Basic question on Bergeon MS winders

[ooteenie]

I am about 15 months into watch repair/cleaning and have handled a number of movements over that time. Largely vintage mens watches with AS, FHF, and some ETA movements but also some ladies movements as well. As this point I largely hand wind springs, but in some cases I fit new ones if needed. 

I don't want to spend money on a cheap set of winders, and buying a vintage set could result in a great deal or great misery depending on the shape of the hooks on the arbors and then dealing with the return on Ebay which would be a pain. For that reason, I am compelled to shell out for a Bergeon set or individual winders. I have never seen nor held a Bergeon winder in person, but I understand how they work and the sizing options.

My main question is around the arbors.  Barrel arbors in many  watches I work on are similar size, not exactly the same but similar. This seems to be independent of the barrel size where a 7mm barrel may have an arbor close in size to that in the 9mm barrel. How are the Bergeon winding arbors sized? I get that these are used by a great many people, but before I purchase I am curious how snug the mainsprings fit to the arbor/hook when using the appropriate sized drum for the barrel. Does the process require fiddling or is it fairly straight forward get the hook set in the spring?

Ultimately getting the winding started is, from what I expect at least, 80% of the challenge, the remainder is making sure you don't open it slightly while winding causing the spring to blast out. 

[GuyMontag]

Here is a chart showing the sizes of the arbors and the external diameter of the drum for the various sizes. There are times when for an appropriately sized drum the arbor is not the right fit so then I would try using a bigger/smaller sized arbor from one of the other winders. Usually that works but there have been some where I couldn't find an arbor that would work (eg, Omega 8900). You can supplement any Bergeon winders you purchase with one of the cheap sets on Aliexpress, which is what I have done.

[mikepilk]

I have a small set of winders, not Bergeon. I most often use the 10.8mm, but often the arbor is too big for the spring.  I have a small length of brass tubing which pushes in to the winder base, and allows a good fit of the next smaller arbor.

 

[ooteenie]

1 hour ago, mikepilk said:

I have a small set of winders, not Bergeon. I most often use the 10.8mm, but often the arbor is too big for the spring.  I have a small length of brass tubing which pushes in to the winder base, and allows a good fit of the next smaller arbor.

 

that is clever for sure

 

@GuyMontag Thank you for the list, looks like redundancy in adjacent sizes. I have thought of one of the cheaper sets, and maybe that would work in some cases, the challenge with them seems to be that they are based on movements rather than strict sizing. I did find one that had decent arbors that were steel vs the inexcusable use of brass, but I think the Bergeon ones are a better long term solution and they will still retain their value.