Magnetised Balance Spring?

[Stretch]

I have a couple of 1960's watches to service once santa has delivered my ultrasonic cleaner and watch oils. they are both working, but i picked them up cheap on ebay with the purpose of refurbishing them and getting hands on servicing experience.  One runs 10 mins slow per day, but the one i want to chat about is a "Services" calendar 17 jewels watch which i have already cleaned up and replaced the plastic glass on, but this particular watch runs 5 minutes fast per day, despite being advertised as already having been serviced.

Whilst i do intend to strip it all down and service again and investigate an issue with the date not working properly, i am tempted to just take the balance out and run it through the demagnetiser i have. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Iycorish-Magnetizer-Demagnetizer-Screwdriver-Magnetic/dp/B08C4WN8XM/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=demagnetizer&qid=1639387077&sr=8-6  then pop it back in and test the results.

has anyone had any experience with these little tools that i've put a link to which allows enough room for a balance to passed back and forth through, or is it worth investing in a plug in demagnetiser tool.

if you have come across this problem, or have any experience of demagnetising watch parts, please let me know your thoughts.

cheers,

Stretch.

[watchweasol]

Hi  Yes I have one in the drawer but it is rarely used as I dont think they are as effective as the plug in ones. I built my own from a transformer and a voice coil (from a disc drive) which works very well. From reports on the site the plug in ones work well enough if used correctly, so If you use the search function and have a look for de magnetisers there should be plenty of advice to be had.

[Stretch]

cheers watchweasol

[JohnR725]

1 hour ago, Stretch said:

5 minutes fast per day, despite being advertised as already having been serviced.

 

1 hour ago, Stretch said:

but i picked them up cheap on ebay

One of the things you have to realize is when picking up cheap watches on eBay that a been serviced what sort of servicing are you expecting in the definition of cheap? Often times servicing means that the watch runs and that's the most you can help for. Then of course the definition of running what exactly does that mean that means the hands moved for a brief period of time before it was sent on its journey to you it does not mean it's going to keep time to the second and No guarantee it's even going to run very long at all. The definition of serviced on eBay has multiple meanings Usually subject to interpretation.

1 hour ago, Stretch said:

i am tempted to just take the balance out and run it through the demagnetiser i have. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Iycorish-Magnetizer-Demagnetizer-Screwdriver-Magnetic/dp/B08C4WN8XM/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=demagnetizer&qid=1639387077&sr=8-6  then pop it back in and test the results.

has anyone had any experience with these little tools that i've put a link to which allows enough room for a balance to passed back and forth through, or is it worth investing in a plug in demagnetiser tool.

I definitely think of experiments is in order? I do find it interesting that I don't recall ever seeing a recommendation for this tool in watch repair and it does appear that it's been around for a while?

Then definitely do the experiment first see how well it works then you can watch the video below don't do it the other way around it won't be as fun for us.

Found an interesting video that explains how it works and I wouldn't recommend it for watch repair.

https://youtu.be/RazORgAqEUc

 

[Stretch]

John,

Thanks for the good advice, i'm gonna keep that block for my screw drivers in the garage and invest in a plug in device, as i looked at an old article on here that mentioned an iphone APP for checking for megnetism and have used it to test the watch for manetism and it does detect it, therefore i really need something for demagnetising the whole watch as opposed to just the balance and the plug in devices seem to cater for the whole watch.

good news is i still have time to add one to Santa's list.

cheers

[jdm]

1 hour ago, Stretch said:

good news is i still have time to add one to Santa's list.

Not a big expense, a cheap "blue box" works good for single parts, as well the whole watch and tools.

 

[Stretch]

Thanks JDM, Cousins had one simlar in black on their website, still Chinese and cheap £12.85 ex VAT, so added it to some other bits i needed for a bundle my daughters buying me.  Hopefully it will be reliable. If it's good enough for them to put on their site.

[jdm]

6 minutes ago, Stretch said:

If it's good enough for them to put on their site.

I'm no physicist but I think that the process of demagnetizing is inherently less accurate than it's opposite, so the emitter doesn't have to be especially conceived or calibrated. You can only throw some amount of E.M radiation then depending on the distance and speed at which its distance to the object is increased, the magic happens. I don't even know how exactly that works, but it does.