Hi! I bought a new mainspring for my basket case Waltham I'm working on... and I have a newbie quesition... It seem to be pre-wound in a metal ring. Is this designed to let me install it without the need for a mainspring winder? Looks like it should slide right out and into the barrel. Or is this to use WITH a winder tool? Here's the pic....
Thanks!
Mike

Sometime you can get lucky, especially with a T type end on pocket watches you can often get the “T” to insert into the barrel before the main body releases. Works great on WW with tongue ends they find there own home or auto mainsprings that have no fixed end.
Yours has a hole end and they are harder to catch but you can try just place over barrel align and gentle work it into the barrel using peg wood or such (not steel tools that can damage the edge). If it was a brown steel type you would need to remove it from its shipping ring to clean and lube before installation. Always use a winder to install springs once out of the ring to avoid distorting the spring.

BE CAREFUL if you have it near your face etc there is a lot of power stored in these small springs if it slips free.

i will add one thing to what chris said if thats the only way you have to install it you better make sure you put it in with it in the right direction.

Thanks for the help, guys! I've been trying to buy a winder on ebay for a couple weeks now. Before I started, I saw several sell in the $30 - $40 range... now that I'm trying to get one, they're topping $75 regularly!

In terms of the color of the spring, it looks exactly like the pic above, so I guess I'm okay to install it...

--Mike

when you bid on one make sure its for pocket watch springs as the smaller wrist watch ones will not work on the larger springs.good luck