A good weekend ... but for springs

[WatchMaker]

Firstly, thank you to everyone who offered advice under the topic... 

Below is a picture of my new working environment with better ambient lighting; a bright LED light with vertical and horizontal tilt plus some better quality eyeglasses crucially of a more reasonable magnification than the OTT eyeglass I have previously used. [This picture was taken on my mobile 'phone which has adjusted the exposure so actually it is a lot brighter than the picture makes out]. 

So my first weekend foray was with an MST 522. Looking pretty original but very grubby I carefully dismantled for cleaning. I was concerned I had somehow lost the winding pinion along the way as this was missing but a careful search of my working board and no sign. Mmm. But then look at the click spring ... it seems someone has previously messed around in here. I'm sure the watch never left the factory with that spring! Okay let's park that watch ...

... and move onto an AS 1716. Again a careful dismantling for cleaning and service showed this movement to be in pretty good condition; I really liked the separate little automatic module too! However the keyless works highlighted another click spring issue! This time with a spring that has broken. Not the end of the world ...

... but after getting about 95% through putting back together and putting back the calendar ring slide spring. Carefully, carefully ... PING! I then spent 20 minutes recreating a scene from CSI trying to find this on the floor and surrounding area. No luck. The good news is that the watch is running though - yay.

So three spring issues in a weekend!. What are the chances...?! :-)

[dadistic]

3 hours ago, WatchMaker said:

So three spring issues in a weekend!. What are the chances...?! :-)

 

Oh, that's normal 

[WatchMaker]

Quote

Oh, that's normal 

LOL! That's okay then! Thought it was just my bad luck!

[Oh ... and I did mean 'set/return spring' and not 'click spring' in my post btw. Realised my error and couldn't edit it after submitting!]

[RyMoeller]

5 hours ago, dadistic said:

Oh, that's normal 

Ah thank you.  Somehow that makes me feel better inside (as well as provoking laughter on the outside). 

Related- I serviced my father's Accutron about two weeks back.  I spent more time on my hands and knees than I did sitting at the workbench.  This is not an exaggeration!

[WatchMaker]

This could be an interesting thing to poll on! How many folk have had something disappear from their tweezers never to be found again?!

I was being super careful but despite this that spring launched to goodness knows where. It's been good to know it's not uncommon and isn't just me!

[digginstony]

This could be an interesting thing to poll on! How many folk have had something disappear from their tweezers never to be found again?!

I was being super careful but despite this that spring launched to goodness knows where. It's been good to know it's not uncommon and isn't just me!

I don't like springs and they don't like me. I've lost many. The trick is never put a spring under tension or release without holding the spring down with tweezers or equivalent, with the other hand.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[Walkerwek1958]

Losing small springs is always a risk. One trick I use is to put the movement inside a plastic bag then make a hole through with the tweezers and screwdriver to remove the spring. If it makes a bid for freedom it won`t get out of the bag. Same technique for reassembly with little springs, particularly if it's one that's not available new.

 

A bit awkward, but this trick works!

 

Paul

[WatchMaker]

Hi Paul ... that's a really good suggestion; thank you. I'm going to use it next time.

Another thing that has worked reasonably well recently is use of my spring bar removal tool. Clearly designed for removing watch strap bars I've found that the little notched 'blade' pushed/held over a spring minimises the likelihood of flight. However this isn't guaranteed so the plastic bag suggestion is definitely one I'm keen to try.

[sperki77]

Yeah, I like the plastic bag idea, too.  I think we spend about 60% of our time on our knees... about half of it looking for parts and half praying we find them. 

I think that's what happened to the last satellite that lost its orbit... it ran into a big wad of watch springs that must surely orbit the planet.

[fjseal]

The 'pinged' springs are probably somewhere in space stuck inside odd lost socks!

[sperki77]

That's probably what's happening to all those missing socks... the springs are catching them as they ping out into the universe, and due to the lack of gravity, the socks float off leaving that wad of springs to trap our unsuspecting satellites.   All this time we've been giving poor innocent dryers a bad rap...