Hairspring removal from collet

[transporter]

Gents I’m on a job where the hairspring is too far gone with rust and bends (and it snapped) so after doing some measurements I found that the hairspring from a smiths empire is just about exactly the same size, height and thickness are the same just the length which is a tad longer, but that’s ok as it’s pinned so can be adjusted there.

my question is, how or what is the best way to remove the hairspring from the collet, it seems  to be placed into a cut and then that is pressed closed.

if I can remove the hairspring I can then decrease the size of the collet to the same as the one on the job ( which is a pinned hairspring) I can the remount the hairspring in the smiths collet and stake that to the cylinder on the job.

any answers greatly appreciated 

[clockboy]

Not sure what your issue is. They either lever them  off or you put a screwdriver into the collet split and twist it off. 

[transporter]

Hello mate,I need to remove the hairspring from the collet and then turn the collet down to the correct size and then re attach the hairspring to the collet

[JohnR725]

a photograph would be nice but I'm guessing from your description they did not expect that anyone would want to disassemble this and there will be no way to remove the hairspring from the  collet. The old-school method was to use a pin those could be pushed out.

Then there's a little more to the hairspring then just swapping the collet? They're usually vibrated to the balance wheel and visually they may look the same but they may or may not be the same.

[transporter]

I'm guessing smiths weren't expecting anyone to disassemble their hairsprings being as they are essentially dollar watches, the watch it is going on is an old cylinder type pocket watch of unknown make, I might try and de pin the original collet, apart from the obvious is there any particular method one would suggest is the best way to go about this exercise?

[clockboy]

17 minutes ago, transporter said:

I'm guessing smiths weren't expecting anyone to disassemble their hairsprings being as they are essentially dollar watches, the watch it is going on is an old cylinder type pocket watch of unknown make, I might try and de pin the original collet, apart from the obvious is there any particular method one would suggest is the best way to go about this exercise?

Sorry transporter I miss read you original post. Removing a hairspring from it's collet is a very difficult task. Most are secured with a tapper pin which has been trimmed off flush once fitted. You will have to push the pin out to remove the hairspring which is extremely difficult to achieve without damaging the the hairspring. Most just fit a new hairspring & collet complete. Finding one of the correct size is the big challenge. 

[transporter]

No worries mate, to remove the pin and damage the hairspring isn’t too much of a worry (well damaging the hairspring ) as the hairspring has snapped.

i have the donor hairspring attached to a collet from a smiths empire pocket watch that had the same measurements so I want to use that. 

What I need to do is remove that spring so that I can either turn down that collet (smiths) to size or fit the smiths hairspring to the original collet with the broken hairspring.

the smiths collet doesn’t use a pin it looks like a cut has been made in the collet then the hairspring has been put in the cut and then the cut has been pushed in thus holding the hairspring in place.

i was wondering if anyone had removed these springs and if so how

[JohnR725]

3 minutes ago, transporter said:

the smiths collet doesn’t use a pin it looks like a cut has been made in the collet then the hairspring has been put in the cut and then the cut has been pushed in thus holding the hairspring in place.

i was wondering if anyone had removed these springs and if so how

The classic saying of a picture is worth 1000 words helps in the discussion like this. This is because typically people are expecting certain things like hairsprings are held in with pins. So the picture would've helped a lot for this discussion.

then the short answer to your question is nobody has ever done this before you're on new ground here.

You're lucky cylinders typically are lousy timekeepers so you'd don't really have a lot to lose here. So just because the hairspring looks physically the same as the other hairspring doesn't mean they will have the same characteristics. But what would be a fun if you didn't try?

fortunately as you commented the hairspring is too long which is good for you. You can cut the hairspring at the collet. Then you'll just have to reform the terminal curve you'll lose a little bit of the hairspring. then you can unpin at the other end and if you're lucky have enough spring to make up for the loss and maybe even find the proper pinning  location to get the watch to keep time.

[transporter]

Apologies for no pictures as of yet, kinda busy running around doing the domestic chores that keep the wife happy so will post pictures as soon as I can. 

As you say I’ve nothing to lose as cylinders are lousy time keepers and I’ll have a go at anything so I’ll keep you all informed as i go along, hopefully tomorrow will be watch and clock day, but looking at the amount of stuff in the car at the moment I might be quite busy on other bits too!!!!!