"Learning Opportunities"

[spectre6000]

A while ago, I asked here about which of a collection of watches I should start with to begin my watchmaking journey. A conclusion was reached, but extreme shipping delays courtesy of the end of the world sort of changed my plans. While waiting for tools and supplies, I figured I'd start getting my skills honed, and decided to see if I could tear apart and reassemble some watches that were some combination of broken beyond their worth, or just plain worthless. If I broke something that was already broke, no harm. If I broke something that wasn't worth the price of scrap, even less harm. 

One of the broken beyond repair watches was a Seiko 5 that I was wearing in a significant car wreck. I never did the math, but the 75mph net impact produced some tremendous Gs. The fact that I starred the windshield with my watch hand as it flew off the steering wheel certainly didn't help matters. After the accident, the watch would run for several minutes to maybe a few hours (it's been a long time, and I don't remember exactly what it was doing), then stop. It was possible to get it going again, I think by resetting it, but it just kept stopping. Insurance replaced the watch, and it had been collecting dust.

I took it down, and to my surprise (but probably no one else's given the failure mode as described), nothing was actually bent or broken. I found a very small black hair wrapped around the escape wheel pinion though.

Since it appeared salvageable, and my parts tray and memory were full of Seiko chunks, I figured it became my first victim by default. So I cleaned it up, oiled it according to the service sheet, and put it back together! I put it on the timing machine, and was in the process of regulating it, when my tweezers slipped and naturally found their way to the worst possible place in the movement... **BLEEP**erooni... Well... I've seen Mark's videos on bent and twisted hairsprings, so I knew it to be fixable, but likely requiring wizardry beyond my ken. Still, what did I have to lose?

I removed the balance from the cock, but don't have a staking tool, small hand levers, or whatever you call the block-o'-steel-with-holes-of-various-sizes, but I could see what I was doing and manipulate it. So I did my best. I actually got it looking pretty damn good even with the balance still attached, and attempted to reinstall it on the cock...

But the stud would not go into the fork (how is that supposed to be done???), and I ended up bending the hairspring all over again, even worse this time, and then the shellac holding the hairspring to the stud let go. So... I cut bait and went to bed for the night.

 

So here's where I'm at... I have a variety of shellac flakes (including non-dewaxed garnet, which appears to be what is typically used), and I was thinking a soldering iron with a fine tip might work to melt it lacking a better way. I think I can take the spring off the balance, get it back to happy geometrically, and get the stud reattached. Maybe even without doing any further damage. I won't be able to get it back on the balance though until I get the funds for a staking set...

Or, I could order a new balance complete for <$10. That absolves me of having to right my wrongs, but feels a bit cheaty. Also, I'm still not sure how one is expected to get the stud back on the fork without doing the sort of damage I've done. The stud has a head, then a cylindrical section, and then a conical section with a slot that the spring is shellacked into. Trying to slide it in sideways requires quite a bit of force, and doesn't give me happy feels (it's also how I ruined the original spring). Sliding the conical section into place and pressing it down also requires excessive force. I searched for 7S26 and general Seiko balance things, but never found fruit. It may be another staking set job, but would require a stake with a hole and a slot (seems like something that would exist, but I have never actually seen a staking set IRL that I'm aware of).

Finally, I could steal the balance and cock from the identical replacement Seiko 5. Then clean it up, oil the shock setting, and start over with the regulation. This feels REALLY cheaty, and I still have a dead watch whose only sin is my clumsiness. I will have taken two otherwise functional-ish watches, and made one good watch (assuming I don't repeat any of my mistakes) if I'm lucky, and two dead watches if the appropriate lessons were not learned.

[watchweasol]

Hi  Not a lucky Bunny,  can you post some pics to show where you are at at the moment regarding the problem It may be with members help be able to  advise  what to do next.           Cheers

[spectre6000]

Yeah... I only have dialup level bandwidth on a good day, and today is not a good day. It'll take me some time on a number of fronts. Hopefully by tonight...

[spectre6000]

Pardon my photography skills... You should be able to see various shots of the hairspring, shots of the collet from two angles, and a shot of the cock with the fork where it attaches. Somewhere on/under/near my desk is a tiny mote of shellac that popped off and was formerly holding the spring in the collet. 

 

[jdm]

3 hours ago, spectre6000 said:

But the stud would not go into the fork (how is that supposed to be done???), and I ended up bending the hairspring all over again, even worse this time, and then the shellac holding the hairspring to the stud let go. So... I cut bait and went to bed for the night.

It's done like the manual attached says, using sturdy tweezers. We even had threads about that very subject. 

Your experience is the perfectly normal one when you get a beginner to attack a Seiko balance. In these cases I normally post a picture my ruined hairsprings tray, which mostly I did, this time I won't but be reassured is a well populated tray.

Sounds a banality but learning this takes time. Be patient, do work that is at your level first and most importantly develop general dexterity and manual skills. That requires hours at the bench, it's not as fun as watching YouTube but required unfortunately.

7S26C.pdf

[spectre6000]

I had that printed and annotated on my desk. I just didn't realize that was in the back there.

I mentioned my internet is really bad. For clarity, Venezuela has the worst average internet connection speeds in the world at 1.8Mb/S. That would be considered a luxury here. On a good day, I get a few Kb/S better than the 90s-era 56K dialup connection. Most days it's worse. With the pandemic, everyone is working from home (or trying), and it's been extreme. There's a range of bandwidth between slow but functional and nothing at all where pages (like search results) will... sorta load... But it's a soft failure. It looks like there are no results, but it's just a database failure in one direction or the other. This week has been hovering in that range. This is to say, I searched here and elsewhere, and couldn't find anything. It must be out there, but appearances suggested otherwise.