Watch Bracelet Spring Success

It looks like the latest iteration of a replacement spring for my Breitling Aerospace has been successful. After the spring died (after only 16 years...) I first tried unravelling a spring I had lying around and used it to make a replacement. It worked OK, but as the original spring had been circular it was difficult to make it a nice shape. The bracelet has a flat cavity for the spring nd it just didn't lie flat and caught on the bracelet as the spring action was exercised.

Attempt 2 (well 2,3 and 4) was a 3d printed part in PLA. It worked well and was perfectly sized. Unfortunately it opnly worked well for 2 days, then it lost all springiness and was useless.

I then bought some stainless steel wire (wire supposed to be used for safety wiring engine parts), but it was too brittle to form into a spring. It only allowed one bend, any attempt to rebend and the wire snapped.

Next attempt was piano wire. I ordered some 0.51mm piano wire and formed it into a flat spring with just a few spring elements. The original spring had a clever design that allowed quite a few elements to fold into a small space. I couldn't form it in such a complex way, so I am trying less elements. This allows the spring to fold into a small space and hence gives more extension when putting the watch on.