Routine Hairspring Work

[Watchuseek Feeds]

I don’t know how this sort of thing happens, but it does. I had to correct a bend in a hairspring today.

The red arrow indicates a point where the coils of the hairspring are touching.
The blue arrow indicates where the gentle bend in the spring is (approx 90 degrees from the touching point.) You can click on the photos if you want to see them a little larger.

And this is the hairspring after I made the correction.
Truth is I just wanted to play with my new digital microscope. It takes pretty decent photos. Don’t you think?
And just for fun: anybody know what caliber this balance belongs to.? Should be a pretty easy one.



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[Robb Ludwig]

What kind of microscope? I've had two of the Celestron 44302-A. I loved the magnification and being able to take videos and stills. Unfortunately both died within a week or two of purchase and I'm currently without any high magnification--just loupes and an Optivisor.

[AbslomRob]

I just have a generic stereo optical microscope that I only use for fine work (like hairsprings), but I can't imagine doing stuff like this without it. The combination of depth-of-field, low optical distortion and depth perception is amazing. Wish I could take pictures with it though...