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ST36 hairspring attachment to stud weird

Flubber

By Flubber
in Watch Repairs Help & Advice

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Flubber Watch Enthusiast

Flubber

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Posted (edited)

Hi all, me again.

I've taken Mark's course and bought two ST36 ( ETA 6497 clones) that I use for practice and experimenting. Today when I was assembling the movement and checking if the impulse pin was in the correct location the hairspring detached from the stud. I checked on the other movement to see how the hairspring is attached to the stud and the balance cock. It looks as if the hairspring is glued to the stud with some sort of paste that is quite hard. It is not attached with a tapered pin that is inserted into a hole with the hairspring.

My question is what I'm looking at. Is the hairspring glued or actually welded somehow and how may I fix it ?

Edited by Flubber
Clarification and spelling.
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nickelsilver Distinguished Member

nickelsilver

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I don't know that movement, but most modern movements have the hairspring glued at the stud. When they de-glue from cleaning I usually use 2 part epoxy (Araldite for most continentals), 5 minute, to reglue. Last one I tried UV glue as I know the guy and if it doesn't work longterm it's not an issue.

They aren't supposed[/] to unglue from normal cleaning but it happens.

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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Gluing hairsprings is not a new practice. The Elgin watch company pioneered this it was done to avoid stressing the hairspring. Traditionally a pin is used and that can distort. Modern methods Use various forms of laser welding or other welding.

Unfortunately the Chinese were not as thoughtful as Elgin and their glue has a habit of disintegrating if you attempt to clean the watch more than a couple of times. Epoxy should work fine probably best if you could do it in the watch because the stud will be in perfect alignment with the hairspring. Unfortunately there's not a lot of room to work.

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