Reply To: Thinking about giving up!

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Ed,
Well yes and no. I did say “much less likely” not impossible. Many people demagnetize a watch while in the case as do I quite often. I don’t usually have a problem but normally only do larger watches. I have had problems in the past with smaller caliber watches with smaller delicate hairsprings. Another problem is that a very magnetized hairspring may not respond to the demagnetizing cycle without taking it out of the case. There are times I even need to remove it completely from the balance.
Also some demagnetizers are more powerful than others. Some work well while others hardly work at all. Best thing to do is find a good one and experiment with it to see what effect it has on different hairsprings in and outside the watch case.
Take a look at the following link of a discussion we had up here on the forum. Also if you put “demagnetizer” or other descriptions with this word into the search field some interesting stuff may come up.
Here’s the link:
http://www.clockrepairtips.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=361&p=1784&hilit=demagnetizer#p1784

Enjoy,
Bob