A Vintage Watchmaker's Hairspring Cutting Tool

In this video I explore the features of an adjustable vintage watchmaker's hairspring cutting tool and go over every detail of exactly how it works. Technically the correct term for a mechanical watch hairspring is, "balance spring," but somehow "hairspring" is a much more fun (and certainly also accurate) description of these tiny wonders!

I purchased this vintage watchmaking tool, like my Wolf Jahn watchmaker's lathe and many other vintage watchmaking tools, on the Swiss auction website ricardo.ch for 29 Chf (which is approximately US$ 34). Considering this is probably a bespoke if not one-of-a-kind tool and it still works perfectly this is now one of my favorite additions to my vintage watchmaking tool collection, not least of all because it cost less than a hamburger costs here in Switzerland!

chapter index:
00:00 introduction and general explanation of how it works
03:31 close-up of using the tool to cut a balance spring
04:07 quick visual overview of the tool's various adjustments
05:57 comparison with cutting a balance spring with a tiny pair of scissors
07:34 demo of mounting and cutting a hairspring with a collet using the tool
09:00 making a micro-adjustment of the position of the cutting jaw
09:47 demonstration of the precision required to properly use the tool
10:30 demo of the tool's micro-positioning rotation gauge
12:11 demo of failure to cut due to micro-adjustment of cutting jaw being too loose
13:12 demo of the collet arbor runner changeability
14:28 demo of how small the collet arbor actually is (comparison with a US dime)
15:06 visual discussion of the collets that I found lodged in the feet of the tool
16:23 evidence from those collets that there were multiple arbors made for the tool
17:00 evidence that one of those collets is the same as the collet on the balance spring in an Adolph Schild AS ST 1950 / 51 movement
20:12 recap of how cool this tool is and how interested I am in hairsprings
22:20 a short preview of my next video!

Thanks for watching!

In case you're interested here's a link to the AliExpress Eakins microscope that I use in this video (affiliate link):
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dm3HajH

#watchmaker #restoration #vintage #tools #hairspring