Synthetics came along just in time for collectors.

As collectors, most of our watches are not carried and we don't have the watch-inspector looking over our shoulders.

The old oils were fine but they tended to dry out over time. If you ever find an absolutely brand-new, old watch, you might have to soak the movement in order to disassemble it without breaking pivots and jewels.

In my opinion, the chief advantage of synthetics is that they tend not to dry-out over long periods and lack of use. That's exactly what collectors need!

As the quality of Illinois vs. Hamiltons... my opinion is entirely subjective. It just seems that when I work on an Illinois watch, that the tolerances are a bit closer and they are easier to assemble as a result. Like I said.... purely subjective.... and I realize that I'm getting dangerously close to "fightin' words!"

Peter, would not "fight" you on Ilinois vs. Hamilton, don't know enough about Ilinois, but how about this for consideration: If you look at overall "performance", industrial manufacture, commercial success, marketing (!!!), availablility of parts today, last but not least quality, could be possible that Hamilton is just a tick ahead of the game. If I had not made my experience collecting vintage drums for 25 years, I probably would have a Bunn Special today. But I started collecting Slingerland, Gretsch and Ludwig, got really out of hand...so except for 2 old Slingerland drums from my teacher, I decided to just concentrate on Ludwig, overall best drums for me. So when I started collecting watches (actually I am a wrist watch collector, only Hamilton's history almost demanded that I own one PW and that got me on the hook right there) I bought both Hamilton and Gruen Curvex (and some Omegas) and found that Hamilton was overall really the best so that's why I am collecting only Hamilton today. The time I have I cannot really deal with more than one brand, I have ways to go before I can consider myself a Hamilton expert and there is just no room for another make.

MAIN SPRING PROBLEM: Things got worse I am sorry to say, watch only runs 18 hours and that's it. So I took the spring out last night and found there is no grease really anywhere. I will correct that, but I measured the spring widths and I am not sure which one to use now and how to treat them, these are my choice:

Inside Barrel Grade 992 16,75mm

1. Old spring that was in there:
Black, width 2,9mm (worked better than what I had in next (2. below, cannot figure out numbers, guess non-metric):


2. NOS
206
16 Size No. 317
17-21 J.
19D x 19/100 M.M.
On the back 36 - 649
Color of spring is a "goldish copper"
Measured width 2,8mm
This one runs only 18 hours (because of no grease?) even though looks great, on the bench 10 inches wide.

3. NOS
207 or 208
16 Size 317 0r 318
17-21 J.
19D x 18/100 M.M.
On the back 29 - 649
Color of spring is black, minor rust

Any help is appreciated!

Chris.

CORRECTION TO MY POST ON TOP OF THIS PAGE:
After having described how to take the spring out without "wincing" by pulling out slowly, I tried that last night and hate to say, the barrel took off on me and I was fortunate that it did not fly out the window which was open. The way to hold the barrel with thumb, index and middle finger of left hand and slowly pulling out the spring with pliers in right hand from barrel to fingers works ok. But what happens, the barrel develops a strong desire to turn, so you let go slowly. That was ok in the beginning, but the force increases as you pull out the spring and then BOING! off it goes. Actually caught the spring in the air but barrel was way too fast. To prevent that (tested), as you pull out the spring slowly, you let go of the spring with the pliers, firmly holding the barrel, that takes the tension off and then you just grab the spring again and continue like that until it is out. At this point, until one develops a feel for it, to do the whole operation in a clear plastic bag just in case...should be considered the state-of-the-art technology to do it from my view.

Chris.

PS: Found the barrel after 30 minutes....

Chris,

The Hamilton 992 mainspring comes in a couple of different strengths. Here's what I have listed for possibilities:

Hamilton Factory Part 317

Dennison Width= 19 (2.83mm)
Dennison Strength= 6 (.017mm)
OR Dennison Strength=5 (.018mm)
Length in inches= 21 in

When ordering mainsprings, you usually focus on the width, strength and length (19x6x21) and what type of end it has (T-end in this case)

Different suppliers have different part numbering systems, so it can get confusing. For reference:

Bestfit part numbers are JA-207 and JA-208
S. LaRose part numbers 039337-002 and 039337-003

These are white-alloy mainsprings that are equivalents for the old blue steel. I do lubricate them with a quality mainspring grease, as per the Tascione method that was mentioned previously. Always use a mainspring winder.

Chris... As a student, myself, I don't want to get argumentative with a professional watchmaker but I've just never heard of one who did not lube the mainspring.

There are probably a lot of reasons that a watch might not get the 30-40 hours that a mainsping can deliver. But, one reason,would be that the spring is binding against itself so that the effective spring-length is reduced. That could be caused by insufficient lube.

This comes, only a week after my own teacher looked over my shoulder and directed me to use a lot more lube (yellow watch grease) than I had. As I mentioned earlier, I lube the spring, inside the barrel and then heat it for distribution. He told me that he'd much rather see a mainspring over-lubed than underlubed; the polar opposite of his advice on oiling jewels.

Another pitfall, is the failure to fully seat the barrel cap. Even the tiniest bit of error here can cause the mainspring barrel to bind. I just "finished" a very nice 21J Bunn Special, with a spectacular case, that came back to the shop 3 times with barrel problems. We finally had to simply replace the barrel because it was not holding the barrel cap sufficiently tight. At some point, the cap would loosen and the barrel would bind.

Mike: Thanks a lot, I used again the 2. NOS, but with grease this time. Still wonder what the material is, from the color, goldish-copper, does not come off after cleaning either - that cannot be steel, any idea what spring could be made of?
Peter: Thanks again, I consider myself "less than a student" at this point, what you say does make sense to me. I have greased spring and drive train from crown to barrel, winds better now and remains to be seen for how many hour it will run now. Guess this test will prove in favor of sufficient grease (as you find recommended in any book and don't know why my watchmaker decided against it) because I am using th same spring.

Thanks to all!

Chris.

Hi everyone, to end this story I am happy to report that the well greased spring and drive train from crown to barrel in the 992 movement caused the balanance to swing with authority still this morning which was the 36th hour.

That's great, Chris.

Dunno about you but I'm always amazed when I do something.... right!

...kinda same with me Peter. Here is the magic answer about watchmakers not greasing (this side of the planet). Mostly "NIVAROX" mainsprings used, grease does not hurt but works fine without.

Chris.