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Pierce setting level spring trouble

bsoderling

By bsoderling
in Watch Repairs Help & Advice

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bsoderling WRT Addict

bsoderling

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Hi,

 

I have come to end up with a few Pierce watches from, I guess, the 40’s. The movements are 103’s in various variety and condition.

 

A common thing seems to be that they all havebroken setting lever springs. With most old movements, I don’t bother too much with that. I can live with the need to hold the crown in the setting position when adjusting the time.

 

But in these 103’s the spring part also prevents the yoke to fall out.

 

And finding new setting lever springs (at least at decent cost) seems hopeless.

 

So what to do?

 

I have been thinking of hard soldering an extension on the spring. Or maybe glue one in place (epoxy or cyanoacrylate).

 

One could also make something to be held in place by one of the screws that hold the spring.

 

One repairer simply drilled a hole instead of the pin where the yoke sits (Photo attached) and that may work but not sure I would manage the drilling and threading.

 

Thoughts and ideas are very appreciated!

 

 

46b85b5cbd918441466aebeadac3f417.jpg79611a78684ae54980140e67f64b82d1.jpg

 

 

 

 

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Joseph111 Member

Joseph111

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I have been fixing a 160/22 movement and snapped the spring. If it is the same as I had I ended up getting some spring wire, bending it into shape then flattening it so it fit properly. It is a poor repair but it works well enough to hold the crown up.

The mechanism does look slightly different though so it may not work.

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nickelsilver Distinguished Member

nickelsilver

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No way soldering or especially glue will get that back together. There's a book by W.O. Smith available from AWCI called 21st Century Watchmaking that shows a pretty simple way to remake such parts. I did quite a few back in the day (I cnc them now).

How expensive are the replacements you've found?

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bsoderling WRT Addict

bsoderling

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Thanks for feedback!

My idea wasn’t really to re-solder/glue back the broken off part. I totally agree that won’t work, the surfaces are way too small for that. I was more thinking of soldering a wire or similar on top of the part and letting it stick out to keep the yoke down and secure.

Interesting idea to replace the entire thing with a wire ”thing” to hold things in place. Might work ....

The only part I found on the bay would cost me around 20 euro. But then it looked really bad from the photo, rusted and rough all over. Considering I paid around 5-10 euro’s for these watches, I am a bit on the conservative side with my investments... :-)




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rogart63 Distinguished Member

rogart63

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On 11/23/2019 at 5:49 PM, bsoderling said:

Thanks for feedback!

My idea wasn’t really to re-solder/glue back the broken off part. I totally agree that won’t work, the surfaces are way too small for that. I was more thinking of soldering a wire or similar on top of the part and letting it stick out to keep the yoke down and secure.

Interesting idea to replace the entire thing with a wire ”thing” to hold things in place. Might work ....

The only part I found on the bay would cost me around 20 euro. But then it looked really bad from the photo, rusted and rough all over. Considering I paid around 5-10 euro’s for these watches, I am a bit on the conservative side with my investments... :-)




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Only things is to get the drill and file out and make one . I have made a few setting lever springs when i can't find one. Use the steel from a feeler gauge . I have some old pierce movements but none of them have a setting lever. All broken or missing. 

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bsoderling WRT Addict

bsoderling

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If Rogart doesn’t have it, you know you are in trouble... :-)

You mean you actually shape that thing that usually breaks off in steel with an ordinary file..?

I can’t even begin to grasp how I would hold the thing while doing that? But I guess there are special tools and stuff for that?




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Marc Distinguished Member

Marc

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I have made a few in the past using old hacksaw blades as the stock, annealed and ground to thickness on a bench stone. Then use CA glue to glue the two broken parts of the original to the stock in the correct orientation. You then have something to hold onto (in a watchmakers hand vice) and a template to file and drill to. Once done the piece then needs hardening and tempering, which is the tricky bit to get right without the thing warping, and then finishing.

It's certainly doable if you can't purchase a replacement or just fancy the challenge. 

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nickelsilver Distinguished Member

nickelsilver

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The W.O. Smith method mentioned above is take the old part and its broken piece and soft solder them to a piece of steel slightly thicker. Drill the holes, then carve out with a saw table in the T rest of the lathe and cutoff discs. Obviously you could saw and file to the hard template if desired. Heat and desolder, harden and tenper (light blue),

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bsoderling WRT Addict

bsoderling

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Thanks for feedback! Should have thought of gluing/soldering the old one on as template.

A bit above my current metal working level, I’m afraid. So we will see where this goes...

A bit strange that so many manufacturers of the period were having issues with this specific part. They were good at so many things but this was not one of them.




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