Anti-magnetic hairspring mod. Realistic?
4 comments
Sort by
This account is verified. WatchCrunch has confirmed that this account is the authentic presence for this person or brand.
Never thought to do this to be honest. I mean unless you are around tons of magnetic fields all day it might be better just to invest in a demagnetize machine so you can use it across all your watches for normal exposures.
Anything can be done with enough money & skills, it's more of a case of how much you're willing to spend.
It could be a relatively easy movement swap, or serious bespoke engineering.
Maybe a clue what the movement is would prompt a more helpful response from someone far more knowledgeable than me.
I am intrigued.
Good luck 👍🏻
I would say that a direct spring replacement is unlikely, as both the spring and the balance wheel factor into the frequency of the oscillation. If you install a niobium zirconium spring, I would expect the mechanical properties of the spring to change, too.
I don't think there is a lot of demand for these balance assemblies, as most watch owners are probably not impacted, also given that both manufacture and regulation of these balance assemblies are not trivial.
Never thought to do this to be honest. I mean unless you are around tons of magnetic fields all day it might be better just to invest in a demagnetize machine so you can use it across all your watches for normal exposures.
This gets said a lot around here but honestly, we do all work around tons of magnetic fields all day. This is not the 60s or 70s or even 90s anymore. Nearly every laptop, tablet, and increasing number of phones come with plenty of magnets along its exterior, and it’s actually not uncommon to get a movement magnetized to some degree in the year 2023.
The difference between is whether people notice it or not or care, but it really does happen plenty. Not all magnetization events are the classic severe magnetization where the hairspring coils stick together and run some incredible +10m / day. Minor magnetization is subtle, it affects the rate by +-5s or +-10s / day and people claim “never seen a problem” if they don’t notice or care.
And that’s fine, but not caring that it happens is not the same as it not happening.