I've just bought this vintage Depose set. Any of you have experience with it?

[Wouter]

I jumped into this as the price was good. But I can still cancel. So if any of you has bad experience with this set, please tell me. It's a Depose set from the 50ties I believe.

 

[Tore]

Looks like Bergeon.

 

[Plato]

Don't cancel, it should be the same quality as the current Bergeon. The design has changed little over the years.

[nickelsilver]

I have several of these, some marked Bergeon, some no name (depose' is French for "patent pending"). These older sets have larger winding arbors than the newer ones marked "Nivaflex", but you can use a smaller arbor in a larger winder- the hole difference doesn't really matter, and if the cap on the winding arbor is really too small you can cut a hole in thin  plastic sheet and fit it over the arbor under the cap. On all of these, often, the winding hook is sticking out too far- it's good to trim it down with a file so it's about as high as the thickest mainspring it might see (the hook can damage the coils as you wind if it's sticking way out). Sometimes the hook is too wide too, again, easy to trim up with a file.

Edited February 23, 2022 by nickelsilver

[valleyguy]

I've just got a set of these vintage winders yesterday, they look the same as photo above, the winders are marked depose with size 00 to 15, the set i got was missing the number 14, i got them at a good price so having to get a new bergeon No 14 to complete the set was ok with me.

I measured the outside diameter of each winder, the sizes are the same as the new modern bergeon winders, 00 to 15 are spot on the same, i also measured the arbor diameters and compared it to the sizes on the table compiled by leo vidal on his youtube video of his new set of bergeon winders, on my set only 3 of the arbors are larger than the new bergeon set, 00 and 0 measure 1.98mm the new bergeons 1.58mm, my No 15 is 5.94mm modern bergeon is 4.99mm, all the other arbors measure the same as the new bregron ones.

They are all in good condition, most look as if they haven't been used, a couple of them you can tell have been used a little more from the wear on two of the hooks but still usable.

They are are still a nice set of usable winders even thought they are vintage, i'm well chuffed i took a punt.

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by valleyguy

[JohnR725]

5 minutes ago, valleyguy said:

haveing to get a new bergeon No 14 to complete the set was ok with me.

do you have the new one yet? I'm curious about how the handles compare. That's because they're actually three types a handles for these winders otherwise everything else appears to be identical over time. Actually sold by several different companies and probably not actually made by Bergeon. Because up until relatively recently they did not make anything they only sold items from other makers.

so basically on the vintage ones the vintage handles will have a different kind of a hook used for blued steel Springs. The modern type is a modern type of hook and that comes in either left or right. I'm not sure if the actual vintage said had a left-handed or not. But still a good deal no matter what kind of sample you have because worst case you just buy more handles a out of to buy the whole thing. Then besides I find time to time you basically need to have everything some mainsprings will defy logic and won't go in and see need to mix and match sometimes.

[rehajm]

On 2/23/2022 at 12:12 PM, nickelsilver said:

 often, the winding hook is sticking out too far

Interesting- the opposite problem is found in the cheap chinese sets, like the set I acquired…

[valleyguy]

No, i ordered the new 14 this morning.

The arbors on this set are round they don't have the recess filed in were the hook is, the hook is a wire that is soldered in a hole through the arbor bent to one side so they are right handed.

I watched leo vidals youtube review of a new set of bergeon winders, the hook is filed from the arbor itself not wire and as the flat reccess.

[JohnR725]

here's an image out of the PDF on the modern and it's. Typically on the modern Springs of the part that goes on the arbor is very tightly circled and requires a hook that barely sticks out versus the old blued steel Springs where it could be just about anything and you definitely need a more aggressive hook. But the reality is you need all of these things because they're always be one mainspring that won't want to look at all even if everything looks like its right you may have to do a little bit a mix and match.

let's look at some images of handles for my pocket watch set that I like that goes in either direction as you can see it's a pin that six out and you'll notice there's two of them. Though actually do two separate sizes depending upon where it is as it moves in and out.

then this is what the old style handles look like for the Swiss set as you can see it's quite aggressive versus the modern

then here's what the modern ones look like. Then a note especially with the older ones they may not look exactly like this depending upon how much abuse they've seen or whether somebody got desperate and file them which is not a good thing to do

 

 

 

 

[valleyguy]

The hook is more like the picture of the middle arbor, i've just tried taking  close up photos of the hook winder on my phone, the photos are pants the hook and arbor are blured, i also tried through a magnifing lamp still useless, i can't get a good photo.

This old set as a 3/5 winder thats not listed on the modern sets, i'll have another go a getting a better photo tomorrow when i have some natural daylight.

[rossjackson01]

I've got a Chinese set. However, this post is very interesting. Please continue to update.

On my Chinese set, I used one of my winders the wrong way. Left as opposed to right, and knackered the hook. I have a second set that now makes the full set. Hence why I made the washers that allow placement of the spring to the right and then a turn over for insertion of the spring the left. Makes it like having a new spring in its holder and doing a normal insert.

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by rossjackson01