Post by Archer on Jan 27, 2008 13:49:54 GMT -6
Why did I ever agree to work on his watch.... 
j/k
I started working on Ben's vintage Hamilton quite some time ago....seems like years ago.....
The original movement had a few problems, so I bought a spare movement.....that also had some problems.
Here's one of them....the original balance from Ben's watch is on the left, and the new one on the right. The one on the left has a broken staff, so I can't use it. Note the position of the balance spring stud (the rectangular thing). I've shown where the current position is with a red square.....
So the one on the left is correct, and the one on the right needs to be bent to the same position. This is delicate work to say the least, and also work I haven't done before. Keep in mind the entire balance is about 3/8 inches in diameter, so this bend is very slight. So I tried everything else I could think of to make this movement work right before tackling this item. The bottom line is, this had to be done, so this was the weekend for it.
I spent all morning yesterday with the balance spring of an old Bulova (that I had already messed up a while back by dropping it) and practiced bending the hair spring so I could get the feel of how much pressure to use, how to hold the spring, etc. I realized that bending too far was absolutely to be avoided, because trying to correct this was a lot tougher than putting in a little more bend!
Today I bent the newer spring. I made sure the house was quiet, and tackled this. Here is the result, side by side again.
Pretty close! I put this balance back in the watch, assembled the balance cock, and before I finished tightening the screws, it fired right up! Woohoo!
Running MUCH better than it was before - amazing how much difference this small change of shape in this spring makes.
Time for a beer to celebrate.
j/k
I started working on Ben's vintage Hamilton quite some time ago....seems like years ago.....
The original movement had a few problems, so I bought a spare movement.....that also had some problems.
Here's one of them....the original balance from Ben's watch is on the left, and the new one on the right. The one on the left has a broken staff, so I can't use it. Note the position of the balance spring stud (the rectangular thing). I've shown where the current position is with a red square.....
So the one on the left is correct, and the one on the right needs to be bent to the same position. This is delicate work to say the least, and also work I haven't done before. Keep in mind the entire balance is about 3/8 inches in diameter, so this bend is very slight. So I tried everything else I could think of to make this movement work right before tackling this item. The bottom line is, this had to be done, so this was the weekend for it.
I spent all morning yesterday with the balance spring of an old Bulova (that I had already messed up a while back by dropping it
) and practiced bending the hair spring so I could get the feel of how much pressure to use, how to hold the spring, etc. I realized that bending too far was absolutely to be avoided, because trying to correct this was a lot tougher than putting in a little more bend!Today I bent the newer spring. I made sure the house was quiet, and tackled this. Here is the result, side by side again.
Pretty close! I put this balance back in the watch, assembled the balance cock, and before I finished tightening the screws, it fired right up! Woohoo!
Running MUCH better than it was before - amazing how much difference this small change of shape in this spring makes.
Time for a beer to celebrate.
;D
