Balance spring coil rubbing, how to fix?

[BillM]

Hi,

I've been working on an old hand wind Hawthorn Watch.co watch movement and have it all cleaned and oiled and put back together, but one stubborn balance coil is rubbing on the balance cock. I just can't seem to get it to lay flat, it was worse and I have made it better, but that last outer coil just won't budge.

Any suggestions on how to fix this? I'm super freaked out about destroying the hair spring of course.

Thanks for any help with this.

Bill

 

[HectorLooi]

Hi Bill, not only is it rubbing against the balance cock, it's also all bunched up where your arrow is pointing. 

If you remove the balance cock, lay it upside down on the bench and place the pivot into the jewel, it would be easy to visualize it. 

It could be an easy fix or a nightmare, depending on how badly distorted the hairspring is. This is not a job for a beginner or those with a weak heart.

My advice would be to store it for the time being and come back when your skills have caught up with the problem.

Good luck and happy watchmaking.

[BillM]

Thank you for that advice, I believe you are right and I’ll put it aside until I get some more hairspring repair experience. 
thanks. 
do you know of a book or instruction about hairspring repair methods? 

[Mark]

Moving to correct sub-forum.

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Please don't be offended - from time to time, in an attempt to keep WRT organized, we need to move threads to another area more suited to the subject of that thread. Members can help the forum staff by checking for a suitable sub-forum before posting as this will help to reduce their admin workload.

 

[Kalanag]

Here is a good book for beginners incl. the basics of hair spring adjustment. The book is available as a pdf too.

[Nucejoe]

 Though this spring can be sorted as it is in the movement, as a beginner you would have a better shot at it if you CAN UNPIN THE HAIRSPRING FROM THE STUD, the balance assembly  would then  be easily detachable from the cock,  in which case you best take a picture of the coil for your reference and to show us, we will work with you to fix the fault. 

You need to master detaching the balance from the cock for many tasks, including worse messed up hairsprings.

Regds

 

[Kalanag]

Some time ago I was able to fix the same issue by just demagnetizing the watch and cleaning the hairspring. This movement doesn‘t look clean.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Kalanag

[watchweasol]

If you are not confident in doing the spring as Hector advised leave it aside and practice of a few scrappers.  good book Henry B Freid's  bench practices or the watchmaker at the bench. Just google the name for further information       good luck.

[Nucejoe]

32 minutes ago, Kalanag said:

Some time ago I was able to fix the same issue by just demagnetizing the watch and cleaning the hairspring. This movement doesn‘t look clean.

That makes sense, cleaning and demag might be all this needs.

 

[BillM]

Thank you for the book suggestions, I will follow up on these. 
I worked on this watch about 6 months ago and put it aside because of the hairspring issues. I thought I fully disassembled and cleaned the movement, guess I should go back in my notes and check, but you say it looks dirty, so maybe I should re-clean it. 
I did demagnetize it and saw no difference.  
Thanks for the help everyone.