Mainspring Winder Issues

[clockboy]

I have used various mainspring winders + the bergeon winder & just lately always the same issue, the arbours are too fat for modern springs. I found by adding a tiny amount of Vaseline to the arbour after loading the spring onto the arbour helps with the release.

However this still does not always work & I am wondering if I could modify the winding part of the Bergeon,perhaps by cutting inspection slots on their sides.
Any thoughts much appreciated

 

 

 

 

 

[agoldflam]

Yes I also have this problem, so far I just wind the mainspring into the barrel when I don't have the right winder, maybe you do the same? Also I use pliers to manipulate the core of the mainspring to fit sometimes. Good luck, and post anything u try, I'm very curious.

Through watchmaking I restore connections in people's lives!

[clockboy]

I have started to use the wrong arbours with a cheap winder set I have (see pic) but because of the thinner shafts they release but it,s a bit fiddly & can go terribly wrong if not careful. A bit annoyed because I spent a lot of money on the bergeon winder set & at present I can not trust it.

 

[DJT2]

Really interested in this topic. A friend of mine has a brand new small Bergeon set (eta) sells on cousins for approx £595.

It's the 2795eta set

It's unused & still has some of the wrapping on it. He purchased it when he was setting up shop a few yrs back. However, he states that he prefers to hand wind mainsprings as he gets more satisfaction this way. Anyway, he's offered it to me for £200 & TBH I was going to buy it. But after reading this I'm not sure it's worth it. I'll be watching this carefully just to see what others post.

Edited August 27, 2015 by DJT2

[ChrisN]

I'm not sure which springs you're winding but I work mainly on 50s and 60s watches where the winders work well.

After winding into the tool, I wind the arbor backwards a few turns and that should get the hook off the spring. Then, I slowly lift the arbor piece out, looking to see if the spring is free which it often isn't as it's gripping on the arbor by friction. So, lift up a few mm, slide a brass tweezer in and hold the spring against the handle side while lifting off a little more. And so on.

This works for me, if that helps. There are specific winders for some ETA calibres but I've not seen them so can't say if the arbor is a smaller diameter.

Cheers, Chris

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[DocTomoe]

Hi all,

I am kind of facing the same issue at the moment. I got a vintage ("Bergeon Style") winder set (it is marked "GB" and looks like Bergeon, but no idea if it really is, there was no box) on Ebay and if I pick the right size winding barrel, the arbor will be so fat that I can not get the spring off of it once I have wound it in. Usually it all explodes into my face at some point (and yes I got safety glasses just in case).

If on the other hand I choose the correct size arbor, the "washer" that closes the barrel will be way too small and the spring will not stay in (and it again explodes into my face).

So has anyone found a workable solution for this? My current idea is to get a metal or plastic washer the hole of which would be the exact size of the existing "washer" over the arbor part of the winder and that way extend the overall arbor washer size. But I have not tested that yet. Do you think that could work?

Greetings from Luxembourg,

Olivier

[clockboy]

I use a tiny amount of grease on the arbour before the winding. Then when releasing make sure it has released then on move the arbour out a fraction so you can insert a vey thin pair of tweezers and just push the centre of the spring down then repeat the procedure a bit at a time until the spring is finally fully released.

[DocTomoe]

Thanks, I will give this a try. Do you need to somehow remove the grease from the spring afterwards or is it ok as long as the barrel arbor locks in correctly?

Cheers,

Olivier

[clockboy]

No need to remove providing you have used only a tiny smear - the ideal grease would be mainspring grease. I used to use Vaseline. It only effects the very inside of the Spring so does not effect the operation of the Spring it just makes it easier for the Spring to slide on the arbour


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[DocTomoe]

Thanks for the clarification!