Waltham 1890 Winding train issues

[stevefitzwater]

Ok, I have recently restored a Waltham Model 1890, and I am having winding issues, at first I thought the gears in the keyless works were worn, so I replaced them, eventually replacing everything between the winder and mainspring barrel, but he problem remains, I am leaning towards the tail of the mainspring is not catching or hold on the catch on the barrel? Since I have tried two different barrels, I am leaning towards a mainspring issue, as far as I can tell everything lines up between the MS hole and the catch on the barrel.. perplexed… any suggestions on what to try next?

hmm just realized I did not give the problem.. doh!@ When winding the crown, after a so many winds you hear and feel something slip in the winding train, and I am only getting 6-8 hrs of run time out of each winding, thinking about hand winding the mainspring to ensure the tail and the catch are engaged and maybe augmenting the catch somehow to help it hold.

Also any tips on how to make sure they actually do line and fit?

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Steve,
You may also check that the arbor hook is catching the inner coil correctly. Both the arbor hooks and barrel hooks can wear down and not hold well when enough torque is applied. The spring can often be bent for a better fit for the hook on either end. When making adjustments to the spring it’s important that the end of the spring doesn’t twist off plane with the rest of the spring. Other than that a little tweeking can often take care of the problem.
Good luck,
Bob

[stevefitzwater]

Thanks Bob!

Pretty sure it is the tail, the hook has been a bear to get off the arbor when I have taken it apart, but I will check to make sure.

[stevefitzwater]

Ok, so today I got down to my shop and took this watch apart, and as I suspected, the tail of the mainspring had not caught the catch, it was very clearly not attached, so I did the Rodico impression and since I purchased a parts movement for the keyless works I took an impression of that barrel also.. hmmm they are different, the catch on the barrel I have been using is higher, so I made some measurements, that barrel I was using (the one that came with this watch), the catch is higher then the mainspring hole, so that mainspring can not catch on it, unless I adjust it.

So re-cleaned the movement, and reassembled and now I have no issues. Right now I am debating, do I adjust the original barrel catch, or just toss it in the trash, I might need it later down the road…

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