Another purchase 🤦‍♂️

[Neverenoughwatches]

I'm at it again ! The last month for me has been flogging my guts out at work doing a loft conversion. Now i want to spend all my hard graft earned looty on watch stuff.  Since learning watch repair i have mostly hand wound  mainsprings ( shock horror ). Yes I know its bad, some say really bad and very wrong ( badwrong / badong (if you want to understand my humour then watch movies like kung-pow ) ). I have winders but they dont always fit, and occasionally seem to want to convert a perfectly good mainspring into a mutant slinky toy while testing my very patient patience .But this afternoon while browsing one of my favourite seller's sites i came across what i think are adjustable mainspring winders made by Star. hmm yes me thinks thats just the sort of thing i would buy. Unusual, practical, versatile and gets the job done, not unlike my good self. So now i eagerly await my lovely postlady bringing me a fresh new toy to break more mainsprings with. I will post them up as soon as they arrive for approval.  Are we all excited ? I am .

[RichardHarris123]

Let me know if it's any good, I still don't have one.  Winding by hand?  Me too. Hehe. 

[Neverenoughwatches]

My lovely postlady delivery my new old mainspring winders this morning.  Made by the Swiss Star company, i have a staking set by them and a few other bits and pieces that seem of good quality. I have a few different winder sets that are used occasionally when they fit. But i especially like these as the design allows for size adjustment via four spring loaded prongs. Also the shape of the pusher end prevents the mainspring getting trapped.  This sometimes happens on my other winders between the pusher and the sidewall, notice the difference in the last 2 pictures. Something to think about when buying old worn winders as well as worn and broken arbor hooks. This is my collection of winders so far hopefully these will cover my sizes now and stop me from buying any more. And also take me up to the prestigious league of a complete non hand mainspring winder . Adjustment runs from 6mm - 7.5,  7mm - 9.5,  9.5mm - 14.0. The hooks are all in good condition and will wind in both left and right directions. I haven't had a trial run as yet so that will be sometime this weekend on some scrap springs and barrels. Have a look at the pictures and let me know any opinions or experiences with these please good or bad. Have a good day everyone x

[HectorLooi]

I have the same kind of adjustable mainspring winders. But be very careful with them. They work for manual mainsprings but the bridle of automatic mainsprings can poke out through another gap and kink it. I broke a Seiko mainspring using it.

[Neverenoughwatches]

23 minutes ago, HectorLooi said:

I have the same kind of adjustable mainspring winders. But be very careful with them. They work for manual mainsprings but the bridle of automatic mainsprings can poke out through another gap and kink it. I broke a Seiko mainspring using it.

Thanks for that hector, i was thinking that could be an issue even with a standard spring. I was thinking i could somehow cover three of the openings with case restoration tape.

[nickelsilver]

It can certainly be (is) an issue with regular springs. If you want to cover the extra openings it would need to be done from the inside...

 

If you can get it so that some extra spring is sticking out and still fit in the barrel that's the safest, but isn't always possible without putting a bend in the spring.

Edited February 10, 2023 by nickelsilver

[Neverenoughwatches]

6 minutes ago, nickelsilver said:

It can certainly be (is) an issue with regular springs. If you want to cover the extra openings it would need to be done from the inside...

 

If you can get it so that some extra spring is sticking out and still fit in the barrel that's the safest, but isn't always possible without putting a bend in the spring.

Thanks for the input Nicklesilver,  I'm  expecting having to do some work arounds with its design flaw. I liked the idea of an adjustable size and the price wasn't bad for them.

[RichardHarris123]

Let us know the results after you have tried them. 

[Neverenoughwatches]

1 hour ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Let us know the results after you have tried them. 

Will do, they don't crop up too often . If i see any more i will let you know Rich. I have mostly hand wound since i started, i know it can potentially distort the spring. 

[RichardHarris123]

20 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Will do, they don't crop up too often . If i see any more i will let you know Rich. I have mostly hand wound since i started, i know it can potentially distort the spring. 

Hard on the fingers too.