I am new to the group and to repairing watches and just having a spot of bother in trying to set collets in order to put a watch in beat. I have tried what Fried suggests but I can't seem to make a suitable tool that works without some form of slippage - perhaps its me or my eyesight (or just the odd senior moment!) Can anybody suggest a relatively simple method of doing this task withot spending a fortune on Bergeon setting tools? I would really welcome some guidance - thank you.

Hello Douglas,

I use something I call a collet twister. I made it from a 25mm long piece of .5mm steel wire. One end has been shaped into a thin blade about 1mm long which fits well into the collet gap. The twister can be mounted in either the smallest Bergeon driver handle (orange) or a small pin vice. I have one for pocket watches and one for bracelet watches. When adjusting the beat, It's important to be able to turn the collet without the need to bear down. It's also a bad idea to lever the collet from underneath when it's removal is necessary...with a proper fitting twister tool, the collet and spring can turned and pulled at the same time leaving little chance for damage to occur.

William

Thank you for you help William and I have now made a tool from an old oiler and this works but only in a collet which has not been 'fiddled with'. On checking my balance wheels with hairsprings from a spares box on which I am practising, many of the collets are damaged. This was part of my initial problem. A couple of the collets were of a definate taper, that is wide on the outer edge and tapering inwards - which meant that I could not reliably use any sort of tool. Regards, Doug.