Hairsprings

[Greg Davis]

I've bought hairsprings on eBay before. Seem that every watchmaker that dies has his estate liquidated piecemeal on eBay. Problem is getting something SPECIFIC. Most folks who sell the stuff just want to dump it in bulk, and don't know a thing about it.

So, if your needs are simple, you can getthe fulfilled. If they are specific... don't waste your time.

[Tom McIntyre]

This is an interesting thread because it implies that making a hairspring is a big deal.

It is my impression that watchmakers around the turn of the century and perhaps up until WWII routinely made hairsprings to fit a particular watch from a small variety of hairspring stock (i.e. spiral springs in several different strengths). Bending the breguet overcoil and timing the spring with the balance were regular tasks in the trade.

I recently had a watch repaired by one of the better watch repairment in London and he was unwilling or unable to make a hairspring for it when it was running 15 minutes a day fast. Therefore, I must conclude that this is a lost art or is rapidly becoming one.

I think my friend Pat Caruso may be getting a little old to do it regularly, but several years ago he demonstrated making breguet overcoils with a pair of tweezers and a cork in less than 1 minute. Surely there are some others who know how to do this.

I have a number of both helical and flat hairsprings I have acquired over the years that are clearly not intended for any particular timepiece. I have assumed that they were made as general stock.

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Tom McIntyre
President, NAWCC Chapter 174
Pocket Horology Web (http://www.pocketwatch.org)
Tommy the JOAT's Web (http://www.mcintyre.com/McIntyre)

[Don Dahlberg]

"Vibrating" a hairspring is an art that few people can do these days. The third course in the NAWCC School of Horology watch series is on this subject. It is one of the most popular courses.

Hairsprings come in a variety of strengths. One must choose a hairspring of appropriate strength for the balance. Then you must install an appropriate size collet. Vibrate the spring on the balance to find the point where the regulator pins will be and then install the stud at the right position beyond that. You can then form the overcoil and make sure that the hairspring is true. Then comes the big moment when you put it in the watch and on the timing machine only to find that you are 20 minutes fast. Try again. Yes, those who do it day after day get so they have the art as well as the science. They can do what takes most of us hours in only minutes. That is what makes watchmaking so much fun.

Even in the old days, most watchmakers were trained in vibrating hairsprings, but they did not do it enough to get good enough and (more importantly) fast enough to make it worth the effort. They sent the balance off to have a hairspring vibrated for it. Most of the watch supply houses had this service.

Don Dahlberg

[Tom McIntyre]

I can't do it myself, so I may be all wet, but I think you have some leeway in selecting the strength of the hairspring unless it is critical that for cosmetic reasons it have a "standard" number of turns. Once it is colleted to the balance, and assuming it is too long at the start, don't you just keep moving your clip up the spring until it is beating fast enough?

Turning the overcoil is another matter and even watching Pat do 10 in a row did little to educate me in how to emulate him or how to go about developing the manual dexterity.

I was talking with a much younger watchmaker friend earlier today and he has made himself some jigs and uses a 30 power microscope to do the job. He cannot, of course, ever get to Pat's skill level since Pat was doing a large portion of the rework at the Waltham factory for a number of years. However, I think Dave can probably do a pretty good job in under an hour.

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Tom McIntyre
President, NAWCC Chapter 174
Pocket Horology Web (http://www.pocketwatch.org)
Tommy the JOAT's Web (http://www.mcintyre.com/McIntyre)

[Julian Smith]

Just to throw in another two cents worth,I went to the Bulova school.We had to make 10 (10 AK) overcoil hairsprings to start with.When we had them finished the instructor,George Ajamian, would take all of them (one at a time) and grab the stud with a tweezer, and pull the stud out about two inches,and say "Go make me 10 more,and this time, time them to the movements.Thats enough to make you a little ill.
The first spring took about two days to do
and the last took about thirty miniutes.But, that was forty years ago.I haven't made one since.
The AWI library has a tape or a film by Joe Cerullo that shows the way to make a hairspring for anyone who is interested.

JS

[Barry Parker]

Hi Peter and Jeff,
Jim Michaels says the following on his web page about hairsprings.
"We most likely have the largest supply of hairsprings in the U.S.A.
Hundreds of thousands of them.
From 20 C.G.S. to 0.035 C.G.S. We also have STEEL hairsprings (including 16&18 size) that have not been made in a very long time, and will most likely never be made again.
That's the good news, the bad news is we have only 2 people that can vibrate hairsprings. Our work load is a LOT.
Springing is an art form and it CAN NOT BE RUSHED.
Our turn around time is about 1-3 months.
Here is how it works:
Email us with what you have and we will tell you what you need to send us, and how long the job will take and the cost.

Prices
Our minimum price for vibrating hairsprings is $75.00
The price goes up from there depending on if the spring is steel or alloy, overcoil or flat.
Size is also a factor, as well as if you need us to vibrate to pass chronometer testing standards.

http://www.watchmaker.net/hairsprings.html