Mainspring winders

[Bonefixer]

I have what I thought were a set of ‘mid-range’ winders - Chinese made, about 20, mix of left and right handed movement specific with steel arbors. I’ve had some success with them but generally find the arbors too small to catch the spring I’m trying to rewind. This has resulted in me trying to hand wind, and yesterday I damaged a barrel as it flew across the room into a wall. 
 

I don’t really want to spend over £1000 on a full Bergeon set. Are there any alternatives? Should I just get a few Bergeon ones, if so which?

[rossjackson01]

Like you. I have trouble getting the small arbours, in my Chinese set, to catch normal springs. The spigot rarely catches. Will spend this year trying to get belter winders. One at a time me thinks.

[HectorLooi]

I have 6 different sets and counting. There will always be some deviant mainspring that won't fit any winder you have. So learning to hand wind is an essential skill. I just hand wound the mainspring of a Russian alarm clock last week. Must be one of my most painful hand winds to date. My finger joints still hurt!

I have been wanting to ask @nevenbekriev, what is the proper way to wind a Russian mainspring with a "T" endpiece?

Edited January 30, 2024 by HectorLooi
Typo

[nevenbekriev]

3 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

I have been wanting to ask @nevenbekriev, what is the proper way to wind a Russian mainspring with a "T" endpiece?

Well, actually the Russian springs with T briddle are same as the swiss ones. The way is to wind the spring in the winder barrel not to the end, but 2-3 cm of the end to protrude from the barrel. Then put the winder barrel in the watch barrel and rotate the winder to get the T end coincide with the notch, then drive the 'ear' of the T end in the barrel notch and hold i with something pressed there, push the spring out of the winder and that's it. In case of SLAVA alarm clock spring - yes, it is to big for normal winder

[Neverenoughwatches]

6 hours ago, Bonefixer said:

I have what I thought were a set of ‘mid-range’ winders - Chinese made, about 20, mix of left and right handed movement specific with steel arbors. I’ve had some success with them but generally find the arbors too small to catch the spring I’m trying to rewind. This has resulted in me trying to hand wind, and yesterday I damaged a barrel as it flew across the room into a wall. 
 

I don’t really want to spend over £1000 on a full Bergeon set. Are there any alternatives? Should I just get a few Bergeon ones, if so which?

Dont take this the wrong way but I'm going to say hand wind better. Come up with ideas to do it safer. 

4 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

I have 6 different sets and counting. There will always be some deviant mainspring that won't fit any winder you have. So learning to hand wind is an essential skill. I just hand wound the mainspring of a Russian alarm clock last week. Must be one of my most painful hand winds to date. My finger joints still hurt!

I have been wanting to ask @nevenbekriev, what is the proper way to wind a Russian mainspring with a "T" endpiece?

Totally agree H , the skill of good hand winding goes a long way.

[Bonefixer]

I’ve decided to go with new Bergeon winders, but build a set little by little. 
 

Right handed 5, 6 and 7 to start. Is that sensible?

[Waggy]

On 1/30/2024 at 4:02 AM, rossjackson01 said:

Will spend this year trying to get belter winders. One at a time me thinks.

Quick tip, and knowing you work on Seikos so need RH winders for Swiss and LH winders for the Seikos there is a trick to save £10. Here are the prices on CousinsUK:

• LH winder and arbor = £51.25
• RH winder and arbor = £49.15

• LH arbour = £31.35
• RH arbour = £19.95

So if you want a set (LH and RH arbor and universal winder) of a particular size and start with the LH winder and arbor set and complete it with the stand alone RH arbor the combined price will be £71.20

If you do it the other way around and start with the RH winder and arbor set and complete it with the stand alone LH arbor the combined price will be £80.50

You end up with exactly the same thing either way: LH and RH arbor and a universal winder, just save yourself £10 by starting with the LH set and completing it with the stand alone RH arbor.

Just to clarify, the winder will take both the LH and RH arbor, in fact, in the sets Bergeon only provides one winder per size, and one corresponding LH and one RH arbor.

Still eye wateringly expensive, but the £10 is better in your pocket!

PS

I got a half set, but I would say that 90+% of the time I end up using the 5, 6 and 7 sizes (mainly 6) for mens watches so I would start your collection there.