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Help with identification and hair spring replacement

Rdot84

By Rdot84
in Watch Repairs Help & Advice

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Rdot84 Member

Rdot84

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Good afternoon friends,

I picked up a small pocket watch from eBay which arrived yesterday. I was doing some minor disassembly to clean up the balance and escapement wheel pivots to see if it would run before I do a full tear down. Wouldn't you know as I was going to set the balance assembly back in, it slipped from my tweezers and the spring tangled around the balance cock and regulator. ? I managed to get it untangled but the spring is now stretched and twisted. On top of that disaster the spring is rusted a bit. I think it is best to just replace it at this point however this pocket watch seems to be very old and is unbranded. It has a cylinder escapement which is a first for me. The hairspring has no stud and is held into a hole in a brass block on the underside of the balance cock with a small brass pin. The main plate is stamped 1241 under the balance but there are no other markings. Hoping you all can set me in the right direction! 

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VWatchie Distinguished Member

VWatchie

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Nice watch and I really enjoyed all the pictures! I'm afraid I have no advice to give. Hairsprings are pretty much still beyond my current skill level, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone trained in harspring adjustment would be able to take care of it. I will follow this thread with great interest. Perhaps these videos will be helpful. Good luck!

 

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Rdot84 Member

Rdot84

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Thanks @VWatchie for the videos. I have seen Mark's but don't know that I've seen the other. I've been digging around ebay and it turns out there are a handful of these pocket watches available. I found two that were listed for parts and appear to be complete movements so I hope to be able to salvage atleast spring if not a whole balance assembly. If successfully I will work on the original one under the microscope to see what I can do with it. Should be a good learning experience.

 

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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you could probably start by underpinning they hairspring from the stud and that we can get a better assessments. As far as replacement hairsprings go typically hairsprings are vibrated to the balance wheel that they are on. There are some exceptions like American pocket watches where the balance wheels had screws you could swap. On the other hand this is a cylinder watch it is not known for incredibly good timekeeping so you might be able to find another hairspring and swap perhaps.

 

 

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Nucejoe Distinguished Member

Nucejoe

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That hairspring is thick enough to recoil from the start( collet outward).

We don't know the CGS for it, I am not sure if its the original either, in spite all this,  considering that balance wheel is large enough to accomodate stronger hairspring. if recoiling didn't go well, vibrating another H/S  wouldn't be challanging. 

 

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Rdot84 Member

Rdot84

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Thank you for your input gentlemen. I don't have the tool to vibrate hairsprings yet but I will be doing some research into vibrating and recoiling. Hopefully one of the two parts watches I bought will have a good balance for now.

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JohnR725 Distinguished Member

JohnR725

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Posted (edited)
11 hours ago, Rdot84 said:

I don't have the tool to vibrate hairsprings yet

I think you'll find that a vibrating tool is a luxury item and almost none of us have one.

as an alternative you can put a hairspring in the watch and see what the hands are doing. Is not a great way to vibrate but if you had similar hairsprings which you probably don't. but fortunately the Swiss made lots of inexpensive cylinder watches out there so should be similar things available that might work. At least they get the hands moving.

Edited by JohnR725
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Nucejoe Distinguished Member

Nucejoe

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16 hours ago, Rdot84 said:

Thank you for your input gentlemen. I don't have the tool to vibrate hairsprings yet but I will be doing some research into vibrating and recoiling. Hopefully one of the two parts watches I bought will have a good balance for now.

My apology for late response.

Your watch is your vibrating tool.

 

 

 

 

 

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