A Lost Seiko Shock Spring

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Just fished a movement out of the cleaning machine.
Got all of the large parts out of the Elma baskets and into the parts tray.
Opened the little basket that held the pallet and two Diashock settings, two Diafix jewels and two Diashock springs.

Getting the jewels out of the basket and into the tray was a delicate task, just enough gentle pressure on the tweezers to hold the jewel and not ping it into space. That all went well, just the shock spring to get.
Saw one on the side of the basket so picked it up and dropped it into the tray.
Went back for the other one. Nowhere to be seen!
Basket under the microscope and a thorough check of the basket and lid reveled nothing.
Spent ten minutes trying to find it in the other baskets but nothing.
Damn, I'll have to raid my spares.
Anyway, as I had the plate and balance all ready, I oiled the cap jewels and assembled the settings and into the balance cock with the first one.
Picked up the lonely shock spring with tweezers and gently placed it on the jewel setting and then put the movement under the microscope to install the spring.
Manouvered the spring into position and put one of the tabs under the lip of the chaton and went to press and turn the next tab.

WTH! A second spring suddenly appears beneathe the top one!
Grrrrrrrrr!
Even with all of the handling from the cleaning basket to the movement, the two stayed together, perfectly aligned with not a suggestion of a double up.

So, happy that I found the missing spring and now have to use more mini baskets as @Archer has suggested.
One for settings and one shock spring.
One for cap jewels and another shock spring.
One for small Diafix cap jewels that try to stick to larger cap jewels.

Anyway, enough rambling, time for a pic.

 
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I once lost a Seiko cap jewel, only to find it later stuck to my face 😁
 
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Was searching a shockspring for around 1 h once, gave up and found it hours later stuck to my pullover by complete accident while bing outside. Very strange how these things can teleport..
 
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This is why when you do lose something it’s ideal not to wander off to another room. Stay put in a small area until you find it.
 
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I've managed to lose some (relatively) big things in the past as well, inept that I sometimes am. The odd dropped screw that I hear clatter on the floor and roll, then checked my workshop floor, then swept up, then checked again with a low bright torch including under drawer units, then swept with my magnetic sweeper all the while hoping that my wife doesn't make an appearance and roll her eyes at me... then full surrender and a humble visit to the spare parts stash, or even ebay. I'll never work out where some of these parts go.
 
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This is why when you do lose something it’s ideal not to wander off to another room. Stay put in a small area until you find it.
I find the absolute BEST way to find something: Give up on looking, go over to my computer, order a replacement part. Then, 30 seconds later, I find it.
 
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I wonder sometimes, what may have gone down the drain in the washer. I try and shake out the clothes and brush out the hair before I leave the room.

There are some parts I simply never see again.

Last night I was taking out the trash and I found a NOS 470.1243 fourth wheel behind it. Still in the blister package. I have not done anything with 470/500 in sometime. So it must have jumped out of the tray when I was looking for something else.
 
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Well I was reminded of this thread the other night. I was sitting in my lounge recliner watching some tennis, and wanted to check something on my phone. I picked it up, and saw this:



This is a small retaining clip commonly used to hold something like a pusher in place. So I see them often, but have not had a watch that used on in the shop for many months. How this ended up stuck to my phone screen is a mystery...

It was added to one of the three "found parts" containers I have in the shop, for stray parts that I find either on the floor, on my bench, or now...stuck to my phone. At least with this one I know where it can be used. When you find a random jewel or screw, or even a pallet fork, there's really no way to know what it came from.
 
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Fresh out of the cleaner today.

This time it's the balance cap jewels that have fallen in love.