I was thinking about buying a kit but they are quite expensive and I want to buy the “right one”.

I’m just an amateur that has no intention in becoming a professional watchmaker but I find therapeutical dismantling and reassembling such amazing mechanisms as watch movements are

Normally an only touch very inexpensive watches but I after a while doing this as an hobby I find a mainspring winder kit indispensable to do a “proper service” even at a very amateur level.

My questions are: do you need left and right hand winders? Chinese copies should be the place to start? Are there alternatives to Bergeon?

I see lots of kits being sold and I must confess that I’m a bit lost

thank you all in advance

 

For a hobby watchmaker I think the "generic" sets are OK.
Just make sure that the arbor pin is steel and not brass or copper.
You also don't need left and right hand sets.
If your mainspring is left hand wind, you can wind it RH and then put it in a mainspring washer, flip it over and press it into the barrel.

 

I would look for vintage sets. There were other manufacturers than Bergeron back in the day and some of the sets made by other makers to for a lot less money.

To be honest, I rarely use mine, since I install a new spring in each watch I service, so the only time mine sees use is if I’m installing a spring with a special end, like a tee end.

 

I've been looking for vintage ones in the $100-200 range. The cheap Chinese ones aren't really worth it ... Watch a review and see them come with brass studs and the handles broken off. I have seen a guy who sella 3d printed ones but not sure of the longevity and durability to not send plastic fragments everywhere.

 

Before I had the set on the left, I used the set on the right. Smaller set so a little more limited in sizes, but it works...



Made by Watch-craft, and you can usually find these sets much cheaper than the full Bergeon set.

 

Thank you all for the excellent advices

I will opt by a generic kit and I will search for a vintage one. I guess I can still wait a while. Great advice about flipping the mainspring washer

 

$170 for the cheap Chinese one. $200 for a watch-craft. $600+ for the bergeon. I know which one I'm buying in a few minutes. Thanks, as always, Al!

Is there a difference between the purple and green sets?

 

its also an option to just buy the sizes you will need in bergeon, as unless you are planning on moving to ladies watches many of the smaller barrels arent of much use to you.

It may still prove cost (and space) effective to buy bergeon but only buy the ones you will need, as they can be bought individually. I suggest this as also you eliminate the concerns if quality control from a chinese clone winder at the same time.

 

Here are some of my 'vintage' winding tools. I have acquired over the decades. I find the ones on the right do not work very well. I think the lower one is actually a spring extractor. Never can get it to work. There is also an adjustable one under the L&R handle. That is the worst of all worlds.

I like the 'small' ones as I tend to work on smaller watches. The main issue is the center pin never seems to quite fit. Not sure why the do not have some sort of adjustable grabber. I have kacked a few springs over the decades (like the Omega 650 one) As the centers can be brittle.

When I can I now get a new spring or use one of my NOS springs. Mostly I use these to put springs into washers so they do not tangle in the box.

The reason I got them out, is it looks like I can save the GW spring from El Rusto. and since I was photographing El Rusto I I figured to show them here as well.

 

Only thing to be careful of on vintage ones is that the hook isn't too worn to catch the spring. Guess how I know?

 

believe me… I thought about that.
Once again thank you all for your help

 

There's also the wrist watch version of the Watchcraft set with smaller sizes. You can see them in sheepdoll's post above inside the cardboard box. If you are not in a rush, I would wait for more sets to show up on eBay. Prices have ranged $120 - $250 for the same thing depending on how many are on sale at the same time.

If anyone needs further info on sizes before ordering, let me know. I have both the wristwatch and the pocket watch sets from Watchcraft.

 

I can't get my new cheap set to catch easily, either. If I don't just buy a new spring, I often end up winding the old one in with my (gloved) thumb, keeping pressure on it to keep it from uncoiling. Got my $98 worth, I guess.

 

always a dilemma how "deep" you want to go w/ winders... I've been served well w/ a set of watch craft "pocket" watch winders for most mens wrist watches... I recently picked up a set of the Watchcraft bracelet winders and laughed when I saw how small they were... i guess in my head they covered a winder range... biggest is 10mm i think... I've used them but sparingly... still a well-bought set of watch craft winders is still much less than Bergeon and there's not much in between. If they don't show the hooks in the ad (remember many eBay sellers just find these in an estate, etc... and post them for sale... they don't *really* know the product) ask for close up pictures of the hooks. After reading reviews I wouldn't get the imported brass winders... always seem to end in failure one way or another.

I will likely upgrade to the Bergeon 2795 (full set of sizes, right hand only) eventually... watching them on eBay and vintage ones are selling for crazy money (more than new from Cousins + shipping + import fees)... I reached out to Jules Borel to see when they'd be back in stock and the reply was "are you sure you want that one? no one's bought/requested that set in 3 years" but they could order it for me... so weighing that decision for the future... but so far no regrets w/ the Watch-Crafts.

as for the right or left wind, the Watch Craft pocket winders are bi-directional... there's not a hook (like an arbor)... more a little rectangular piece to grab the spring so it'll go either . The bracelet winder do have directional hooks. As mentioned above, turning a right hand mainspring into a left hand mainspring only take a properly sized washer...

-Matt

 

Damn, even this cheap vmax/baumgartner has a 13.8mm inner diameter barrel, so the 10mm won't work. Remind me why I thought this was going to be "fun" again? lol

 

the 6 pack "pocket" watch set would work for that size... i think they run from 15mm to 9.x (don't remember off hand) if i needed one set i'd go for that one and hand install in a pinch. the downside is the arbors are quite large because there's only 2 winder options in the kit and a wide range of barrel sizes...

 

I hand installed, I know it's bad, but it's just practice for now. Once I get some more experience going, I'd want something for sure. I will keep a search active on ebay.