You've done a fantastic job with this video. You covered what's important to know and explained use and strategy very well. Thanks for making this information available, as I haven't seen anything like this anywhere else.
I just bought a China set and it has steel arbours and pins. Full se t of right hand winders and a handle that takes both left and right hand barrels. Am trying to find a set of the left hand winders, but I can just use washers drilled to size and then flip the springs over. Cost for the set was less than £80. The same price that a single barrel costs from some Bergeon dealers. Just need to be careful when drilling to get the right size. Take your time and drill to next size below and then finish with a small round file. Or if you can, use the two barrel method.....
That’s good they started making them out of steel. It would be nice if they made the hand winders but you can get around it. It’s better than winding them in by hand 👍
@leovidalwatches8208 Someone will make them at some point. They are movement specific, but with a suitable table like yours, they are close enough. It's good enough for us hobbyists. Anyways, great videos of the seiko movements. Just what I am working on at the moment. Thank you for the info.
Amazing video Leo. This really helped me winding mainsprings, I had lots of mishaps :) really appreciate the effort and time in making these video. Thank you !
I've chosen the Bergeon winders (non-caliber-specific). I didn't want to buy a full set (tempting as it was), but at Cousins I did find a nice case for Bergeon winders with space for LH and RH handles, 17 winders w/ RH arbors, and 17 LH arbors. To begin with I only have a RH handle, #7(L+R), #11(R), but it's a start. A partial set consisting of sizes #4-#7 + #10-#11 (with arbors for both directions) is what I may end up with. I don't need to fill up the case with all available sizes -- it's just nice to have a good home for these because they're expensive. Thanks again for a very helpful video. 👍
First, Thank you! Your explanation and camera work are extremely helpful and I dare say the only video that does so regarding mainspring winding for wristwatches. Again I thank you as this was immensely helpful . Cheers 🍻
WARNING: I recently purchased a few individual brand-new Bergeon winders (from CousinsUK, so they are not fake) and they have metal shavings in them! I could not figure out why I had metal shavings in my freshly inserted mainsprings and I could not believe that's the problem, but I checked with a couple winders fresh out of the packaging. Disgusting given the price!!! I recommend banging the drums on a wood or similar surface (you'll see right away if there are shavings in yours) and/or washing them with isopropyl to get (most of) the shavings out.
I’m not surprised. I don’t think I had problems with my mainspring winders but I had issues with other Bergeon tools. I had a similar issue with a set of aluminium dies 5500-A1. The threads were full of aluminium shavings. It was very difficult to get rid of them and it was time consuming. When you pay so much money for tools you’d expect them to be perfect but that’s not always the case.
You put so much Effort and Information in this Video - a shame, it doesnt draw more Attention. Pls do not stop the good Work! I bought a medium priced (China) Set and used your Numbers for Comparison with the Bergeon Set ;)
I'm thinking to buy a bergeon 5355 "reduced" set of mainspring winders. For me it does cost astronomically high. I just checked that this one contains mostly the winders for smallest barrels between 5 and 10 mm. I would use the winder only for automatic watches. The winding of manual wound mainsprings by hand is no problem at all. But then the 5355 wouldn't be sufficient for the most of the automatic watches, because they tend to have bigger mainspring barrels. 2824 2892 7750 (10,5 11 12,5 mm barrel) Do you think it would be better, to buy the handles and the winders separately for the specific calibers? It would be cheaper definately. Can you give me a recommendation about the mostly used barrel sizes and winding directions? Thank you in advance!
My recommendation would be to buy what you need. If you don’t have any and let’s say you need number 6, to start with, I’d get number 5, 6 and 7. If your measurements were not quite right you will have the 5 and 7 and you should be good. Then buy them as you need them. It is more expensive to buy the full set individually but what are the chances you will need them all? Let’s not forget you will not need all the arbours. As an example, if you buy winders 5, 6 and 7, you only need one arbour for the 5 and 6 and another arbour for the 7. If you then at some point buy the winder no. 8, you will already have the arbour for no. 7 which is exactly the same as the arbour for winder no. 8. That’s what I’d do if I wasn’t buying the full set. I have noticed that you can now buy the empty boxes for the 5356 set so if you want to keep the winders tidy you have the option.
It seems to me that someone could put together an optimized set. 17 drums from 00-15. And 8 left-handed and 8-right handed arbors (sizes 0,2,4,8,10,12,15). Mainspring winding sets seem to have a lot of duplicate parts. Thanks for the video!
I agree. I put the chart together for the guys who will be buying the winders individually so they don’t end up spending more than what they need to spend. I’m glad you enjoyed the video, thank you for watching.
Fantastic video (especially the dimensions). I have access to machining tooling and am going to try machining/fabricating some of these. I wonder if I could ask an additional question about the barrel drums. The steel plunger that goes through the center of the drums, they appear to be made of two pieces so that they can be installed through the brass of the barrel. Can you tell how they are fastened? do they screw together? Or maybe they are press fit together?? Many thanks
I’m sorry I don’t know. I didn’t dare to take it apart. I can give you a different tip though. Something I didn’t know when I was making the video, it’s very easy to take the mainspring off the hook. Keep unwinding until it stops, and keep going. The slanted hook is designed that way so it can come off the hook while it’s in the barrel/drum. Now the tip, if you’re making the arbours, make the discs separate parts, do not attach them to the arbour. When you unwind it and the mainspring comes off the hook, you hold the disc and pull the arbour out while the disc stays in place. I have some of these for Rolex mainsprings, they are designed that way and they are much easier to use: www.cousinsuk.com/product/watch-rolex-calibres
I’d suggest checking out my latest video, Seiko 7006. You will see how I handled it with these mainspring winders and also the differences between Seiko and GR mainsprings 👍
Thanks for producing this video. Its helpful to know what can and cannot be done with this expensive, yet nearly indispensible tool. Some of the ideas in the comments suggest what individual winders to purchase to get started on a budget.
Thanks for posting. I had just purchased this same set and was looking for a video on it. Quick question, where did you purchase the calipers? I have a set but they are very cheap, the one you have looks more robust, better built.
Great in-depth review and demonstration, thank you. As an amateur I cannot afford the complete set, so last month I only bought #6 LH and #7 RH, with no handle. Those are what I usually need, although I would like to have a #5 LH too. I would probably have bought the handle if it had both grooves in one handle so it could be used in both directions, something perfectly doable in my opinion, but of course that would affects Bergeon's sales. Do you always insert the MS until it reaches the disk? I'm leaving it a bit separate because I think it gets better alignement with the arbour hook, but I might be wrong.
It never crossed my mind so the answer is yes, I insert the MS until it reaches the disk. You’re right about the handles, unfortunately you need two of them. I also have K&D winders for pocket watches and they come with one handle but you can turn the drum left or right when you insert it in depending on the direction of the mainspring you will be winding. Also the arbours have a stud rather than a hook so one handle, one arbour and you can use it to wind the MS in any direction you need.
Terrific video! Amazingly well filmed and so useful to be able to tap straight into your extraordinary knowledge. Can I ask a question? Why is it necessary to feed the last couple of millimetres of the spring in with the tweezers? What would happen if you just kept winding? Would it not draw the end of the spring through?
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the video! Not every mainspring needs feeding in, it’s very much dependant on the mainspring end. You have to look at each end ask yourself the question what would happen if I didn’t feed it in. If the end could catch in the slot in the drum, it could get ripped off because it is spot welded. By feeding it in you will avoid this. Some you have to leave out, if you look at my Waltham video you will see that I leave the end out because it’s a hole end mainspring and I needed to hook the mainspring on the hook on the barrel wall while inserting it in the barrel. I’m using different mainspring winders in that video but they work the same way. When you’re about to use the mainspring winder, look at the mainspring end and think how it is going to go in the barrel drum through the slot in the drum. If it could get caught, stop half an inch or so before and tuck it in.
At least you have most of them. I saw they sell the empty box as well. You could buy that and buy the additional winders as you need them. That’s if you want to keep them tidy in a box.
Cheap Chinese sets do now have steel harbors and hooks. Though, I have only found ones that are caliber specific. Those have not worked so far for the few mainsprings that I have tried the cheap set with. The arbors have been too small.
Hopefully they will see the light and start making the set I have. They are certainly progressing because when I made the video the only ones that were available to buy were the made of brass and that’s no good, especially the hooks on the arbours.
Hi I do not understand why they are doing 2 handles one for the left and one for right winding instead of doing one handle and in the same handle put the two notches one against the other one clockwise and the other counter clockwise strange.
Thanks for this detailed review! You just saved me a bunch of money. I have the full set of right-handed winders and was considering buying the full set like you have, and replacing it. Now thanks to you, I realize I don't need the full set of 17 left-hand arbors in order to have a full set, so I'll just buy the arbors I need and a left handed handle instead.
Thanks for the video. This helps. You made it easy with measurements. But what about all this ETA business?. I have more questions, though, I hope that's all right. I still don't understand how to purchase an individual winder. The handle is sold separately, but fits all of the winders?. I don't understand these ETA designations they have. The Ofrei site just made more questions. For instance, on Ofrei, they have listings for winders, arbors, etc. but how to buy a particular one for my particular mainspring?. It says the handles are for 30082-MG?. Is this the handle you have?. When starting out, say you want to purchase your first winder...how would I go about it?. What specifically would I order after measuring my mainspring?. Here is an example of what they have in one of their options: Individual Right Hand Drums With Arbor 2729T-2 Outside Exterior Diameter: 6.5 mm. BERG-2729T-2 $52.78 Is that an example of what you were showing us? Thanks. Sorry to be a pain, but this is kind of confusing and I do not want to buy the wrong thing. They sure do throw a lot of numbers around, esp this ETA business.
No, the handle doesn’t fit all drums. If you have a drum number 7 you will need the handle number 7. There is a spreadsheet in the video giving you all the diameters. There are generic mainspring winders and ETA mainspring winders. This video shows the generic set, not the ETA set. It might be an idea to have a look at a different website than you’re looking just to see how they are listed. Try Cousins site, I find it much clearer than Ofrei. Have a proper look at them, look at the sets, look at the individual arbors and winders, look at the descriptions, they are listed by calibers and sizes, everything should be much clearer when you see it presented differently.
Did you look at Cousins site and does it make more sense now? If you look at the spreadsheet in the video you will see that the arbours are the same for 5 and 6, 7 and 8… There is no point having 5 and 6, either will be fine because they are exactly the same. You get all 17 in the set but if the set came with 9 it would be fine. However, there is a difference between the drums 5 and 6, the diameter of the drums are different, 5 is smaller than 6. The hole for the arbour in the drums 5 and 6 is the same diameter. You should now understand why you only need one arbour for drums 5 and 6. You could pick either, 5 or 6. All 17 drums are different but you don’t need all 17 arbours. They are in the set probably just to look nice and complete but for the 17 drums you only need 9 arbours. Which size to buy? Measure the inner diameter of the barrel and look in the spreadsheet for the outer diameter of the drum. It’s nice to have the set so you can try which one fits best without measuring it but the set is expensive so I’d say if you measure it and you think you will need the drum no.6, get the 6 and also 5 and 7. For drums 5 and 6, you need only one arbour, either 5 or 6, they are the same. For the drum number 7, you could get arbour 7 or 8, again, they are the same.
Excellent tutorial Leo! I believe you’ve saved me several hundred USD. I just finished the case refurbishment for three project watches and will start the movement servicing phase soon; having used the Dr. Ranfft pink sheets, the mainspring barrel diameter range for all three movements is 9.0 to 9.5mm. Using your chart, I will purchase: the right handed handle and the corresponding right handed arbor / drum pair, in Sizes 5 & 6...Approximately $150 USD, versus $1300 USD. Great channel, Sir!!
Excellent! I’m happy to hear that I saved you some cash. I have noticed that they now also sell the wooden storage boxes so if you think you may be buying other sizes in future, you have the option to keep everything tidy.
@@MacroTime28800 Did Bergeon discontinue the sale of the wooden storage boxes? On CousinsUK it looks like that isn't available anymore. Tremendously useful video by the way!
I almost missed your comment! I noticed they have a new case for the set of mainspring winders. I would say the mainspring winders will be the same, it’s probably a case now instead of the wooden box. If you’re looking for one, I’d look at Bergeon website or you could also email them. I would imagine as they were selling the wooden box on its own, they probably sell or will be selling the case on its own too.
Possibly some. These are mainly for wristwatches. I use the K&D no.126 mainspring winders for pocket watches. You will be able to find some on eBay and they are considerably cheaper than this set.
Thank you for that video! It is not only a complete review of the set but also a detailed description of the topic in total. And of course the measurements map is perfect for deciding what you need.
Thank you for your positive comments! I am glad to hear that this video is helpful. It is an expensive tool and I felt that it deserved a thorough video showing everything in detail for everyone to see what they can expect if they purchase this set or individual arbours and drums.
