My Gathered Questions About Watch Problems.

[BeyondWorld]

So these are some watch repairing mysteries to me, and I think some of you guys might know the answers to them.

 

Question 1) Are there any easy ways to tell if a wrong mainspring has been put into a watch?

 

I can think of looking up the calibre and manually taking out the mainspring and measuring it, but it's a bit of a hassle to do and possible risk of damaging the mainspring as it needs to be stretched out.

 

Any tale tale signs that that watch in hand which is not functioning correctly has a correct or wrong mainspring installed?

 

Question 2) So this is a timing issue, sometimes I'll get a watch that's keeping perfect time at a flat position on the timing machine, however, after I rotate the watch to different positions the time keeping changes. Sometimes very very badly.

 

I doubt I'll be doing any repairs like this, but I'm very interested to know how this is corrected.

 

Question 3) So sometimes I get a watch that is quite gunked up and I put it in the cleaning machine and oil the jewels, to try and save on service costs, sometimes this works and I can get a watch running under 10 seconds a day, however most of the time when I don't get a good time keeping, the watch instead runs too fast, say 200 - 500 seconds gaining a day.

 

The beat error is improved dramatically and all those random dots that go everywhere become a straight line, but that straight line is just heading up. 

 

What is the main causes of this? And what should I focus on? Is it purely the hairspring that needs adjusting, or are there more simple key areas to look at?

 

 

That's it for now, thanks. :)

 

 

 

[Blacklab]

1. It will probably run slow.

2. Worn pivots or jewels. Cracked jewels. Dirt. Poor lubrication (too much or too little). Hairspring touching the balance cock.

3. Magnetised or dirty hairspring causing the coils to stick. Bent hairspring.

[frenchie]

1. It will probably run slow.

2. Worn pivots or jewels. Cracked jewels. Dirt. Poor lubrication (too much or too little). Hairspring touching the balance cock.

3. Magnetised or dirty hairspring causing the coils to stick. Bent hairspring.

+1

[svorkoetter]

3. If you put a whole watch movement in a cleaning machine, it won't clean out the balance jewels very well (since they're capped). If there's gunk there, the watch will have low amplitude before you clean it, and will probably still have gunk and low amplitude after you clean it. Low amplitude results in a watch that runs fast.

[syfre]

1: Wrong mainspring : the power reserve will not been as expected. Check the 1/3 rule : in the barrel :1/3  of the space for the mainspring; 1/3 free ; 1/3 for the arbor.

 

2: It's all about the science of adjusting in position ; they are numerous reasons but (assuming the watch is clean and there is no obvious fault) : balance must be perfectly poised, pivots must be perfectly polished (without flat), balance must be true, the point of attachment of the hairspring on the collet must be correct.

 

3: Cleaning doesn't affect time keeping; disassembling and reassembling yes.  I mean, if the watch doesn't keep time before it will not keep time after, except if you a lucky guy.

 

Do you mean you put the whole movement in the cleaning machine ? it's not the right method (at all) ; the only case if have heard for doing this is for dollar watches (like mickey watch) which can't be easily disassembled

[BeyondWorld]

1: Wrong mainspring : the power reserve will not been as expected. Check the 1/3 rule : in the barrel :1/3  of the space for the mainspring; 1/3 free ; 1/3 for the arbor.

 

2: It's all about the science of adjusting in position ; they are numerous reasons but (assuming the watch is clean and there is no obvious fault) : balance must be perfectly poised, pivots must be perfectly polished (without flat), balance must be true, the point of attachment of the hairspring on the collet must be correct.

 

3: Cleaning doesn't affect time keeping; disassembling and reassembling yes.  I mean, if the watch doesn't keep time before it will not keep time after, except if you a lucky guy.

 

Do you mean you put the whole movement in the cleaning machine ? it's not the right method (at all) ; the only case if have heard for doing this is for dollar watches (like mickey watch) which can't be easily disassembled

1. That's an interesting tip.

 

2. I doubt I'll be messing around with the balance wheel or hairspring anytime soon, it's the only thing I'm truely afraid of.

 

3. Some watches are running slow, and then become fast after cleaning. I was wondering if it was common for people to adjust the hairspring without cleaning to get it to run time without the service.

 

With ladies watches I put the whole movement in, with mens, no.

[ramrod]

1) just one observation: if someone took apart a particular watch and replaced the mainspring, most likely it would have been a watchmaker. based on that alone, i'd expect that almost every watch that has seen service has the correct mainspring. all watches that have never been serviced have the correct mainspring.

[BeyondWorld]

1) just one observation: if someone took apart a particular watch and replaced the mainspring, most likely it would have been a watchmaker. based on that alone, i'd expect that almost every watch that has seen service has the correct mainspring. all watches that have never been serviced have the correct mainspring.

 

Well mainsprings are the most common thing to break.

 

And you can buy boxes of mainsprings that are unlabelled, I can imagine someone just putting any old mainspring in to get it just going so they can sell it.

 

Not alot of watch dealers care about the time keeping.

[syfre]

3. Some watches are running slow, and then become fast after cleaning. I was wondering if it was common for people to adjust the hairspring without cleaning to get it to run time without the service.

 

With ladies watches I put the whole movement in, with mens, no.

 

You can regulate a watch with the regulator but not correct problems.

 

Poor ladies ....

[BeyondWorld]

You can regulate a watch with the regulator but not correct problems.

 

Poor ladies ....

Regulating watches never works, beat error is always off until a watch is cleaned.

 

I disagree with your statement saying poor ladies, I've had very effective results with this technique, and they become much healthier on the watch timing machine.

 

I think this is due to better life, but being less waterproof let's the person sweat into the movement more.

 

Most watch repairers won't even touch them because of the difficulties putting them back together again without damaging them.

 

I get that it's a short cut, but sometimes there are no other options.

Edited February 25, 2016 by BeyondWorld