Where Have Your "lost" Parts Turned Up?

[Davey57]

Recently been working on a Seiko 4205. And while being ever so careful, or so I thought, the date jumper spring just disappeared from my sight like a flea jumping. It is about the size of a nose hair. I spent the next hour crawling around on my knees in the vain hope I might find it. I decided to try again next morning in the daylight and once again covered every inch of the carpeted floor with a magnet this time, then dismantled bit by bit my desk and surrounding workspace. Almost 1.5 hours later and not a sign.  Oh well I thought,  it happens. So I was pondering over what to do with the dismantled watch and happened cast my eye around the parts tray. Couldn't believe what I was seeing, there in the parts tray was the blasted spring. Not only that, it had landed in the same segment as the other parts for the date setting mechanism. Got to be honest I did have a cursory look in there when the spring shot off but not really expecting such a thing possible I missed it. Dead lucky really, at least I can carry on with the job. But I just keep looking at the thing and shaking my head in disbelief.

[Gary]

Thankfully I am not the only one. I will share a couple of "found" parts. I have learned to use the vacuum then empty the contents into a plastic bag and run the large magnet through the debris. I have found several click springs this way. I found on lodged in the chair (located across the room from my desk) when I went to sit down and lean back (OUCH!). Then one night I looked for a spring for two hours...decided time for bed and went into the bathroom to prep for bed. I noticed a piece of trash stuck to the underside of my forearm. It was the spring. I think it hit the desk bounced back and I rested my arm on it and it stuck for hours.

 

Thanks for sharing! I bet there are some great stories here.

[Geo]

Always remember to check your Rodico! I lost a tiny screw a while back and luckily was able to source one from an old movement. A couple of month later when stretching a piece of Rodico there it was embedded and glistening in the sunlight.

[clockboy]

Under the movement holder is a good one. Found a missing KEF spring attached to the threaded part of the movement holder. 

Found it when the watch service was completed and was tidying for the next job BUM or words similar where said.

[Ishima]

My personal favorite: The bin. 

but then not everyone keeps a bin under their workbench (necessity of the layout, not my personal choice) Luckily it's mostly paperwork in there but emptying a bin one piece of paper and rubbish at a time to try and find a crown or a screw is more than slightly tedious. 

Also, I've found that simply sweeping the floor thoroughly into one point, and then getting your hands dirty, is the easiest, most sure fire way to find a part you think might have left the work bench, magnets are really hit and miss and trying to visually search the entire floor seems to be even more fruitless, and endlessly more time consuming. 

Edited May 20, 2015 by Ishima

[ash145]

I lost a bezel spring for a Tag heuer which I found resting nicely "horeshoe fashion" on my desk lamp about a month later!. Bugger to get hold of a replacement too...

[clockwatcher]

It's not a watch part but a large three-coil spring with long arms from a blank-fire P38 pistol.

I wasn't even dismantling it, just checking the function. It went past my ear and I still haven't found it and it's HUGE!

[SSTEEL]

The other side of the room on the window sill.  It was a spring from a 7750, it must of ricochet off the walls to get over there.  Or off the ceiling lol

[Geo]

it must of ricochet off the walls to get over there.  Or off the ceiling lol

Sound a bit like this

did it? :)

[vaguras]

I have lost and found several springs but the best and more dramatic was one date jumper spring from an AS2066.

While I was stripping down the movement, I heard this awful sound (tsaf!!!)  then the spring lost!!!

Down on my knees for a whole 30 minutes and  keep looking on the floor with no results! Anyway I stood up to continue with the disassembly of the movement  and suddenly realised that my free eye (the one without the loupe) was irritating me! I could not believe that the little spring had landed into my eye and after a while was moving inside my eye!!! I went to the bathroom and started to wash off my eyes with plenty of water in order to ease the pain or maybe to free the spring from my eye. The pain was getting worse so I called my friend to take me to the hospital. I explained the situation to the doctor and after the proper examination he concluded that the thing (the assumed spring by me) could not be found in the eye. He told me that the pain and irittation was still there due to the initial injury. Anyway, after getting the prescription for my eye,  we got back home and guess what:

I found the **BLEEP** spring laying on the edge of the washbasin!!!

[Davey57]

What a good read, I have enjoyed these tales. I do hope the Health and Safety people don't get to read about vaguras incident. They will have us all wearing eye protection.  Although I must add, I once had to attend Accident and Emergency with an eye injury caused by............ safety goggles :D

[SSTEEL]

Sound a bit like this

did it? :)

 

Similar :)

[anilv]

I've had springs on my cheek, eyebrows, elbows ...

 

what happens when something goes flying is...... I freeze and then scan the desk with my eyes.. followed by my shirt/lap....then my arms and hands including between the fingers (cap jewels usually are found here) then my face. If this fails then its on the floor I go.

 

My workroom is not carpeted and we dont usually wear shoes indoors in Malaysia so after checking the soles of my feet (if the part is a light spring) its broom and dustpan time.

 

Its quite alarming the amount (and type) of crap you find on the floor of a room ...!

 

The strange thing is I can spend more than a few minutes looking for a part without finding it, having given it up for lost, it turns up sometime later! Sometimes a few days later..now I keep a missing persons list on my desk. Currently MIA are a bridge screw from a Kif 414, Seiko diashock spring, date jumper spring and an ETA case clamp.

 

The biggest thing to go AWOL was a barrel from an Enicar 167.. not the barrel arbor..the barrel! Took a few days to find it (replacing it was not an option as these movts are thin on the ground!) and finally located it in the unzipped pocket of a bag which was a few feet away! I had checked the bag earlier but since earlier searches were negative I had begun to systematically go thru every thing with the proverbial fine toothed comb!

 

TIP... when dealing with springs or gripping something hard with a pair of tweezers, keep your free hand cupped around the movement so that it prevents any parts from flying away from you. If your desk is like mine, the area immediately in front will be a bit cluttered and this saves you from an unscheduled housekeeping session.

 

Anil

[Ishima]

 

 

 

TIP... when dealing with springs or gripping something hard with a pair of tweezers, keep your free hand cupped around the movement so that it prevents any parts from flying away from you.

Kind of off topic but that reminds me of split stems, I've heard so many people complaining about launching split stem crowns across the room, but it really can be as simple as blocking it's possible 'flight path' with your hand, really no reason not to do that. 

[SSTEEL]

I remember watching the George Daniels interviews, and George lost a screw on a job he was working on, and it turned up a few weeks later under his fingernail lol

[evn137BANNED]

One of my first lauching was a spring from a Duofix. Removal is by  moving the common leg away from the chaton and then reversing the movement to free the other two legs simultaneously and without tension. Being a newbie, I did not do it that way. Those things are so small you would not even

hear it hit the (wooden) floor. I knew the general direction of the path and started looking in the area for a long time. After awhile I became methodical in looking. Searching in grids, looking at a slant so as to cover a larger area with a narrower angle. Finally, just to get an idea of what it looks like from a distance, I cut a piece of Rodico about the same size as the spring and put it on the floor and stood back to get an idea of the size. Well, a shiny sliver of metal, the spring, was only inches away from where I had placed the Rodico. That's my first search and recovery mission. The lesson for me, think first before you do.

[Vich]

What gets me is how stupid I am sometimes.

I will lose the screw or whatever sometimes because I grip the tweezers too hard other times because I don't use two pairs of tweezers on the spring one to hold the other to release or replace it. I then spend ages looking for it and with triumph and relief, find it after ages on my knees. But then I start the job again and yet again take no safety measures and again send it flying. It seems to me that I have to punish myself twice before I act like an adult.

Still do not understand how I can be so thick? Tunnel vision as regards wanting to progress the work with no regard to side issues like working sensibly ? whatever, probably too old to change now though.

Cheers to fellow members of the seekers club

Vic

[SteveFitzwater]

Was reassembling the keyless works on a Waltham Ruby movement, and it has a c spring that can be a bit of a pain to re-install, it took off, so the search began, the watchmakers desk was thoroughly checked, and the floor was gone over, finally ready to concede defeat, I started going through my parts movements looking for a replacement, so I was looking into the drawer I noticed my shirt pocket, when I wondered, could it have, so I checked my shirt pocket and there it was.

 

Well I have learned my lesson, when I get a spring that has previously tried to escape the work area, I like to use a clear plastic large ziplok bag, I cut a hole just big enough for my left hand in the bottom and reseal the zip part around my right, try keep the movement in the center of it during the installation, it has saved me plenty of time doing grid searches. Also it is a safe place to practice spring installation, I would always try to pick the end of the spring I was installing, instead I found if I used the tweezers as a pusher and pushed the end it was so much easier!

[DouglasSkinner]

I like the plastic bag idea-will try it. Hmm!, I wonder if the same thing would work for cap jewels?  I've had some problems with these buggers.

[steven]

When something goes flying, I do what Anil did and with a torchlight as the glitter of the lost item could easily catch your eyes.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[64americandeluxe]

In my underwear! I wrote about in another post some time ago. Basically, the part rocketed up in the air and I felt it land in my hair. I later checked my shirt and pants followed by my drawers. There it was, resting comfortably inside my Fruit of the Looms. Now I know why mom always told me to change my underwear everyday!

[Charon]

Incabloc spring on the table at work on a boat several miles from home. I suspect a wormhole of sorts.

Actually I think it stuck to the bottom of my travel mug for a couple of weeks before releasing itself.

[clockboy]

I am sure some parts are possessed & have a life of their own.

[Geo]

There it was, resting comfortably inside my Fruit of the Looms.

Please make the image in my head go away!

[SeveP64]

 

 

The biggest thing to go AWOL was a barrel from an Enicar 167.. not the barrel arbor..the barrel! 

 

 

I had a barrel try to escape recently, while trying to remove the mainspring. What made it easier to find was the fact that, as soon as it hit the ground, one of the cats pounced on it. As a newbie, there's definitely some good advice I need to take note of on this thread.

 

Steve