Can I look forward to less springs pinging away with more time and experience?
I’ll admit it, I’m relatively “green” as a watch tinkerer and I’d be surprised if someone like
@Archer would ever let me stand in a shop with him. But I get by and have fun doing it.
It’s the hairsprings and shock springs that just, well, get away. I lost three KIF 2-2 springs on one movement, SMH, and one even smacked me in the face on its way out (who hates KIF springs as much as me????).
I’d love to hear your experiences - what works, what doesn’t, and does time in the game help?
Have you read any of the threads I've made giving tips? There's a whole series of them intended to help people like you. You can start here:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/basic-watchmaking-tips-oiling-part-1.62310/
I also give people advice via PM and through emails all the time, so if you have a specific problem, let me know and I'll do my best to help.
To answer your specific question, yes it does get better with time. As much as you can understand what to do and how to do it, getting the physical dexterity needed to handle watch parts takes time doing it - there aren't any real shortcuts in that regard. Early on I use to do small exercises - dump a container of small screws on the bench, and time how long it would take to pick them up one by one and put them all back in. Other things I would do to challenge myself, like pick up a small cap jewel from a balance with #5 tweezers off the bench, and with one hand rotate the tweezers 360 degrees without dropping the jewel. You obviously want to do this with a jewel you have no issue with losing, but it's not difficult once you get the feel for things.
Jim touched on one, which is your choice of tweezer materials. I use a number of different materials depending on the task, but for most general assembly work, I use bronze tweezers. I used brass for a while, and although they were good, they felt very "dead" to use, so that's when I tried bronze and I haven't gone back to brass. For handling shock springs, I use steel tweezers though - typically #5's.
Jim also touched on not using a death grip on the parts, as that will only make them fly a longer distance when they do fly. I've never covered anything in plastic or done anything in a plastic bag, so I can't comment on how effective that is - to me it seems it would make it more difficult due to being constrained in a bag and not being able to see as clearly, but if works for others then I can't argue.
One key thing is to check the condition of the tweezers. If you hold them up with a light behind them and press the tips together, do you see the tips meeting exactly when you look at them using at least a 4X loupe? If the tips don't meet exactly right at the tips and you see light, then that is likely a part of the problem. Keeping tweezers in good shape is a big part of not losing parts, and material like brass or bronze do need dressing from time to time. Steel less so, but if you accidentally drop the tweezers onto the floor, they need to be checked.
I would suggest keeping one good set of tweezers that you use only for fine tasks, so for example I have several sets of #5's, so two are used exclusively for balance spring adjusting, and others are used for more general work, where the risk of damage is greater.
In the end, everyone loses parts - and I mean
everyone. I had the pleasure several years ago of being in Philippe Dufour's shop, and also went to a dinner with him and several other independent watchmakers in Switzerland. A photographer had created a book showcasing Mr. Dufour and another watchmaker. In that book he had this photo (taken from my own copy):
It's Mr. Dufour crawling on the floor looking for a lost part...
So if the guy who is arguably the best watchmaker in the world loses parts, then don't feel bad if you lose some too.
Cheers, Al
