a. After being regulated, cleaned and oiled for the second time, the author received the watch after a week. The author had missed his dinner and his appointments as his watch was slowed down to that extent. He felt as if he had been carried away somewhere into the past. The author had a feeling that he missed everything which happened on earth. He was lonely and left alone in the past due to his watch, which was not functioning properly. This situation of the author is compared to a mummy from an earlier age. He thought that it would be ideal to get a friendship with a mummy in the museum he had visited or an unreal one. Owing to the slow time that his watch projected, he felt that he was moving in the past, similar to a mummy.
b. When the author let his watch run down after keeping it for 18 months, he went to the chief jeweller to set the accurate time. Even after the author stopped the head of the establishment, he forcefully pushed the regulator of the watch. This provided a kick to the watch, and it shot ahead of the actual time. As days passed by, it got faster. After two months, the watch appeared to have some kind of fever with a very excessive pulse rate. From the actual date, the watch travelled thirteen days ahead, and when it was October, he said that the watch relished the November snowfall. The author was annoyed by this behaviour and wanted to get it diagnosed again.
c. The author went to the watchmaker for the seventh time and found him to be a steamboat engineer, an old acquaintance though not a good engineer. He diagnosed and delivered his verdict like the other watchmakers. The author keenly observed and judged him when he said, “She makes too much steam— you want to hang the monkey wrench on the safety valve!” The author was reminded of what his uncle William used to say and noticed that a tinker is an unsuccessful engineer and wondered “what became of all the unsuccessful tinkers” like his uncle.