Making hairsprings by hand

[JohnC]

In this video, the presenter makes a replacement hairspring for his verge escapement pocket watch entirely by hand. I found this in my late night YouTube trawling recently and thought it didn't have nearly enough views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM7tsGYNAPc

 

[AndyHull]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

In this video, the presenter makes a replacement hairspring for his verge escapement pocket watch entirely by hand. I found this in my late night YouTube trawling recently and thought it didn't have nearly enough views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM7tsGYNAPc

 

Very useful ideas. I like his simple flat spring wire making jig. A very simple but neat idea, which seems to produce surprisingly good results.

Part two, the manipulation of the paper hairspring is a very good reference for anyone who wants to play with hairspring manipulation without risking damaging a precious watch spring. 

I may have a play with ideas for producing consistent curves without too much manual manipulation. It would be good to be able to produce flat springs with minimal fuss and faff.

Edited December 30, 2020 by AndyHull

[JohnC]

Yes I agree, working with the paper is a super good idea. He's also pretty adept at twisting, something I am still trying to get the hang of. I was wondering about how consistent the spring thickness would be, especially at the ends, but I guess if you give yourself a safety margin at either end it's not that big a deal. Overall a super cool video, especially in a time when generic hairsprings are all but gone!

[AndyHull]

If you need precision and uniform thickness, then you could make a jig to keep your files precisely separated, but he seemed to be getting pretty consistent results doing it by eye and checking with the micrometer.

[luiazazrambo]

If i see a hairspring, or hear about a hairspring, or dream about a hairspring or just think about a hairspring once again in my life i am going to throw up!

I am subscribed.

 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, luiazazrambo said:

If i see a hairspring, or hear about a hairspring, or dream about a hairspring or just think about a hairspring once again in my life i am going to throw up!

I am subscribed.

 

I figure if I can make one or two in my life it will go some way toward making up for the many I have mangled so far.

[Nucejoe]

Dose CGS depend solely on thickness or physical dimensions of springs? 

 

   

 

 

 

[Nucejoe]

6 hours ago, luiazazrambo said:

If i see a hairspring, or hear about a hairspring, or dream about a hairspring or just think about a hairspring once again in my life i am going to throw up!

I am subscribed.

 

I do so with the question " Should I worry about radium?  "

and the guy always buys a gieger counter on ebay, handy for checking neighbours blood pressure with.

Another one,  " which watch are you wearing today"  how about yesterday? and always a timex shown  which someone else has already throw up on.

[AndyHull]

5 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

Dose CGS depend solely on thickness or physical dimensions of springs?

 

If only it was that simple.
 

Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_spring

 

[AndyHull]

 

5 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

and always a timex shown  which someone else has already throw up on.

I *never* let anybody else throw up on my Timexes, I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself.

Edited December 31, 2020 by AndyHull

[KarlvonKoln]

19 hours ago, JohnC said:

In this video, the presenter makes a replacement hairspring for his verge escapement pocket watch entirely by hand. I found this in my late night YouTube trawling recently and thought it didn't have nearly enough views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM7tsGYNAPc

 

Wow.  Just...wow.  Making hairsprings.  I'm still getting the hang of drilling out a staff to install a new pivot.  So making this kind of part, for me, is just amazing to watch.  That may be the next thing I aspire to.

[AndyHull]

 

[luiazazrambo]

6 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

I do so with the question " Should I worry about radium?  "

and the guy always buys a gieger counter on ebay, handy for checking neighbours blood pressure with.

Another one,  " which watch are you wearing today"  how about yesterday? and always a timex shown  which someone else has already throw up on.

I only said that because it lost a one week battle against a hairspring and it was a TIMEX. Took me a few days before I could talk about it. I am going to write my story in "Why collectors hate TIMEX" topic once I get the courage to confess.

[luiazazrambo]

41 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

 

I wanted to be remembered as the "Master of hairsprings" but it seems I am too late again. Just with every other idea I had in my life. Look they made it already...

[AndyHull]

5 minutes ago, luiazazrambo said:

only said that because it lost a one week battle against a hairspring and it was a TIMEX. Took me a few days before I could talk about it.

I feel your pain... Whoever thought that removing the balance on a Timex was an easy option (as suggested by the service manual), clearly never actually tried it. Or if they did, then they had some clever in house Timex only tooling jig or magic incantation to make it easy. Give me a "real" balance every time. As for that little brass wedge that holds the hairspring in place... Why? Why oh why oh why? Why does it have an uncanny ability to vanish? ... and being made of brass, you can't even go searching on the carpet for it with a magnet.

[clockboy]

23 hours ago, JohnC said:

In this video, the presenter makes a replacement hairspring for his verge escapement pocket watch entirely by hand. I found this in my late night YouTube trawling recently and thought it didn't have nearly enough views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM7tsGYNAPc

 

I have used that method to reduce the thickness of a 400 day clock suspension spring. However the hairspring he is making although fascinating is way larger in size than a normal watch hairspring. Having said that the tweezers he has made to curl the spring could be good for manipulating a hairspring into its natural curl. Maybe ,!!!!!