Proper Mainspring Winder for Bulova 17AH

Submitted by Absilon on September 5, 2017 - 1:40pm

Hi,

I have several Bulova 17AH pocket watches which I am in the process of servicing and have ran into an issue trying to wind the mainspring.  None on my mainspring winders seem to work for this spring, the rod with the pin which is on the crank (not sure of the propper name) is either not the correct size to fit or the one which does fit has a long protrusion instead of a pin and it is too long to catch on the opening/hole on the mainspring.

I currently have three sets of winders and non seem to work on this spring. My winder sets are a Marshal pocket watch winder set, a Watch-Craft wristwatch set and a Watch-Craft pocket watch set with two cranks each a different size.

I was wondering if anyone here has worked on this movement and what mainspring winder do you use for it?  Thanks in advance.

Reverend Rob
Posted September 6, 2017 - 10:17pm

You need a winder that is for pocket watches.

Edit: Sorry, I missed the part that clearly states you have these... :0

......., they may be missing key sizes, a common problem with old tool sets?

 

Absilon
Posted September 6, 2017 - 1:53pm

I have two complete pocket watch winder sets.

The problem is that the crank part does not insert into the loop at the center of the mainspring, and the one I have that does fit has a wide protrution instead of a pin, which is too wide to catch on the hole in the mainspring. I have used both sets with no problems on various American pocketwatches, just having this issue with the Bulova 17AH mainspring.   I was wondering that winder sets people here are using for this specific movement.  

Reverend Rob
Posted September 6, 2017 - 10:22pm

Mine is Bergeon, (Swiss) if that helps, but I also have sets of old American Pocket Watch winders, some incomplete. This is typical, there being no real standard. It seems ridiculous to have to posess several versions of the same tool, but it's a common problem, I find. For anyone not familiar with these, you also need left and right hand winding sets, so essentially two full sets just for starters. Swiss sizes are different from American and then there is the fun tanslating Dennison into Metric. 

I don't remember having this problem, but at the moment I don't have a 17AH to look at. Have you found the same problem with more than one of these? I'm thinking maybe it has been cut and punched, with a smaller hole. 

Absilon
Posted September 11, 2017 - 9:24am

I have only had this problem with the 17AH movement, the spring does not look modified in any way. I have 3 more 17AH movements I am planing to service next, will see if they have the same issue shortly.

I also just ordered two more sets of mainspring winders. One is a vintage swiss set which looks identical to the Bergeon set but only says "Swiss" on it, the other is a very interesting antique adjustable set made by J. Stark.  Hopefully one of them will work with this mainspring. I now have a total of 5 sets of winders. 

 

Absilon
Posted September 14, 2017 - 10:52am

My newly arrived  Bergeon winders set worked perfectly for the 17AH mainspring.

Between my collection of 5 sets of mainspring winders, I think I will be good with most, if not all watches.

Thank you Reverend Rob.

Reverend Rob
Posted September 14, 2017 - 12:22pm

In reply to by Absilon

No worries, it is just too bad we need this many versions of the same tool. Such is the nature of the trade.