Help - Mortima/cattin66 Shock Spring

[JimInOz]

I'm servicing a little Mortima diver driven by a Cattin C66. Not a Patek, but a nice little beater with a "Kalashnikov" movement.

 

Everything was going fine, it had been stripped, cleaned and ready to re-assemble.

 

I'd just oiled the plate balance jewel and replaced the cap and went to pick up the shock spring.

 

My brass tweezers were just a stretch too far to reach from where I was using my microscope, so like an idiot, I picked up the nearest set of tweezers (SS ones!).

 

I looked down and picked up the tiny cap spring, and just as I was about to move it to the movement I felt that sensation we all dread.  :startle:

 

The "snick" feeling as the tweezer tips pinged the spring into the ether.

 

I was like a rabbit in the headlights, not daring to move and straining my hearing for the sound of a landing (a futile effort with my "ex-military" hearing).

 

I searched high and low from a frozen position, scanning the bench but nothing there. I gently started looking at my lap, shirt front, even got a mirror and checked my face/eyebrows/hair.

 

Nothing.

 

A magnet sweep of the whole area turned up two forgotten screws, but no spring.

 

So, the point of this post. I need a new shock spring or a donor movement and I'm hoping somebody may have one in their parts box.

 

This is the movement as shown on Roland Ranfft's encyclopedic site

 

http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&166&2uswk&Cattin_C66

 

I've included a pic below of the balance jewel spring from the other side, shown next to a Seiko spring for size comparison. As you can see it's a tiny little bugger and not your usual item that could be replaced by a common BestFit spare.

 

If anyone can help, please reply or PM me with price and availability.

 

Cheers

 

Jim

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2015 by JimInOz

[Geo]

I wish I could help you Jim, but this is one I have never seen never mind come across. You do get ten out of ten for the best description of losing a part yet, it describes my reaction when this happens perfectly!

Just as an aside, I haven't lost a jewel cap or retaining spring since I started using a jewel "Picker Upper".

[Geo]

Is this any use Jim?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CALIBRE-CATTIN-66-1431-/281669277086?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_186&hash=item4194cc159e

[JimInOz]

 

Is this any use Jim?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CALIBRE-CATTIN-66-1431-/281669277086?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_186&hash=item4194cc159e

 

Don't think so mate, it looks like a different spring, or maybe a Heath Robinson fix?

 

I wish I could help you Jim, but this is one I have never seen never mind come across. You do get ten out of ten for the best description of losing a part yet, it describes my reaction when this happens perfectly!

Just as an aside, I haven't lost a jewel cap or retaining spring since I started using a jewel "Picker Upper".

 

Thanks Geo. My tool kit now has a new addition  :)

 

[Lawson]

My brass tweezers were just a stretch too far to reach from where I was using my microscope, so like an idiot, I picked up the nearest set of tweezers (SS ones!).

 

Oh Jim!  I have been there and done that mate ... this is why I only use brass tweezers.

Only thing I use SS ones for are hairsprings ... and even that's on a pretty rare occasion.

 

I see you have the gold plated Dumont #4's ... best tweezers on the market PEROID :)

[anilv]

Hi Jim,

Can you make one out of spring wire...I've used guitar wires before...the ones from an electric guitar are quite fine.

Anil

[JimInOz]

Woo Hoo! 

Look what I found (no, not the original, but just as good).

After looking through my junkyard I came across a Cattin C66 in an old thing I got in a box buy.

I know it's only an old pin lever but just getting it working again gives me a sense of job satisfaction.

 

I'll certainly be using my jewel picker upper with this one!

 

Thanks for all the tips and good luck thoughts folks.

 

 

It sure pays to keep all of those old clunkers and basket cases 

 

 

 

[Geo]

Excellent Jim, I love it when a plan comes together! :)

[Lawson]

Excellent Jim, I love it when a plan comes together! :)

 

Any quote from the A-Team needs the correct smiley face

[Geo]

Any quote from the A-Team needs the correct smiley face cigar-smoker.gif

I can only do them with the keyboard. :(

[Gary]

I have learned to use the Vacuum cleaner (bagless one) and then empty the contents into a bag. The toss the magnet around in the debris. Been working for all my lost parts! LOL

[SAK335]

So I found myself in the same situation with the same movement (albeit the 1 jewel version.)  I was excited to find this thread in order to figure out what kind of shock protection spring this was in order to find a replacement for the one that jumped off my two sets of tweezers and landed far, far away.

Unfortunately I didn't have a parts movement, and couldn't find a 1 jewel version anywhere and I'd like to keep the signed bridge that I have that matches the watch.  While the watch that I'm working on isn't terribly valuable, it's too nice to turn into a parts movement.  So dejected, but determined, I stared at the guitar cases next to my desk, which serves as my watch workbench.  What the hell.  So I cut off the end of a 1st E string and went to work.  An E string is 0.010 inches or 0.25mm in diameter.  Far too wide for this application.  so after several failed attempts at shaping the new spring, I finally got one that was the reasonable shape.  I then used a combination of a file and a sharpening stone to file it down.  Finally I clipped it to the correct length.

It isn't pretty but appears functional.  I'm still waiting on another part so I won't know it works for a few more days.  Thanks for the suggestions and ideas.