Master Craft Mainspring Winder - Presentation and Review

[VWatchie]

This Master Craft Mainspring Winder has been recommended and praised several times by @clockboy and I’m so happy that I, after several years of trying to acquire one, finally found a copy in very good condition on eBay.

The Master Craft mainspring winder is surprisingly easy and convenient to use, and of the mainspring winder variants that I have tried so far, K&D 128, and Bergeon style winders, I must say that the Master Craft winder is the one that I now prefer with a good margin.

Maybe a bit exaggerated, but I always dread and feel tense using my other mainspring winders, especially the K&D 128, but with the Master Craft I feel perfectly confident every time. It’s simply a joy to use and handle!

There are several things with the Master Craft mainspring winder that I especially appreciate:

• The transparent discs of the winding arbors that make it so much easier to understand what is going on with the mainspring, both when you crank it in and especially when it’s to be detached from the winding arbor.
   
• The gauges that make it superfluous to measure the inside of the mainspring barrel. Instead, you can just try out which gauge best fits in the mainspring barrel and that’s it.
   
• That the mainspring can be transferred into the mainspring barrel from either side of the transfer plate to provide for right- or left-hand coiling. A nice feature too is that these transfer plates are coin edged making them easy to attach and detach from the holder.
   
• That the mainspring is so easy to crank into the transfer plate as the contact area between the mainspring and the transfer plate is so small. It almost feels as if the spring has lost 50 % of its tension. It also makes it quite easy to pull out the mainspring a bit from the transfer plate if you happen to crank it too far to get the bridle in.
   
• That it’s so easy to get the hook on the winding arbor to attach to the hole/eye in the inner coil of the mainspring. Using the suggested "method 1" in the user manual, I just push the winding arbor down in the inner coil of the mainspring while I crank it and the arbor hook automatically finds its way into the hole/eye in the mainspring.

Conclusively, I must say that I’m super happy with this cleverly devised mainspring winder. It exceeded all that I was hoping for and was expecting! So much that I felt an obligation to write this post.
 

Edited April 30, 2022 by VWatchie

[clockboy]

it’s my go to winder always. 

[Kalanag]

Thanks for sharing this interesting concept!

Which barrel diameters is this winder made for?

[VWatchie]

13 minutes ago, Kalanag said:

Thanks for sharing this interesting concept!

Which barrel diameters is this winder made for?

I haven't measured them but they seem to work with most wrist watch barrel sizes. If I have the time I'll measure them later today and will get back to you.

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, VWatchie said:

This Master Craft Mainspring Winder has been recommended and praised several times by @clockboy and I’m so happy that I, after several years of trying to acquire one, finally found a copy in very good condition on eBay.

The Master Craft mainspring winder is surprisingly easy and convenient to use, and of the mainspring winder variants that I have tried so far, K&D 128, and Bergeon style winders, I must say that the Master Craft winder is the one that I now prefer with a good margin.

Maybe a bit exaggerated, but I always dread and feel tense using my other mainspring winders, especially the K&D 128, but with the Master Craft I feel perfectly confident every time. It’s simply a joy to use and handle!

There are several things with the Master Craft mainspring winder that I especially appreciate:

• The transparent discs of the winding arbors that make it so much easier to understand what is going on with the mainspring, both when you crank it in and especially when it’s to be detached from the winding arbor.
   
• The gauges that make it superfluous to measure the inside of the mainspring barrel. Instead, you can just try out which gauge best fits in the mainspring barrel and that’s it.
   
• That the mainspring can be transferred into the mainspring barrel from either side of the transfer plate to provide for right- or left-hand coiling. A nice feature too is that these transfer plates are coin edged making them ease to attach and detach from the holder.
   
• That the mainspring is so easy to crank into the transfer plate as the contact area between the mainspring and the transfer plate is so small. It almost feels as if the spring has lost 50 % of its tension. It also makes it quite easy to pull out the mainspring a bit from the transfer plate if you happen to crank it too far to get the bridle in.
   
• That it’s so easy to get the hook on the winding arbor to attach to the hole/eye in the inner coil of the mainspring. Using the suggested "method 1" in the user manual, I just push the winding arbor down in the inner coil of the mainspring while I crank it and the arbor hook automatically finds its way into the hole/eye in the mainspring.

Conclusively, I must say that I’m super happy with this cleverly devised mainspring winder. It exceeded all that I was hoping for and was expecting! So much that I felt an obligation to write this post.
 

Nice vw. Great write up on his unusual design. I'm the same I have a few different winders  as well and I must admit I wonder if the mainspring is going to survive unscathed. Keep an eye out for one for me mate. Sounds like you'll be taking yours to bed tonight  then.

1 hour ago, VWatchie said:

This Master Craft Mainspring Winder has been recommended and praised several times by @clockboy and I’m so happy that I, after several years of trying to acquire one, finally found a copy in very good condition on eBay.

The Master Craft mainspring winder is surprisingly easy and convenient to use, and of the mainspring winder variants that I have tried so far, K&D 128, and Bergeon style winders, I must say that the Master Craft winder is the one that I now prefer with a good margin.

Maybe a bit exaggerated, but I always dread and feel tense using my other mainspring winders, especially the K&D 128, but with the Master Craft I feel perfectly confident every time. It’s simply a joy to use and handle!

There are several things with the Master Craft mainspring winder that I especially appreciate:

• The transparent discs of the winding arbors that make it so much easier to understand what is going on with the mainspring, both when you crank it in and especially when it’s to be detached from the winding arbor.
   
• The gauges that make it superfluous to measure the inside of the mainspring barrel. Instead, you can just try out which gauge best fits in the mainspring barrel and that’s it.
   
• That the mainspring can be transferred into the mainspring barrel from either side of the transfer plate to provide for right- or left-hand coiling. A nice feature too is that these transfer plates are coin edged making them ease to attach and detach from the holder.
   
• That the mainspring is so easy to crank into the transfer plate as the contact area between the mainspring and the transfer plate is so small. It almost feels as if the spring has lost 50 % of its tension. It also makes it quite easy to pull out the mainspring a bit from the transfer plate if you happen to crank it too far to get the bridle in.
   
• That it’s so easy to get the hook on the winding arbor to attach to the hole/eye in the inner coil of the mainspring. Using the suggested "method 1" in the user manual, I just push the winding arbor down in the inner coil of the mainspring while I crank it and the arbor hook automatically finds its way into the hole/eye in the mainspring.

Conclusively, I must say that I’m super happy with this cleverly devised mainspring winder. It exceeded all that I was hoping for and was expecting! So much that I felt an obligation to write this post.
 

Haha how many of us are now scouring ebay for one .

[Kalanag]

I don‘t see hooks on the arbors. Am I wrong? If not, how is the inner coil grabbed?

Edited April 29, 2022 by Kalanag

[VWatchie]

6 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Keep an eye out for one for me mate.

I will!

6 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Sounds like you'll be taking yours to bed tonight  then.

Definitely! 

[VWatchie]

12 hours ago, Kalanag said:

Which barrel diameters is this winder made for?

Anyway, it doesn't have to be a perfect fit. As long as the length of the mainspring can fit inside the transfer plate I don't think it matters much if the diameter of the transfer plate is too small to fit perfectly inside the barrel.

(I'll see if I can replace this image of the gauges in my first post)

11 hours ago, Kalanag said:

I don‘t see hooks on the arbors. Am I wrong? If not, how is the inner coil grabbed?

There's a "hook" on the spring wrapped around the winding arbor, it just doesn't show in the picture. The below excellent post by @clockboy illustrates it well!

 

[Kalanag]

Thanks for the detailed information! 

[HectorLooi]

Looks interesting. Hope some Chinese manufacturer picks up on it. I'm sure the patents have expired.

[Kalanag]

This concept with the „transfer plate“ and the use of a spring as a hook is ideal for a self made winder imho 

[VWatchie]

3 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

Looks interesting. Hope some Chinese manufacturer picks up on it. I'm sure the patents have expired.

The problem with cloned Swiss tools is that the Chinese never succeed or even have as a business idea get it perfectly. I myself have bought cloned Swiss tools, e.g. this tool, and it works almost perfectly, but only almost. Since the price difference is massive compared to Swiss original tools, it is still worth it. If I were a professional, I would undoubtedly always stick to Swiss original tools, such as Bergeon, Horia, etc. Well maintained, they last "forever", work perfectly, and thus save time.

[HectorLooi]

What are the diameters of the arbors?

I may try to DIY one.

[GuyMontag]

Very cool. Any chance of posting a video showing it in use?

[VWatchie]

13 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

What are the diameters of the arbors?

I may try to DIY one.

I'll see if I find the time to measure them tomorrow.

22 minutes ago, GuyMontag said:

Very cool. Any chance of posting a video showing it in use?

That's a good idea! Unfortunately, producing videos is extremely time consuming if you strive for decent pedagogic quality. Anyway, there are several videos on YT that demonstrates the Bergeon type of mainspring winders and they use the same principle.

[VWatchie]

On 4/30/2022 at 11:07 AM, HectorLooi said:

What are the diameters of the arbors?

I may try to DIY one.

The arbor diameters are 2.4mm and 2.7mm.

If you can DIY one, it would likely draw a lot of interest! Let me know if I can provide any other info about this Master Craft mainspring winder and I'll see what I can do.