How To Make A Regulator Pin Adjusting Tool

In this video I show you how to make a tool to safely open the regulator pins when you are adjusting and regulating a watch movement and explain why you would want to do so. Enjoy.

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IN THIS VIDEO

MY MICROSCOPE SET-UP

** FULL LIST OF TOOLS & SUPPLIES I USE **

[grimm-]

I have been getting interested in watch repair for a couple of months now and I have watched a number of your videos. You have taught me a lot. Finally I have something to contribute to you. My background is in metallurgy and I spent my career in the heat treatment of aerospace parts. When you heat the mainspring material red hot with a torch and allow it to cool in air it is not tempering. It is technically Normalizing. It will probably make the material soft enough to cut and file but it may not be the best way to accomplish this. There is a risk of some areas, like the edges, cooling quickly enough to partially re-harden. Heating the spring to a temperature slightly below red hot, if you can do it, would produce a lower hardness and less chance of breaking while cutting and filing. Then when re-hardening the finished tool the steel just has to get barely red hot to allow it to harden on quenching, around 1500 degrees F. In the video it is way overheated. Probably works most of the time but its not necessary. After quenching temper the tool in any oven at about 450 degrees F for an hour or so. This will lower the hardness slightly but increase the toughness greatly. I hope this helps.

[amandagelien]

another fine lesson Alex I have a project to work on tonight as I have broken to many regulator pins Thank you again Alex😍

[vimx]

Wow, many thanks for this. One of those 'the more I know, the more I know I don't know' moments for me. I'm not at this stage of my watchmaking journey yet, but so appreciate having resources like this available to inspire me and provide guidance when I'm ready.

[normanrehme]

Perfect timing. Now I get to make another tool I didn’t know how to make.

[ETERNATICK]

I've learned a terrific method for adjusting the pin gap; previously, I used a little screw driver for that purpose. Thank you!

[vilippo]

Hi Alex! I'm a new watchmaker hobbyist from Finland. I found your videos and started learning from those. And I find them really good. Love your bonus tips :D Keep doing good work for old watches, less get broken when we have good teacher. Thank you!

[drkujavec]

Thank you again. You are a great master watchmaker! Thanks to your valuable help today I have been able to finish the restoration of my fourth watch, a beautiful Seiko Advan that I will wear with pride. My dream is to one day reach your level so that I can pass on this knowledge to others as well. I will practice hard until then.

[JDRichard]

Hey Alex woke up this morning to this wonderful video on how to make this tool. Of course now I have to go make this tool. I do have lots of other work to do today, including work. My wife probably wants me to do, but making this too old, seems like a lot more fun. The other thing that you need to do is tell people how to close the regular pins, but that is probably obvious as you just push them with a very fine pair of tweezers and then use your tool to do the final adjustment. I’ve been given a Hamilton 992 pocket, watch to work on and this thing is way out of beat and has some pretty big deltas in all positions. So we’ll see what the gap is for the regular pins as I attempt to get this thing performing better, after cleaning.

[KrimNLDenZ]

Hey Alex!

As always... this is awesome! Love little tid bits like this! Keep 'em coming!!

Enjoy!

Bryan (yeah, that one student who has emailed you a few times now lol)

[johnhannon]

I wish that I had this tool when I broke a regulator pin last year. These pins are very easy to break and difficult to replace. Thanks Alex!

[NaNByZero]

Sir, you tend to make the impossible become possible. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your skills. 🕐⚙️🍸

[pipodorologio]

amazing...had to replace my first mainspring last week and my teacher showed me this. Thanks for sharing.

[Randysax]

I just use an old piece of broken, flattened mainspring . I keep a few extra widths available, and use them in conjunction with my hairspring tools

[stevencox]

nice work with those measurements mate

[DaveSchultzXXL]

Lol...I was going to ask you to do this very same type of video. Thanks!

[ChrisBrignall]

Millimeters… a fellow 🇨🇦 by chance? 😂. Awesome tool! Thanks for sharing!

[billsexton]

Your videos are just great and my go to for learning. I have a question. I have perched a hundred or so bulk watch main springs and your videos on selecting main springs are excellent. My question is on the spring washers the plate the springs are coiled into their is a number like 50 or 60. Do these numbers mean the length or something or just a stock number. I'm just getting started. Should I have not perched bulk main springs.

[williamking]

Grreat job thank again always great and helpful info that no one tells u 👍

[mirandatiago]

Thanks for sharing so many informative videos. There're amazing.
I'm trying to regulate my watch. After a moth tracking it's accuracy I've found that it's rate advances over time. In the fist days it was a -2spd. Along the month it was increasing linearly every day till +36spd.
May this issue be related to the regulating pin? Maybe the friction isn't enough to hold the spring in it's position?

[sugmasigma]

Just watched a video of yours about lubricating pallet stones. You said you used grease, but it looked like oil. What kind of lubricant did you use?