Mainspring winders

[CaptCalvin]

Hmmm why would there be two of them and when the middle hole in that platter works just fine for that

[transporter]

Who’s knows, I ordered mine this morning, 20-40 days to arrive, the joys of China post

[dadistic]

Cas-Ker in the US sells this set, so I sent them a note. According to them the cylinders are barrel holders (not other info given).  I was also curious if the winders would fit the Bergeon handles, they don't.

Cheers!

[transporter]

Mmmmm interesting, but that would mean the barrel opening is down the tube so to speak, if you see what I mean. I will look at the pictures again. I did ask my Chinese seller what they were for and they said they will get back to me, so when they do I’ll post here.

[Tmuir]

4 hours ago, transporter said:

I did ask my Chinese seller what they were for and they said they will get back to me, so when they do I’ll post here.

I love the fact even the sellers aren't sure what they are for.

[jdm]

2 hours ago, Tmuir said:

I love the fact even the sellers aren't sure what they are for.

Retail sellers, including Chinese ones, are exactly that. You can see they often stock all kind of items, including lingerie, in order to make an honest buck. Is not like they have to know the in and outs of the product that they did not design, did not produce, and was never explained to them. 

[transporter]

I’m sure we are all intrigued about your lingerie searches my friend lol

[watchya]

Hi, I bought one in early Jan as well from ebay paid £70 for it. I have used it once on an ETA 2671 and worked a treat i did disassemble then clean the winder first as it was coated in oil and had brass swarf here and there. Im happy with mine and pleased I bought it just hoping  I can use it on AS. movements and a few Seikos. Will post a few pics in the morning.

[Rpon]

I just purchased a similar set to this. Does anyone know how the spring end licks to the arbor?

[HectorLooi]

I've got most of the above winders. Including some that claim that they have adjustable barrel size. But watches in those days must have really different from what I have been working on. It usually doesn't fit properly or is the wrong size arbor.

I wished someone would make 1 that was truly universal. 1 that can do both right and left hand wound. Have different size barrels and arbors that you could select and assemble together to fit the watch that you are working on.

The Bergeon ones are nice but really expensive. I've seen China made copies recently. But I don't know if they really work.

[Khan]

Hi

The most common sizes of barrel drum sizes (outer diameter) at my workstation are between 9.8-10.8 mm. 

Would a winder no. 7 (10.8 mm) cover the most then?

Besides, I might order one size lower and higher as well.

 

[obradley48]

Made an offer that was accepted on this mainspring winder set.  I have been researching and asking questions so hopefully I got a decent set? 
 

There are so many options and many are quite expensive- I didn’t want to lay out hundreds of dollars only to get the wrong sizes...If I made an error it is not a costly one

 

[Walsey]

I have a very similar set, and they can work well if everything goes right.  I would highly recommend practicing on some expendable mainsprings before you attempt an expensive or hard to replace mainspring.  I mangled quite a few getting the hang of it.  

[clockboy]

I have a similar set. Be careful, on the set I have some of the notches that grab the mainspring are worn and tend to let go if not careful. I do have several mainspring winders but my favourite is a "Mastercraft Winder". which is 100% reliable. see pics.

 

Mastercraft winder.jpg.pdf

Mastercraft 1.jpg.pdf

Mastercraft 2.jpg.pdf

 

 

[dsell993]

Reviving a bit of an old thread that I found during search - I've been looking at the Chinese set as well, but I have a question for the "hand-winders" on the thread - how do you deal with automatic mainsprings? When I do hand wind, it's from the outside in (the reverse of how the spring comes out of the barrel) and the split ends / extra pieces of automatic ends are especially tricky. I feel like there's no good hand-winding technique for these springs and winders are the only option.

Thanks

[JGrainger]

All of the watch mainsprings I'm aware of can potentially be hand wound into the barrel, some are just more tricky than others - some shapes or types of mainspring can be awkward regardless of method. Having a pre-wound mainspring is nice when everything is going to plan.

[SparkyLB]

I'm interested to see where this goes.  I'm struggling with whether a winder set will be my next expenditure.  I'd really love a watch cleaning machine.  Decisions, decisions. 

[VWatchie]

On 2/14/2020 at 12:14 AM, watchya said:

Will post a few pics in the morning

Still waiting for the pictures! 

[jdm]

10 hours ago, VWatchie said:

Still waiting for the pictures! 

Look at the many ones in the first page of this very thread. Same product: "Chinese winder".

[VWatchie]

15 minutes ago, jdm said:

Look at the many ones in the first page of this very thread. Same product: "Chinese winder"

I saw them but we can never get enough of pictures, can we!?  https://emojipedia.org/winking-face/

[JohnR725]

The strange thing with this set is it's not a general-purpose sets which I think would be more useful. In other words is made for specific calibers. Then they didn't clone the handle the way it normally should Look? Plus there's no mystery pieces?

So for instance here's a link to the eta set and And a PDF with a few more details.

https://www.bergeon.swiss/assortiment-de-12-estrapades-pour-calibre-eta.html

Here is a link to the general purpose set. With an added bonus the PDF here is much much nicer as It explains how to use the Winder.

https://www.bergeon.swiss/assort-estrapades.html

 

[VWatchie]

7 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

The strange thing with this set is it's not a general-purpose sets which I think would be more useful.

Indeed, and that's what I'm waiting for. I have a K&D 128 winder, but I've come to dislike it a lot. When I use it it is a 50/50 chance I succeed or mangle the spring. Perhaps it is me, but I'm thinking that as I could learn how to handle cap jewel springs quite well (even diafix springs) why shouldn't I be better with my K&D 128 winder. The Bergeon winders are just insanely expensive. I've been considering the Bergeon 5355 and complement with larger winders, but it is still a fortune and I can buy "a bag" of new mainsprings for the same money.

Edited May 30, 2020 by VWatchie

[Seth]

Good Morning to you all I hope you are all keeping safe and well,I wonder if anyone can help me with a small problem I have.I have a set of old watch mainspring winders which I use and they have become rather worn on the mainspring hooks on the winding arbors.Does anyone have any ideas on how to replace the hooks on the arbors?? Any help would be gratefully received,I enclose photos of the winders,Regards,Seth.

[Marc]

You could try cross drilling the arbor and inserting a brass pin, shaped to form a hook.

[Colditz]

Hi Seth

I can see that the hooks are worn. My advice is find a kind engineer to create a new hook on the winder stem using a gouging chisel. If you look carefully you can see that a chiseling tool was used to make the hook. You could try it yourself using an old masonry drill bit with the tip ground to a chisel shape to the width of the gouge in the stem. Trap the winder securely in a vice and if you put the masonry chisel in  the gouge at the right angle then tap the end with an hammer being very careful not to hit too hard you should be able to move the metal to form a new hook. I would practice on a scrap piece of steel such as a nail of the same diameter first.

Hope this helps.