I have another 974 that works perfectly except that after cleaning and oiling it's become very tough to wind. It winds hard from the beginning, but gets basically impossible after less than half wound.

It has a NOS mainspring I just put in, and my other 974 has another from the same source that works fine, so I don't think it's anything to do with the spring.

I read that it might be the top of the mainspring barrel sticking up. I disassembled the watch but there didn't seem to be any noticeable problem with the top. (Maybe it's barely visible?) I re-oiled the base of the mainspring arbor, but that didn't make a difference.

Ideas?

Doug, is it tough to wind before you put in the case or after . . . or both?

Both.

I'm thinking that the mainspring is a T end..Sometimes the ends of the T sticks through the barel a littleto far and will rub on the front plate or the m/s barrel cover...Might be worth looking at...

I would take out the mainspring barrel and make sure that the crown wheel moves correctly when wound. Make sure that the winding arbor is in correctly as well and not binding. I had a 974 that when I put it back together I did not adjust the winding arbor setting screw (it is blue near the crown wheel on a pendant set watch) in order to make sure that it seats the clutch wheel on the yoke spring (I think that is the correct name). This would cause it to stick up a bit and you would not be able to set it and could be difficult to wind. If all of that moves free and seats correctly and is still binding, it could be a mainspring that is a shade to wide and it catching on the inside of the barrel.

I checked the T ends; so far as I can tell they're OK. I also checked the look of the mainspring in the barrel -- it certainly looks OK, and as I say, this was one of two outwardly identical Hamilton NOS mainsprings I got, and the other works fine. So I think it's unlikely to be wide.

I tried the crown wheel with the mainspring barrel out, and it seemed OK. There's a little bar that goes through the mainspring bridge on the 974, with a hooked end ... it fell out and I put it back in (not screwed in). But I think it's in the same position as in my other 974.

Re. David's question, I did notice that it was tougher to wind with the pendant (in the case) than with a bench key. That might be partly because the pendant is worn, and the bench key is longer. (More leverage).

I was thinking about the winding problem tonight and was wondering what is the condition of your winding crown...A worn crown can make it hard to grip especially when winding a new mainspring...Sometimes a overlooked problem...Just a thought..

I actually use a leather glove when I wind my watches to save my fingers! If the crown seems to be ok, one thing you could try is to swap out the barrel (I know I am kinda stuck on this, and if you think everything is the same then you can skip this) but if I had another 974 around the same timeframe, I would try to swap out that barrel (keep the mainspring and everything, just swap it out as a whole) and see if it still binds.

One more option - I have a 992 that was hard to wind and it turned out that the winding arbor clutch wheel was actually grinding into a part of the movement. I am not sure if it was a replacement part, but I know that there were burrs where the wheel had torn up the movement and I had to shave some of those pieces off to make it work smooth.

Gary, part of the problem is the worn crown. It would be easier to wind with a newer one. But there's something else going on here, and I'm still stumped.

One thing I recall is that someone scratched letters into the inside base of the mainspring barrel. (Is this standard practice anywhere?) Maybe the roughened surface is catching on the bottom of the mainspring? I don't recall it being a problem before I did the cleaning and mainspring switch, but who knows?

Argh. I'll run through some options today or tomorrow. I think I have a separate 974 barrel that I could swap out, if it comes to that ...

The numbers scratched inside the barrel are most likely the same number as the serial number on the watch...This was used to identify that the barrel belongs to that watch..That should not interfer with the spring..Do you have a mm guage to measure the thickness of the ms and compare it to the ms you took out of the watch..They do come in different strengths..Might be to strong..

Well, for what it's worth I think the problem here was not enough grease on the winding gears. I had spare parts and swapped virtually everything I could think of, without any result. But adding more grease seemed to free things up. Still has too worn a crown but otherwise it's been getting easier now with each winding.

Thanks for the help, guys. Onto the next ...