#hairspring

[emmaameliamiaava]

Unveiling the Intricacies of the Hairspring in Watchmaking

In the intricate world of watchmaking, every tiny component plays a vital role in ensuring precision and accuracy. Among these components, the hairspring stands out as a marvel of engineering, essential for regulating the oscillations of a watch's balance wheel. Let's delve into the fascinating realm of the hairspring, where precision meets craftsmanship in the pursuit of horological perfection. The Essence of the Hairspring At the heart of every mechanical watch movement lies the balance wheel, a delicate oscillating component that divides time into equal segments. The hairspring, often referred to as the balance spring, is a tiny spiral-shaped spring that controls the oscillations of the balance wheel, regulating the timing of the watch with remarkable accuracy. Precision in Design Crafted from thin strips of specialized alloy, typically a form of steel or a copper-beryllium alloy, the hairspring undergoes meticulous manufacturing processes to achieve its desired properties. Its precise dimensions, shape, and elasticity are carefully calibrated to ensure consistent and reliable timekeeping, even in the face of external factors such as temperature changes and mechanical shocks. The Role of the Hairspring As the balance wheel swings back and forth, the hairspring exerts a restoring force, pulling the balance wheel back to its equilibrium position with each oscillation. This delicate interplay between the balance wheel and the hairspring determines the watch's beat rate, or the number of oscillations per hour, ultimately defining its accuracy. Fine-Tuning for Performance Watchmakers meticulously adjust the hairspring to achieve the desired rate of oscillation, often through processes such as bending or shaping the spring's coils. This fine-tuning ensures that the watch maintains accurate timekeeping under various conditions, making the hairspring a critical component in the pursuit of horological excellence. Preserving the Legacy Despite advances in technology, the craftsmanship and precision required to manufacture hairsprings remain a hallmark of traditional watchmaking. From the delicate art of hand-crafting to the cutting-edge techniques of modern production, the hairspring continues to embody the essence of horological mastery, ensuring that each tick of a mechanical watch is a testament to centuries of expertise and innovation.

[bogkeep]

treated myself to a nice cup of Mystery Plant today u_u

[johnbiggsny]

Rolex Daytona: History, Movement, Dials, Sizes, Materials & Prices

The Rolex Daytona is a legendary chronograph watch that holds a significant place in the history of luxury timepieces. Initially introduced in 1963, the Daytona aka the Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona had a slow start, with unsold models gathering dust on jeweler’s shelves. However, this all changed when it found an unexpected ally in the world of motor racing – actor and race car driver Paul…

[pkansa]

Rolex Daytona: History, Movement, Dials, Sizes, Materials & Prices

The Rolex Daytona is a legendary chronograph watch that holds a significant place in the history of luxury timepieces. Initially introduced in 1963, the Daytona aka the Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona had a slow start, with unsold models gathering dust on jeweler’s shelves. However, this all changed when it found an unexpected ally in the world of motor racing – actor and race car driver Paul…

[invisibleicewands]

“Don't follow me, forget about me.” - Midnight at the Pera Palace S01E08 Hairspring - #13

[travelergirlx]

ESRA KÖKSÜZ 1.08 - Hairspring

[lesbianredpanda]

not even a joke I want to hear all about the workings of mechanical watches (autism stare)

Continuing from my other post "Well how long a watch runs depends on the size and type of mainspring it has! So the mainspring is a coiled spring that stores all of the power that a watch uses and it distributes that power through a series of wheels (gears) and pinions called the "train of wheels" that regulate that power to useful units of time. Fun fact, the mainspring is what you're coiling back up when you wind a mechanical watch, replenishing its stored power! The mainspring is kept coiled inside a part called the mainspring barrel or sometimes known as the "first wheel". The barrel is then connected to the second wheel (more commonly known as the "center wheel") which has a long post that sticks all the way through the main plate of the watch to the dial side onto which the cannon pinion will be friction fit later. Next in the train of wheels is th....."

e third wheel and fourth wheel. Now the fourth wheel is actually interesting because it carries the seconds hand of the watch. On watches that have off-center seconds hands (typically at the 6 or 9 o'clock positions) this is usually because that is where the fourth wheel sits on the main plate and the post of the fourth wheel just goes through to the other side and carries the seconds hand.

Can you guess what comes after the fourth wheel? WRONG it's the escape wheel! The escape wheel is a funny looking wheel that kinda looks more like a saw blade than a gear and that's because it's main job is to interface with the Y-shaped pallet fork which swings back and fourth only allowing one tooth of the escape wheel to pass at a time.

Now without that pallet fork in place, if you were to wind up the mainspring and let it go, all the power would instantly run out as the whole train of wheels spun out of control. The pallet fork stops the escape wheel from spinning freely by stopping on each tooth as it goes back and forth.

"Well Panda," I hear you say, "how does the pallet fork move?!" Great question! The balance assembly is the last stage of the puzzle and is what regulates how the mainspring unwinds and powers the train of wheels. The balance is made up of a wheel that's attached to an extremely sensitive spring called the hairspring through the balance staff which has a tiny jewel on the underside. The combination of the spring and the wheel allows the balance to oscillate back and forth around a pivot at a particular rate. As that balance staff rotates clockwise and counterclockwise, the jewel on the underside just grazes the back end of the pallet fork, pushing it back and forth, advancing the escape wheel by one tooth each time. Another fun fact: the balance jewel pushing the pallet fork back and forth as the balance oscillates is what we hear as the "tick" and "tock" of a mechanical clock!

There are lots of different variations on this system but in general all mechanical watches have these components in some orientation and configuration. There's also lots more to say about how the crown wheel/rachet wheel/click/clickspring allow one-way winding of the barrel/mainspring via the watch crown, the whole "keyless works" which allows you to both wind the watch and set the hands via the crown (called the keyless works because on old clocks and pocket watches you'd actually need to insert a physical key to wind the mainspring!), the dial side where the cannon pinion carries the minutes hand and the hour wheel carries the hour hand, complications for showing the date, chronograph mechanisms, and then there's automatic watches that use an asymmetric weight inside the case and some more wheels to wind the mainspring as you move your arm around. But yeah mechanical watches and clocks are super neat and there's some really great watchmaking/repair content to check out on YouTube if youre a little mechanism slut like me ✨

[cphex]

Reparing a Verge Watch

I recently repaired this english verge watch c1800. Like most watches of its age it had a laundry list of problems:

The click in the fusee was worn to the extent that it slipped, causing the cain to come of and quite possibly fly around the watch.

The screw securing the balance cock was missing, the balance was loose in the case. Presumably someone had been in the watch before me and lost it.

The balance staff was bent, see above.

The hairspring was very badly bent, see above.

One of the case hinges had a broken pin, a corresponding dent in the back of the case suggests it was dropped.

A lot of the steel parts had significant rust, including the fusee chain.

The repair is detailed below:

The Click

The hardest part of the repair was making a new click. The worn click was no more than 2mm long in any dimension and made of 0.5mm thick spring steel with a 0.55mm pin protruding from one side. I started with a small piece of 0.6mm spring steel which I drilled a 0.5mm hole in.

I changed the design of the click from the original in a few ways:

Made a notch for the click spring. The click spring had been bent inwards by a previous repairer and I didn't want to bend it back in case it broke by fatigue*.

Added a second tooth, totally unnecessary but there was space, it should last longer and it makes it obvious that its not an original part (I wanted it to be clear to anyone taking apart this watch in future which parts are original and which are replacements).

Increased the length of the 'heel' because there was space.

After shaping the part I enlarged the hole with a broach until a taper pin in it was a good sliding fit with the hole in the fusee.

I filed the pin flush and polished the faces of the teeth with a very fine oilstone. Here is the new click installed with my thumbnail for scale.

The Case Hinge

One half of the broken hinge pin was easy to drive out with a punch but the other half was stuck fast so I dissolved it in alum. I made a replacement pin from short length of spring steel wire shaped into a taper using a file.

The Rest

Everything else was pretty standard watch overhauling and is not that interesting. I have attached a picture of the hairspring before being straightened out just to show how bad it was; it took several hours to get into a useable shape. It is beyond me why anyone would leave the balance cock rattling around in a watch.

The watch now runs although it is currently gaining 10min/hr, probably due to wear on the crown wheel and palates.

*I know I could have annealed it but I wanted to do as little as possible to the watch to preserve it as much as possible.

[haxyr3]

what does волосок к волоску mean? guess it's kind of an idiom, isn't it?? thanks in advance

Hi! Yes, it is an idiom. Literally, it says "hairspring to hairspring", and it means "very neat, tidy". You can say that about someone's hairstyle, if it is particularly neat, or about facial hair, too, if one's beard and mustaches are well-groomed.

Она всегда одевалась очень стильно, и носила причёску волсок к волоску. She always dressed in style and wore her hair neatly.

Его борода и усы были безупречны - волосок к волоску. His beard and mustache were impeccable - neatly groomed.

Are there similar idioms in your mother-tongue?

[relogioserelogios]

Omega presents the new Speedmaster Super Racing, equipped with the Spirate System, which includes a new hairspring that allows for ultra-fine rate adjustments, with a variation of only 0/+2 seconds per day! The new hairspring equips the Caliber 9920 automatic movement, with METAS certification and housed in a 44.25 x 14.9 mm steel case. The model is accompanied by a steel bracelet and a NATO strap. 💰 10,200 Swiss Francs . A Omega apresenta o novo Speedmaster Super Racing, equipado com o Sistema Spirate, que inclui uma nova espiral que permite ajustes de marcha ultrafinos, com variação de apenas 0/+2 segundos por dia! A nova espiral equipa o movimento automático Calibre 9920, com certificado METAS e abrigado em uma caixa de 44,25 x 14,9 mm em aço. O modelo é acompanhado de um bracelete em aço e de uma pulseira NATO. 💰 10.200 Francos Suíços 📷 @omega • • #omega #speedmaster #omegaspeedmaster #speedmastersuperracing #spirate #finewatchmaking #relogioserelogios https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn7HTsWOIm-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[blueiscoool]

A Commonwealth period brass lantern clock with alarm, Peter Closon, London, circa 1655

6-inch chapter ring, the dial plate engraved with tulips and signed Peter Closon neere Holburn Bridge, Londini Fecit, central alarm disc, the conventional back to back movement with re-instated verge and balance escapement, the balance now with hairspring and poising weights, external locking plate striking on the top-mounted bell, the restored alarm train also acting on the bell, the conventional posted case with dolphin frets, turned finials and ball feet.

40cm 15¾in high.

Very little is known of the life of Peter Closen. It is not known where or when he was born but he was a 'subscriber' to the incorporation of the Clockmakers' Company in 1630. He was made Court Assistant in 1633 and Warden in 1637 but never progressed to become Master. He took a number of apprentices including; John Wise, Richard Ames and William Speakman and was a prolific maker of lantern clocks. The date of Peter Closen's death is not know but it is believed that he had died by 1662.

The clocks of Peter Closen span both the first and second periods of English lantern clock making and the present example is typical of his work from the second period.

[watchilove]

Chronomètre FB 3SPC: Ferdinand Berthoud remaps the hairspring

In October 2022, Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud unveiled the Chronomètre FB 3SPC, the third pillar of its collections inspired by and following in the tradition of the famed 18th-century watchmaker for whom the brand was named. The FB 3SPC incorporates key elements of marine chronometers such as those produced by the historical atelier of Ferdinand Berthoud, one of those elements being the…

[bogkeep]

WHEWWWW..... our hairspring exam is coming up, and we get 16 hours across two days for it, which is the longest exam yet. we just had a trial run for the test, and i think maybe only one of my classmates has finished so far? the rest of us are gonna continue on monday :') i thought i was doing particularly bad but no it's All Of Us. so it's going to be okay in the end!!!

[the-fiction-witch]

Sweetest

Media IRL Character Isaac Hempstead Wright

Couple Isaac X Reader

Rating Cute

Concept Sweet

I woke to the usual sound, so I sat up in bed rubbing my eyes and grabbing my glasses from the side "good morning beautiful" I cooed looking at y/n as she put hairspring her hair already dressed for the day

"Good morning, what are you doing up so early?"

"I wanted to see you off" I smiled as she came over

"That's very sweet Isaac" she Cooes giving me a soft sweet kiss 

"Have a nice day at work"

"I'll do my best. Have a nice day here"

"I'll try, I love you"

"Love you too" she smiled before grabbing her bag and heading out and off to work.

As soon as she was gone I laid back in bed contemplating what I would do with my day. 

I forced myself up heading to the bedroom I brushed my teeth and had a hot shower soon returning to the bedroom slipping my clothes on for the day and heading down into our apartment I tidied up, did the dishes, did the laundry, did some vacuuming, cleaned up the bathroom and kitchen and added a few things to the shopping list for tomorrow I wanted to make sure given she was working so hard that she’d come home to a nice clean and tidy house with no list of tasks to do. It's the least I can do with her working every day is give her a nice house with no jobs so she can just come home and relax. And Of course we could just have our nice dinner and cuddle up together. 

I started on dinner and soon enough I heard the door so I happily went over and pulled her into my arms 

“Ohhh Hi isaac”

“Hi” I smiled, giving her a kiss “How was your day?”

“Ughh” she sighed putting her bag down “I don’t wanna talk about it”

“Alright you don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to,” I smiled. “Dinners on, Laundry’s done, the house is clean and sorted so all my little cupcake can just melt on the sofa with true crime shows?” 

“Your the sweetest thing in the world, I love you so much”

“I love you too, come on I’ll do you a big glass of wine”

[h0dgep0dgee]

So, this is just "Hodgepodge wanted to do the writing equivalent of those really satisfying watch repair videos/that One Scene in Toy Story Two and then got distracted with literally everything else. Calliope and Insect are here! There's a bit of the Sorrows but joy at the end! Also, a little robit froggy with the self-preservation skills of a 12-year old anime protagonist! @thefroggypond you've already seen this but it's your child and your frog so I'm tagging you.

Blip the Amazing Automatic Amphibian

Insect was gone for a very long time. They were shut off and neatly tucked away in a closet, not dangerous enough for the vault, not mysterious enough to keep their location a secret. Just... clicked off and tossed aside.

    Calliope tried to bring them back, she really did. Every day for almost a year, she and the Spine worked on the other automaton, trying to find a malfunction, a flaw, anything to justify their deactivation. But there was nothing wrong. Nothing was broken, nothing was missing, Insect was just... gone.

    It took almost 60 years for them to wake up. A shoved-away memory climbed back to the surface, VI was nearly dragged to the unceremonious hallway cupboard where the automaton rested, and within a few weeks, they were up and running again. It didn't make sense. It was wonderful, of course, it was! But it didn't make sense. Calliope had tried for months to bring Insect back, and nothing happened! After all this time, why was it so easy now?

    It didn't matter. It's fine. Insect was back! So what if Calliope couldn't bring them back? There was someone else who she could.

    Blip showed up when Insect did. Years before Calliope was built, Insect's creator died in a house fire, leaving the automaton and their tiny, tinkered frog behind. They were taken to a family friend, the only person who could maintain the robot, the man who had helped build them. From the time she was first activated, Calliope never knew a time without her best friend rambling on about orchid mantises or one-gilled swamp eels, with the frog always hopping at their heels.

                                  • • •

    Calliope sat down at the scratched-up old rolltop desk she'd turned into a workbench. Watchmaker's tools, brushes, rags, and a cup filled with soapy water were neatly laid out on one side. From one of the dozens of tiny drawers, she removed an even smaller box that jangled as she set it down on the desktop and opened it. Bits and pieces tinkled and shone like bells as she carefully poured them out, looking for missing parts. Okay. Two Wheels, five of the jewels, two of his front toes, and- now, where did that eye go? I JUST saw it!

     The wheels and jewels were easy enough to find. There were more broken pocket watches in that desk than she knew what to do with. She could replace the eye with a blue cat's eye marble. Both would need replacing by now anyway. The foot with the missing toes would be a bit more complicated. She had quite a few old wind-up toys, broken and abandoned and picked up again to be puzzled over when the world got too loud or the inside of her head too quiet, but scrapping those felt wrong, somehow. She knew that none of them were sentient, that any creatures like Blip were too valuable to be tossed away like the little tin trains and terriers she'd collected. Still, she winced as she removed the hand of a clockwork soldier. His hairspring had snapped in seven places, and he hadn't marched in years, so Calliope hoped he wouldn't mind that drumming would be a bit more difficult for a while as well.

    She cleaned all the frog's pieces, polished and repainted the sea green enamel that served as the creature's "skin," and laid out all the bits and bobs formerly and soon to be known as Blip back on the table. Now it was time for her favorite part. Each piece went together slowly and carefully, snapping together with a satisfying Click! She soon felt her thoughts fade altogether and watched her hands move, almost on their own, as the tinkered treefrog reformed, bit by bit.

    After hours of work, Blip was almost entirely whole again. All that was left was his core. A polished blue crystal, rounded into an orb an wrapped in wires, not much larger than his marble eyes, sat patiently in Calliope's hand, still glowing faintly after all those years. Carefully, she dropped the sphere into the locket-like hollow in the frog's belly and snapped it shut. For a few seconds, the frog lay limp on the desk. Slowly, ever so slowly, a cerulean blue glow began to light up the swirl in his marble eyes. Blip looked up at Calliope, eyes as big as saucers in his little head. He let out a chirp... and promptly sent himself sailing off the edge of the desk. Calliope scrambled to grab the frog, knocking over her chair and herself in the process. Now on the floor, she grabbed Blip's box, knocked off the desk in the fray, and unceremoniously jammed the now-whole frog back inside.

    "Blip, you know you can't be doin' things like that. Insect just got back, and it'd break their heart if you went smashin' yourself to bits before they even got a chance to see you!" Calliope fumed, looking every bit like a mad woman scolding a perfectly non-sentient wooden box on the floor. "Come on, you little dummins. Let's get you home."

    Calliope carried Blip-in-the-Box to the kitchen, where Hatchy was trying, with limited success, to keep Rabbit and Zer0 out of a bowl of cookie dough. "Have y'all seen Insect anywhere?" she asked, weaving through the chaos to a cupboard. She ducked as a whisk went flying and quickly snatched a mug and a teacup before a muffin tin was fired in return. "I think they'RE IN THE LIBRARY," Rabbit suddenly shouted as she dove after her brother, who at this point had the bowl precariously balanced on his head. "Thank you, Rabbit," Calliope replied, "and leave that cookie dough alone. You both know Chelsea and Camille hate having to scoop that gunk outta your boilers, and I must say, I ain't too fond of it either." She grabbed and filled a pitcher of water before racing out of the room, leaving the cacophony of the kitchen behind.

                               • • •

    It took a few minutes of wandering through the library to find Insect curled up in a corner, arms wrapped around their legs, chin resting on their knees, and a thick book lying open at their feet. "Hey, Jitterbug. Whatcha readin'?" Cal asked as she sat beside the other robot, mirroring their position on the floor almost exactly. "A book on taxonomical classification," the other automaton replied, not looking up from the pages. "Did you know that fish do not technically exist anymore? Obviously, fish as animals still exist, but the use of "fish" as a classification is no longer functional because it lumps them all together simply because they all live in the water. It is like if you tried to call all animals who live in Canada-"

   "Okay, I would love to hear about the fish in just a second, I really would, but first, I have a present for you." At this, Insect raised their head curiously.

    "Really? What is it?"

     "Well, it's more of a who, really, but it's someone who's missed you somethin' fierce since you've been gone." Calliope pulled the box from her dress pocket and handed it to Insect. "Be careful, now. He just woke up, too, and he's hoppin' mad about bein' asleep for so long." Insect held the box out as far as they could and slowly opened it. Once again, the frog leaped through the air, but this time landed with a satisfied plop on Insect's shoulder. The frog looked up at the other robot, let out a happy, musical trill, and settled into an infuriatingly adorable loaf.

   "Hello, little friend! What have you been up to?" Insect chirped back at the frog, both of them looking at each other with the same goofy, broad, froggy smiles on their faces.

   "Okay, what were you saying about fish not existing anymore?" Cal asked as she poured water into the cups, one an antique teacup painted with tulips, the other a mug with "I'm Here for Morelle Support," and a drawing of a webby brown mushroom printed on the side. She handed the mug to Insect, whose face lit up both with the realization of the pun and excitement to share more about their newly attained taxonomical knowledge.

   "Oh! Right! So, for example, a lungfish is more closely related to a cow than to a shark, and NEITHER is related to-" Insect went on about the family trees of different fish, which one lived on which branch, how sharks and stingrays weren't even cousins, but the same group that tuna and mackerel belonged to held a deep sea nightmare that could eat fish bigger than itself. The three of them sat on the library floor for hours, talking about fish and feathers and flightless birds, and Cal quite believed that she'd never been happier.

    Her best friend had been gone for a very long time.

   But now they were back again.

[invisibleicewands]

Midnight at the Pera Palace S01E08 Hairspring - #1