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I have seen a technique where one gets a copy/image of the spring printed out and then places the bent spring over top of it pinning it through the collet to some cork board or similar material and then manipulating to match the printed template. You should be able to find the spring model somewhere and if you can find an image adjust it to size and see if that might help. You could try a crude drawing of the spring as well as a starting point. Good luck let us know howz it goin'. My least favorite thing to do, I should add.

As Chopin said, put it on some white card - it's giving me a headache trying to figure out what's going on there !

First and foremost I would remove it from the balance plate and lay it flat perhaps on something white so that you can have a clear vision of what must be done.

Hey all, Here is my first Service Walkthrough for servicing the Favre-Leuba 253 movement. I found it easier to do this in a word processor and save it as a PDF rather than trying to make it into a giant post. I hope that's ok. I welcome any and all constructive criticism of the document. FL_253_Service.pdf

It looks stuck or magnetized on one side. Take it off the balance staff and clean it in One Dip or naphtha or lighter fluid. Then demagnetize it. It should go back to shape. Then reinstall it on the balance and make sure the collet is directly over the upper balance jewel: off to any side will cause it to be less perfectly spiral. It may be fine after that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thank you everyone! I'll take that route of removing the top plate. Hopefully the rotor bearing will lend itself to servicing or replacement. I purchased this watch as a lad in the late 70's and I'm looking forward to seeing it running again.

check out de Carles' book on watch repair. vin

The pdf file is corrupt. I cant open it. What do you mean the dock click spring? That is not a correct terminology in horology a photo would help.

Could you post a picture of the part or the pdf link ?

@rogart63 Managed to remove the circlip (was quite tricky) but the rotor isn't coming out. Do I have to remove the plate first ? Would be a bit tricky as the rotor edge seems to be covering one of the screws... PS: Here's a photo of the circlip for future references in case someone will need it.

Small stuff like gears are almost impossible to make in a 3D printer. They are so small and the finish isn't good enough. Maybe there are better printers out there? But they cost much more. In the future maybe?

Avid watch enthusiast for over 40 years. Missed on my calling on over hauling these magnificent time pieces.

Hi Jim, Welcome, and thanks for your introduction. All good wishes to you. Mike.

I suspect you're thinking about dipping the entire mov.t in alcohol, that won't fix anything and will make things worse. Unfortunately it takes time and money to learn how to repair watches. Any decent watchmaker will ask more money than the value of the watch just to look at it. So your only practical choice is to buy a new one. You can probably sell the broken one for about 15 pound. If you want instead give it a go buy yourself buy some proper tools, and fluids lubricants (a minimum of 50 - 100 pounds total) and check Mark Lovick's 7S26 video tutorial. Then you will have to identify the fault, it could be from a loose screw to balance complete. However in full honesty the chances of getting right a very first repair attempt aren't very high.

Recently had an ETA automatic watch with the same "issue". I cleaned it, serviced it and it works like a charm. Seiko 5s are cheap so it depends. You can get a new one, take it to a watchmaker or try to "fix" it yourself although if you have no tools or experience I wouldn't advise it. Unless you plan on using it for training and start a watchmaking hobby or even a career. PS: You're supposed to strip the movement and clean the parts with an ultrasonic cleaner or by hand, one by one, not drop it into a bath of various liquids.

Welcome Jim, many here are hooked on just as yourself

Welcome to this friendly forum.

Hi Jim and welcome to the forum from Cambridge UK.

That screw might do it but you could just unscrew the plate onto which the rotor is attached to and underneath you'll probably see how the rotor is removed.

I rather liked something that my instructor said when I was in school don't please the timing machine. Timing machine points you in directions gives you clues but perhaps think of it more as reading a crystal ball it's not always an exact science. Then when you toss in the Oscilloscope part and start trying to make interpretations from that things get much more complicated. If you get obsessed about having perfect waveforms which are going to be absolutely impossible to have you going to be chasing your tail forever. Then you have a rather impressive amplitude which is a little excessive? Then realistically to do proper analysis of a watch it needs to be done in multiple positions. Problems don't always show up when the watch is in only one position. So what tends to work well is six position timing. So this is dial-up and dial down and Use of the crown is used as a reference which would be crown up down left and right.

There are a number of things that can cause this You need to carefully observe the balance wheel under a loupe is it untrue? and catching somewhere? pallet fork bridge maybe, is the hairspring out of shape and catching the center wheel ? careful observation of the balance may make the cause obvious. Timegrapher's can show you symptoms but quite often you have to do the diagnosis. It should also run better than -90 seconds a day

I find nothing wrong in getting a cheap kit which gives you the basics like screwdrivers, tweezers, case opener, springbar tools etc. Even if these are not high quality will enable one to get a feeling of what is what, and at least replace batteries and straps, perhaps even more.