These tools are designed to make it possible for the workers in a factory to place the hairspring with the collet and stud to be applied to the balance wheel at predetermined positions. This eliminated the need for more adjustments. Doing this, hundreds of watches could be set up without great difficulty.
The Waltham dial that is showed, is only part of the complete tool used for this purpose. That is why it has the three dial legs as shown. You can also see that it is for smaller Waltham pocket watches of many different types. This is a very neat item from the Waltham factory dated 1875.
This tool most likely had another glass top that went over the dial itself. This glass would have had areas cut out or drilled so that the balance could be set into it and then the hairspring complete could be installed. This would be like the Bergeon versions that had glass over the beat disk.
I am attaching more pictures of another Beat Block that we have in our shop. You can see how it is marked. Using these marks, you can get any hairspring set into beat with precision.
However, with the advent of the modern timing machines, these tools are really no longer needed. Using the timing machine, when both lines are within one millimeter of each other, the watch is figured to be in beat. If you get the lines almost on top of each other, it is really near perfect
These are however, very interesting tools of the watchmakers trade.
The Waltham dial that is showed, is only part of the complete tool used for this purpose. That is why it has the three dial legs as shown. You can also see that it is for smaller Waltham pocket watches of many different types. This is a very neat item from the Waltham factory dated 1875.
This tool most likely had another glass top that went over the dial itself. This glass would have had areas cut out or drilled so that the balance could be set into it and then the hairspring complete could be installed. This would be like the Bergeon versions that had glass over the beat disk.
I am attaching more pictures of another Beat Block that we have in our shop. You can see how it is marked. Using these marks, you can get any hairspring set into beat with precision.
However, with the advent of the modern timing machines, these tools are really no longer needed. Using the timing machine, when both lines are within one millimeter of each other, the watch is figured to be in beat. If you get the lines almost on top of each other, it is really near perfect
These are however, very interesting tools of the watchmakers trade.
