Hairspring Adjustment

[chunjen]

Hi everyone
I have some questions about hairspring adjustment need your advice or suggestion.
I found the hairspring touched the balance bridge while it is running. So I unload the hairspring and observed that the spring does not keep in the same plane. Please refer to the photos I took below.

from the first pic I observed that the inner coil is at lowest position, thus I suspect that is the root cause of the deformation. (Am I right?)
I found some videos introducing how to do hairspring adjustment. Please refer to the following links.

But to be honest, the condition I facing is quite different from the video. Last time I tried to remove the hairspring but couldn’t get it off(I bought these ladies’ watches on Ebay and the condition of them are not good. I guess that’s the reason that I couldn’t remove the hairspring from balance wheel), and even slightly bend the hairspring. So, this time I would like to hear from your advices of dealing with hairspring like this. BTW, is there any text book mentioned about hairspring adjustment could be my reference or all I need is try and error and keep practicing to increase the experiences of dealing with hairspring.

Many thanks in advance.
CJ

• This topic was modified 3 years ago by Tamas Richard.

[oldmantime]

Hello there CJ
From what I can see in your photos the hairspring might be okay and on the same plane with the balance. Those ladies watches use small and low mass balances so usually they have very thin, low strength and delicate hairsprings. When they are removed from the balance cock as shown in you photos the hairspring stud on these low strength springs can be heavy enough to pull one side of the spring down. It does appear to these old eyes that the weight of the stud is pulling one side of the hairspring down which means it is possible that the hairspring is fine but the stud just needed to be moved deeper into the balance cock. When I attended watchmaking school way back in the 1960s we would practice hairspring adjustment and forming using large clock hairsprings and then eventually move into pocket watch and then wrist watch hairsprings we we became proficient at it. Beginning with ladies wrist watch hairsprings would have been suicide for me. Back it the old days we could order clock hairsprings for little money from suppliers and practice on these. I am not sure if these are still available. Maybe another member here can update us on these. Someone up here on the forum Steve? I think put a link in one of the conversations going on recently to an online book. If it was the Bulova School book then it will cover hairspring manipulating.
No matter what you a important thing to remember is to always always make small adjustments. Smaller than you think will be needed for correction. This is most likely the most valuable lesson I learned.

Best of luck CJ
Peter

[chunjen]

hi Peter
Very appreciate of your viewpoint and share the experience you’ve gone through.
I think you’re right, I did not consider the weight of the stud. And I’ll try to adjust the depth of stud when install to balance cock.
When I used to work as an apprentice in Taiwan, my teacher always say they used to get a lot of chance adjusting hairspring and that experience makes him proficient at it.(just like you did) And he could adjust the hairspring even do not need to unload the hairspring, that’s really amaze me.
Approach with clock hairspring is good way to practice, I’ll try if I could find them on Ebay.
Many thanks again.

CJ

[oldmantime]

Hello CJ I am delighted that the information was helpful.
I looked at ebay and found some alarm clock hairsprings. Here is the ebay auction number, 231492040912
If you search using the words alarm clock hairsprings it is possible that other auctions will come up.

Good luck CJ
Peter

[chunjen]

hi Peter
Thanks for the information of clock hairspring. Do you have any instruction or suggestion of how to handle or practice with these hairspring? To bend it purposely and recover it? I’m afraid that I get these hairspring but don’t know how to deal with them.
I would also like to share with you about the adjustment of the depth of hairspring stud. There seems no improvement. I also try to correct the hairspring plane by bend the outer coil with hairspring stud a little bit upward and downward and observe the result separately (trying to use the pulling force from the stud), but the result is just like the photo I took below.

And I have one question about the index pin, I took photo below. Is it good, because I found it a bit bend and I have to use tweezers to put the hairspring into it through the slit. And it seem not to hold the hairspring very well.

CJ

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by Tamas Richard.

[oldmantime]

Hello CJ
I am so sorry for not responding sooner. My computer blew up last week! I now have a new one which I am very happy with.
The index pin has a guard finger to prevent the hairspring from jumping out from between the pins. This is the section I think you are asking about. The larger index block or stud can be rotated to let the hairspring enter between the pins and then can be rotated back to cover the gap. The hairspring that your watch has probably needs to be adjusted or bent to bring it back level and uniform with itself and on plane with the balance. If adjusting the depth does not remedy the problem then a bend will most likely be necessary. This will be something that you should practice on the larger clock hairsprings first. I located a link to the Bulova School of Watchmaking manual in pdf format. You will see sections on hairspring adjusting in the index that should be a big help to you. The link to the file is http://www.mybulova.com/vintage-bulova-catalogs
Best of luck CJ,,
Peter

[chunjen]

Hi Peter
No problem, I think the new computer must run smoothly now. ^^
The large index stud was fixed and could not rotate, and that’s the point that confuse me.
But anyway, thanks for your advice and information, currently I need more practice on clock hairspring. I’ll leave the hairspring problem now and adjust it when someday I’m ready.

BR
CJ

[c.kelly]

Hi,
For general information over at the watch repair channel on youtube Mark has two or three videos on hairspring manipulation. One deals with how to fix a bent one and I believe another in how to straighten one that is bent downward. Pretty good video.

[chunjen]

Hi Kelly
Thank you for sharing. I’ve seen these videos. But you know, sometimes the hairspring just don’t act like the video shows. I think that’s the point bothers me. But anyway, I already bought hairspring from E-bay, I’ll practice step by step according to the document from Bulova watchmaking school shared by Peter. I think it’s helpful for me to practice from basic.

CJ

[c.kelly]

Hi,
Some other things to consider is make sure you use the proper tweezers. I use two #5 Dumont tweezers when working on a hairspring. Also practice and good magnification is critical. What I did was find hairsprings that were already damaged and just kept working at them slowly. You are right in that a hairspring can be damaged very quickly but sometimes you may have nothing to lose in attempting the repair. I just posted some pictures over at that other site of a Rolex I am working on and someone had already removed the balance and bent the hairspring when they did that. I couldn’t find just a hairspring and a complete balance was $450.00. At that point I decided to give it a try. Watch is now ticking away showing a -5 sec a day on my timing machine. Anyway just keep practicing and I know you’ll be able to get the hang of it.

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