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I have a Levin lathe that was missing a handle - that was today's little project and I thought I'd post some photos. The blank is small, .220" dia and less than an inch long. I turned the press fit section in big lathe then switch to a Pultra and did the balance by hand with a graver. Fun work, sort of like wood turning. The one I made is on the right, obviously not identical, but good enough for an eyeball job

I received a lys Longines 5L for cleaning. Upon opening the case, I saw some surprises under the balance bridge. I have outlined my steps on how I uncoil a tangled hairspring in hopes that others can benefit by this method. George Corder IMG_0505.m4v

It's not just hobbyists is all of us In watch repair knowing when to let go. The obsession for perfect is very bad for one's health.

David, An introduction first would be much appreciated before asking questions.

Going back to our normal context of "realistic hobbyist watchmaking", let me quote the sentence into which I recognize myself more in the article above: "things don’t go to plan it can a real nightmare and very stressful. I have lost count of the number of times I have spent hours at this point with no success"

it may be the wrong crystal. an aftermarket crystal does not have the internal gruve for the metal ring that holds the movement down.

Did you manage to squirrel away some drops :) It would be case hardening, only way to harden a low carbon steel. Basically you soak it at temp in something it can draw carbon from and you get a high carbon outer layer, then quench. Think mild steel with an outer skin of O1 (sort of). It can be really useful as you leave the outside dead hard (no temper) but still have the ductile core so its not brittle. Same idea as the gunsmiths do for colour pack case hardening, You can do this at home with smelly stuff like bone meal, but its hard to get more than a few thou depth; the commercial guys with the nasty bath can get 50 thou with an overnight soak. I can remember doing the cyanide bath in high school 40 years ago on the grade 9 project, a tack hammer. I can't imagine a school allowing it today with the general level of paranoia. Also, you still get mild steel strength, not tool steel's higher tensile strength. Right on with the welding, but it does braze and silver solder well

Until now a tangled hairspring means certain death since I would screw up the untangling for sure. Will try you technic next time

Cool. I’m pretty sure all Mk. IIs are 821. Mines a ‘69 and it is. I think the 321 was dropped in ‘67... all that said I think the subdial pinions are the same diameter... reasonably sure the running seconds hand will fit.

I forgot a picture of the case

I don't know where you can get parts but wanted to mention that most members consider polite to introduce oneself in the dedicated section before asking questions.

Unless you are a master watchmaker and putting a lot of time and effort into the watch, or it is a very high end watch you will never get it perfect in all positions. You need to check it in all positions and try to adjust it evenly the best you can in all positions. If you have a 30 second variation between dial up and dial down adjust it so its say 15 seconds fast dial up and 15 seconds slow dial down. If its your watch you are adjusting think about how you wear it. If you sit at a desk and use a computer all day it will spend most of it time in dial up position, so you may decide to adjust it so dial up has less error than dial down. By checking it in all positions it can alert you to issues you didn't previously notice, for example if there is massive variation between dial up and dial down in the amplitude this could indicate an issue with the balance, maybe you didn't clean or oil one of the jewels properly or the hairspring is out of true and rubbing, or a pivot is worn.