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PostPosted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:26 am 
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Hi. I have a Wakmann watch with movement 730 R that has a destroyed hairspring. It looks like someone pulled it out! My watchmaker cannot find a replacement anywhere. Any idea where I can pick one up?

Thanks in advance.
Anthony


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:41 am 
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Your best bet is to buy a balance complete - easier to come across than hairsprings alone (and well worth the extra money in my opinion as they are a lot easier to deal with). Your watchmaker should have access to Bestfit to find the right reference number and then order one form his suppliers.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:52 am 
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Try this guy http://www.ernst-westphal.de/index.html

/ Kurt B

azaffiro wrote:
Hi. I have a Wakmann watch with movement 730 R that has a destroyed hairspring. It looks like someone pulled it out! My watchmaker cannot find a replacement anywhere. Any idea where I can pick one up?

Thanks in advance.
Anthony


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:06 am 
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What??? Your watchmaker can't recoil the hairspring? :shock: Just kidding! It's almost a lost art. When you get the new balance send the old one to Roff so he can practice hairspring repair. :lol:

Any supply house should have the complete balance for around $50. It's much less expensive than paying the labor rate to fix the hairspring, if you're luck enough to find someone that can do it.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:51 am 
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onewatchnut wrote:
What??? Your watchmaker can't recoil the hairspring? :shock: Just kidding! It's almost a lost art. When you get the new balance send the old one to Roff so he can practice hairspring repair. :lol:

Any supply house should have the complete balance for around $50. It's much less expensive than paying the labor rate to fix the hairspring, if you're luck enough to find someone that can do it.


I'll take that challenge - but I'm still buying the complete balance from a practical standpoint. I believe an old watchmaker told me that :wink:


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:06 am 
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I think I need a new watchmaker. He has been very good in the past, but he has had 6 months to find a part and hasn't. I emailed ernst-westphal.de and am waiting for a reply. I don't know if he has a Bestfit catalog, I will ask him today. I also called another watchmaker in the area (Cleveland) and he is looking. Is there any reference online to find a part number so I can just order the thing and give it to them? Thanks again...


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:10 am 
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azaffiro wrote:
I think I need a new watchmaker. He has been very good in the past, but he has had 6 months to find a part and hasn't. I emailed ernst-westphal.de and am waiting for a reply. I don't know if he has a Bestfit catalog, I will ask him today. I also called another watchmaker in the area (Cleveland) and he is looking. Is there any reference online to find a part number so I can just order the thing and give it to them? Thanks again...


You'll need Bestfit. I'll have a look for you if your watchmaker doesn't have one, but will likely have to be the weekend.

If your watchmaker doesn't have Bestfit then you definitely need a new one! We have one here who works on Breitlings - chronodeco (Craig) (sure you don't want to do Breitling work Marty????) and he is in the US, so he may be able to help. For parts in the US also try Frei and Borel (www.ofrei.com) but you'll need the part number to deal with them.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:31 am 
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He does have Bestfit and is looking, but can't seem to find the right part. I had him call ofrei because I don't know what I am talking about anyways. If you have the time, and it is not too much trouble, would you mind looking up the part for me? I would truely appreciate it. I can't wait to get this watch cleaned up and running! Thanks!


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 6:31 pm 
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Quote:
Roffensian (sure you don't want to do Breitling work Marty????) .


Only on mine!

I just don't have the time to devote to quality work on these fine examples of Swiss watchmaking. I spent more time on my 1809 Cosmo than I could ever charge a customer for. It did end up with a 57 hour power reserve after being run in for a few weeks.

Vintage parts are getting more difficult to obtain. I do have sources, but I don't want to abuse them. Craig does exceptional work at a fair price. I'm happy to see work of this nature go to him. For the present, I enjoy what I am doing with antique pocket watches, grand complications and other work I take in on an individual basis.

Oh, if you decide to play with a hairspring, pin the collet to a piece of Rodico. With it resting on the Rodico, it doesn't vibrate all over the place while you are trying to bend it. Also, start about 90 degrees back from where the problem is. Finally, remember the wisdom of the fox "Some days chicken...some days feathers!"

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PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:04 am 
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onewatchnut wrote:

I spent more time on my 1809 Cosmo than I could ever charge a customer for. It did end up with a 57 hour power reserve after being run in for a few weeks.


That looks like a good statistic - a nicely running movement!

What's your opinion on this issue concerning my Aviation 6081, Buren 12:

It’s always had an excessively tight time setting and winding function – but it’s always run sweet at around +2 seconds per day – I “charge it up” by waiting for the right time, and moving my arms around (it makes exercise interesting!). I figure the manual winding issue can wait as long as it keeps such great time and I never force the crown.

Anyway, after wearing for a couple of days it stopped. I listened as I moved it around, and could hear the winding – but unlike other times, it didn’t run. Then, I gave it a nice flick with my finger – and it started to run no problem – back to +2 seconds per day

I would have suspected that I may have not fully would the mainspring – but after the finger flick, it rand for well over 40 hours. This occurred two weeks ago, and there has been no problem since.

Any idea what the issue could be to cause such a once-off freeze of the movement?


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 5:56 am 
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onewatchnut wrote:
Oh, if you decide to play with a hairspring, pin the collet to a piece of Rodico. With it resting on the Rodico, it doesn't vibrate all over the place while you are trying to bend it. Also, start about 90 degrees back from where the problem is. Finally, remember the wisdom of the fox "Some days chicken...some days feathers!"


That's great advice Marty as always - now if only I could avoid breaking the hairspring at the collet.......

:lol:

@ Carlos, it sounds like your watch is out of beat and that's why it takes a shake to get it started. That's not a problem per se, but it does usually affect the accuracy so +2 is good (although adjusting the escapement to bring it back in beat will mea that it will need timing and potentially regulating.

As for the crown stem being tight, that may simply be a lubrication issue as there are a lot of lubrication points in the keyless works, or it may be some dirt. A service wouldn't hurt.


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 7:44 am 
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Carlos wrote:

What's your opinion on this issue concerning my Aviation 6081, Buren 12:

It’s always had an excessively tight time setting and winding function – but it’s always run sweet at around +2 seconds per day – I “charge it up” by waiting for the right time, and moving my arms around (it makes exercise interesting!). I figure the manual winding issue can wait as long as it keeps such great time and I never force the crown.


I'm a little confused about the excessive resistance in both functions. Is the stem difficult to pull out/push in? If so, there could be something binding on the stem, winding pinion, etc. From your description, it sounds like it has always been like this. If it has only been difficult to operate since it was last serviced, I would suspect something wasn't assembled or lubricated correctly.

Stiff time setting is usually a cannon pinion that is too tight, while stiff winding is in a totally different area of the movement. There are a number of intermediate gears in the winding train that transfer the power from the stem to the mainspring barrel. It's only a guess, but the problem could be somewhere in there. There should be very little resistance to winding. If it only gets tight after several turns of the stem, it is probably caused by the mainspring sticking in the barrel when it is fully wound. As you know, the spring is supposed to slip in the barrel. If the mainspring is not slipping as it should, the only solution is to service it.
Carlos wrote:
Anyway, after wearing for a couple of days it stopped. I listened as I moved it around, and could hear the winding – but unlike other times, it didn’t run. Then, I gave it a nice flick with my finger – and it started to run no problem – back to +2 seconds per day

I would have suspected that I may have not fully would the mainspring – but after the finger flick, it rand for well over 40 hours. This occurred two weeks ago, and there has been no problem since.

Any idea what the issue could be to cause such a once-off freeze of the movement?


It could be any number of things. Moving it around with too much vigor when it is completely run down is not recommended. The balance can hang on the pallet fork because the fork can wander around a bit if one of the stones is not in contact with the escape wheel when there is no power to the going train. If it were mine, I wouldn't worry about it unless it happened more than once.

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:52 pm 
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 3:42 pm 
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OK, sorry for the delay - a certain Olympic hockey final took precedence.

The Valjoux 730 is essentially a 72C and the incabloc balance complete for that movement is Bestfit #699.


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 11:24 am 
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Don't want to muddy the water, but I think the 730 is rated at 21,600 and the 72C is 18,000. You might want to check. I'm at work and my Bestfit book is at home in the shop. I think the 72C has a balance with screws and the 730 is screwless.

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