Hello, I'm having a problem removing the hairspring (and the whole balance assembly) from the balance cock. It seems that the spring is caught in the index pins. Do index pins ever enclose the hairspring? Looking with my double loupe, it looks like the hairspring is held captive in an enclosed space, but I can't tell for sure.

This is a no-name Swiss movement in a Baylor wristwatch. It is about 11.5 Lignes, or American size 5.5/0.

Thanks for any help. The hairspring is not too badly damaged YET

yes, the hairspring is enclosed between the pins. most likely you will see that one of the pins is thicker than the other. turn this and it will move the flat bar that the hairspring is resting on out of the way and the spring will fall clear.

Thanks Christopher. I'm still not out of the woods yet. What I am seeing is two equal pins on the outboard end of the regulator, but there is another vertical part that seems like it forms a little cage on the inboard side of the inboard pin. The hairspring doesn't go between the two pins, it goes through this "cage". I wish I could make a drawing as I don't know if I am making any sense with words. Nothing in this area seems movable as I have tried to move everything possible that I have seen. Nothing seems to rotate or turn.

Thanks for the help,Jim

I have seen that setup in cheap Swiss movements- there is no way to remove the hairspring without unpinning it, or cutting the bar across the index pins.

Hi Sam, thanks for sharing your experience with this type of movement. I was afraid it was something like that. At least I learned something special from this cheap movement Fortunately it's just a junk watch that I am using for practice. Paid less than $5.00 for it.