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I remember my great aunt had one of these from the co-operative insurance well into the 1970's the insurance man would collect the money every quarter and log the amount in a payment book I also remember my grandma had a television that ran off 10 pence pieces to cover the cost of rental it would always go off half way through a program and every one would scramble around there pockets for 10p, the joys of life before direct debit:D.

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59 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

A florin is a two shilling coin for those that are too young to remember. 

Or to the initiated a two bob bit;)220px-1932_George_V_Florin_(reverse).JPG

Ones as old as this Victorian one were still in circulation in the 1960's....

170px-GREAT_BRITAIN,_VICTORIA_1899_-FLOR

The last florin was minted in 1970, replaced by the Ten New Pence coin...s-l1600.jpg

Edited by JohnD
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2 minutes ago, luiazazrambo said:

I cant wait to get my florins. I really need to save some time because i am so behind with my many projects. :D I don't know what its secrets are, must be similar to "back to the future" stuff. Maybe if i take it apart....

Someone explained to me a few years ago that collecting watches was a subliminal attempt to collect time......now in my seventies I'm beginning to understand the concept.....

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Hi *,

The main spring is broken and someone tried to fix it by wrapping sewing thread around it? Is that a common method to fix mainsprings?

I removed  the other half of mainspring, but how do i remove the arbor now to be able to remove the rest of the broken spring and replace it? I can see marks on the arbor do I have to grab it somehow?

Or should I remove the ratchet wheel? Its pretty tight.

Thanks in advance,

Br, Lui

IMG_20200601_121053.thumb.jpg.7867bf04d042bbbd93525f46c655dde9.jpgIMG_20200601_121036.thumb.jpg.e36c0ebb73998b40d2a8fe163239ca52.jpg

Edited by luiazazrambo
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6 minutes ago, luiazazrambo said:

Is that a common method to fix mainsprings?

I would go so far as say its a very uncommon method, I've certainly never seen or heard of anyone doing that before.

The end should just have a hook on the arbour and a hole in the spring so you should be able to remove it without dismantling any further.

Likely the thread is just making that hard for you to see.

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I managed to figure it out. What pliers are the best to grab arbors without damaging them? I use sheet of papers trying to protect them. Pliers without teeth? Plus protection? I need to source a mainspring now and I cant find my bag of springs....

IMG_20200601_123637.jpg

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Use leather to protect the arbour when using pliers, seeing its brass you could have also gently heated it the expansion would have been enough to make it  very easy to remove.

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The main spring just hooks over the post. Its the one nearest to the wheel with the arbor, so when it winds the end that hooks over the post is protected from slipping off due to the mainspring being close to it.  

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  • 1 month later...
On 6/1/2020 at 7:18 AM, luiazazrambo said:

The main spring is broken and someone tried to fix it by wrapping sewing thread around it?

Sewing thread, orphaned earrings, long dead mice; you never know what you might find in a used clock.

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Quote

This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down.

I guess that qualifies quite nicely for @jdm 's thread on "Strange things inside a watch", and indeed in every watch and clock, although you could argue that it is not only in the watch, but indeed is the very essence of the watch.

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12 hours ago, luiazazrambo said:

Or my favorite lifeshortener hobby, hairspring bending? 

I tend to think of it more as an act of intense concentration. A bit of engineering Zen. Or possibly a test of character, how long can you resist the urge to put the spring out of its misery with a large hammer :judge:

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3 hours ago, AndyHull said:

I tend to think of it more as an act of intense concentration. A bit of engineering Zen. Or possibly a test of character, how long can you resist the urge to put the spring out of its misery with a large hammer :judge:

I blame you for this, it says: Made in Scotland :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

The best I could do with the hairspring, not perfect, but after so many defeat I call it a draw:

IMG_20200719_230021.thumb.jpg.03fe5b272010806ced4b8c56e62c2f08.jpg

IMG_20200719_230007.thumb.jpg.e63303e0983a4b83391fe702f005ca58.jpg

The place where this wonderful piece of beauty was made, the person who operated the hammer did not have his morning haggis so M and S are missing:

IMG_20200719_231049.thumb.jpg.15328a78219fbe521d555490464d6f52.jpg

The movement together:

IMG_20200720_012650.thumb.jpg.c84b88421743849642ea52d8b3da8775.jpg

IMG_20200720_012503.thumb.jpg.b1c29832ad2d4579d5a026a9b848855a.jpg

I had no faith - plus a was lazy and did other important things as playing computer games -, that's why it was sitting on my bench and I did not touch it for a week or so, and i don't know if it is in beat, but it actually works!

 
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    • An update, for everyone who contributed advice, and for those who come after with a similar problem. Based on the answers received, I decided to work on the face of the hammer first. I used a square degussit stone to guarantee a vertical surface to work against, and ground the face back until it was square across 90% of the depth. I was conscious of the risk of removing too much material.* After I'd got the shape how I wanted it, I polished the surface with lapping film. To cut a long story short, it did the trick and the hammer hasn't slipped off the cam since. Of course, that wasn't the end of my problems. Have a look at this video and tell me what you think is wrong. https://youtu.be/sgAUMIPaw98 The first four attempts show (0 to 34 sec.) the chrono seconds hand jumping forwards, the next two attempts (35 to 47 sec.) seem "normal", then on the seventh attempt (48 to 54 sec.) the seconds hand jumps to 5 sec. and the minute counter jumps to 1. The rest of the video just shows repeats of these three variants. I solved it by rotating the minute counter finger on the chronograph (seconds) runner relative to the cam.  I'd be interested to hear your opinions on that. It seemed to be the right thing to do, but maybe I've introduced another problem I'm not aware of. * What is the correct relationship between the two hammers and cams, by the way? Should both hammers strike the cams exactly at the same time, or is it correct for the minute counter hammer to be a bit behind the seconds hammer? In this picture, I removed the adjusting screw at 1, and the hammers are contacting the cams simultaneously at 3 and 4. I had to turn the screw down tight to achieve this condition after stoning the seconds hammer and replacing the bridge.
    • It was easy enough to pop off. Once I had the cannon pinion hanging on the blades of the stump, I got my #2 tweezers on the gear attached to the staff and levered it down. That way none of the force was on the brass wheel itself.   I reinstalled it and the bridge, and it looks like a small but reasonable amount of end shake. It also spins easily with a blower. It stops quickly, but I think that's due to the large shoulder and about what I'd expect from this wheel.  
    • Oh, right. For some reason I was picturing a monocoque case in my head. Good looking watch!
    • Well said Ross. My reason for the thread, i like many of us dont want to lose the forum, such a well knitted group of individuals i feel. But things can happen out of anyone's control. Would be nice to have something in place just in case, if anyone has any ideas please speak up. 
    • Ok thanks Ross, I will give that a try!😁
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