from two to three months, and he can scarcely go to work on the movements
before this.

In this class the regular pupils have to execute seven pieces of work in
the rough, two for horizontal escapements with key and regulating wheel,
and five for various other escapements. Among these there is one for
simple repetition and one for minute piece. Aside from the work fixed by
the programme, the pupils may manufacture all the other complicated pieces
upon obtaining the authority for it from their masters and the director.

The average time employed in performing the work imposed by the programme
necessarily depends upon the capacity of the pupil, but we may say that in
general ten months are necessary.

_Second Year_.--After executing his last piece of work in a satisfactory
manner, the apprentice passes into the class in regulators, where he
begins to manufacture the small tools that he will require.

In this work, as in the preceding, he must take all his pieces from the
crude metal, and he must do the forging himself, as well as the roughing
down, the turning, filing, and shaping, and finally the finishing, without
the aid of any other machine than the dividing one.

In general, after eighteen months of work, the apprentice goes to the
finishing shop, where the delicate and minute work begins, pivoting,
putting the wheels in place, and practical study of gearings. After
learning how to divide a wheel correctly, he is set to work on pinions and
wheels in the rough, which he must rivet, finish, and pivot according to
the different planes of the pieces that have been calculated and executed
by him under the direction of the master.