, and 21-18. The closeness of the scores indicates the vigorousness with which the match was contested.

 

In blasting his way to the final round, Schad disposed of Richard Stagman. Jones reached the ultimate bracket by eliminating Willis Moore.

 

Gruen watches are among the awards now being Beach, Brooklyn, L. I., one of the largest bathing resorts in the world. Various contests which attract thousands are staged there during the summer. Announcement that Gruen watches were being awarded was made by the New York Daily News, which has circulation larger than any other newspaper in the United States.

SPEAKING OF SPORTS

 

 

The Gruen baseball team has been increasing in efficiency with the passing of the weeks, and although Manager Al Benzinger’s charges have not accomplished anything really sensational, they have been completing in their games with a large degree of skill and have been competing in their games with a large degree of skill and have performed in a manner that would make them well worth watching for every Gruen employee.

 

After dropping their first four encounters, the team has made an abrupt about-face and has captured three of their last four battles. Their last performance has been in the Mt. Auburn Civic League. The standing of the loop, at latest accounts, follows:

 

Team	Won	Lost	Percentage
Highland Bar	2	1	.667
Murray Drugs	3	2	.600
Gruen Watch	2	2	.500
Cavelons	0	2	.000

 

Thus it can be seen that the club is just one-half game removed from first place, a margin that could easily be overcome with a little good fortune in the next few combats.

 

However, the most interesting game of the past month was a contest between Gruen and the Lockwood Manufacturing Co. Ray Schad started in the box of Gruen and retired after a barrage of Lockwood bingles had rolled up a 6 to 0 margin for the hated enemy.

 

Irvin Riesz was ushered into the fray in his place. The game seemed lost, but our boys kept pecking away and went into the final frame one run behind. Three runs in the last inning seemed to assured a victory for Lockwood, but not to be outdone, Gruen fought back nobly, and timely triple by Lloyd Everson, coming with the bases populated, eked out a 10 to 9 victory.

 

Another notable games was the contest in which Irvin Riesz let Murray Drugs down with the meager total of two hits, beating them 4 to 3.

 

As far as individual accomplishments are concerned, Ted Schad is pacing his mates at bat with the robust average of .444. Ted arrived at this neat figure by socking out eight base hits in eighteen attempts. In the home run column, Harry Borntrager has developed into a virtual Colossus of Clout, and has swatted out three of his specialty.

 

Now that the inclement weather of the Spring seems to have exhausted itself, it is likely that the team can finish its schedule without interruption, and, we hope, without any more additions to the liability column. Another month like the past one would be an excellent tonic.

STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING HELD JUNE 12

 

The annual meeting of Gruen stockholders was held on June 12, and all directors were re-elected. Members of the Board are: Sterling B. Cramer, Fred G. Gruen, George J. Gruen, Benjamin S. Katz, Teviah Sachs, U.S. Senator Robert A. Taft, and Clifford R. Wright.

 

Officers of the company were elected at a special meeting of the Board, as follows: George J. Gruen was elected Chairman of the Board; re-elected were Benjamin S. Katz, President-Treasurer; Teviah Sachs, Vice-President-Assistant Treasurer; George T. Gruen, Secretary; Alfred T. Reis, Assistant Secretary-Comptroller; and Thomas F. Jeary, Auditor.

TIME HILL TOPICS

 

 

S. C. “Cy” Gershey, Mid-Western Sales Manager of the Gruen Watch Company, was married at Hollywood, Florida, on June 9 to Miss Mimsi Fox, of Miami, Florida. Mr. Gershey will bring his bride to Cincinnati with him next week when he attends the sales meeting.

 

Miss Adele Behler, sister of Miss Mary Behler, of the Record Department, was married on June 1 to Vincent Dolan, brother of Bill Dolan, and once a Gruen employee. The wedding was solemnized at St. Patrick’s Church and afterwards the wedding party visited Sister Gabriel, another sister of Miss Behler’s who is a nun. There followed a reception at the bride’s home that night and the happy couple is now honeymooning at Yellowstone National Park.

 

Another wedding of the past month saw Marie Becker, of the Traffic Department, become the wife of William H. Christophel. This ceremony took place on Friday, June 14. To all the brides and bridegrooms of the month the best of luck!

 

Miss Ruth Peters, of the Advertising Department, has announced her engagement to Robert F. Stiens, of Norwood. Miss Peters met her fiancé when she was a student at the University of Cincinnati. No date has as yet been set for the wedding.

SOCIAL CLUB LAUNCHED HERE AT TIME HILL

 

 

Walter “Whitey” Fischer, Order Department, has announced the organization of a social club of Gruen employees, which will soon launch a program of picnics, dances, boat ride, and other forms of recreation.

 

A committee has already been formed to discuss plans for the new club, which is to be known as the Gruen Social Club. This committee includes: Al Benzinger, Horological Department; Al Swift, Standards Department; Frank Frueauff, Record Department; Mary Behler, Record Department; Alma Moore, Material Department; Odile Maas, Case Company; Martin Blesser, Case Company; Mary A. Schaurer, Finance Department; and Marie Christophel, Traffic Department.

 

GRUEN TIME wishes to congratulate “Whitey” for his enterprise in inaugurating this organization and hopes that it will grow to great affluence.

GRUEN WATCH AWARDED IN PERSONALITY CONTEST

 

 

A Gruen watch is being awarded in a personality contest staged by the New York Daily News in cooperation with the Stanley-Warner Company. The contest is a search for the girl with the most charm and personality, and is not a beauty contest. The winner, to be designated as “Miss Astor” will be mistress of ceremonies at the opening of the new Astor Theatre in New York City.

 

The fact that a Gruen watch was to be presented to the winner was mentioned in the Daily News, which has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the United States.

HOSPITALIZATION INSURANCE

By THOMAS F. JEARY, Auditor

 

 

The Management urges that all Gruen employees, who do not now have hospitalization insurance coverage, again carefully consider the advantage of the Plan as offered by the Cincinnati Hospital Care Corporation.

 

As of July 15, 1940, a new enrollment procedure will be put into effect. Beginning with this date, protection will be given subscribers provided at least ten new applications are received. If there are less than ten, these will be held until August 15, 1940, before protection and payroll deductions start. Thereafter, there will be no opportunity to enroll in the Plan until October 15.

 

The Hospital Care Corporation is an agency of every non-profit voluntary hospital in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Dayton, and Middletown, Ohio. The Plan it offers is a simple but most complete one.

 

There are two contracts, one with the employee and the other with the participating hospital. In return for an individual subscription fee of $0.75 per month or family fee of $1.75 per month received from the employer on a payroll deduction basis, the Hospital Care Corporation guarantees payment to the hospital of such hospitalization expenses as semi-private room accommodations for a period of 21 days the first year and 30 days each year thereafter, operating room service without limitation, oxygen, etc.

 

During the 1939 calendar year, 101,913 persons were confined as bed patients in Cincinnati, Dayton, and Middletown hospitals as follows:

 

Cincinnati                                                            67, 141                                 

Dayton                                                                 25, 953

Hamilton                                                                 5, 574

Middletown                                                          3, 245

 

Total                                                                  101, 913

 

Considering this to have been a normal year means that at least one out of every ten persons in these communities requires hospital care each year, or in an average family of four, some member requires hospital care each three years. Statistics indicate that only 4% of all persons requiring hospital care have the money with which to pay the hospital bill. Of the other 96%, 23% are charity cases and the community makes provisions for these. This means that 73% do not have the ready cash to pay hospital bills in spite of the fact that in most instances they are receiving reasonable incomes and want to and do meet obligations which can be anticipated. Usually the man earning $75.00 per week is in the same position as the man earning $20.00 per week, for expenses have a way of keeping pace with income.

 

Where ready cash is not immediately available, unexpected hospital care expense for the individual or a member of his family usually results in one of three happenings: