A method for manufacturing a
balance spring for a balance, which includes creating a blank from an
alloy containing:
niobium: the remainder to 100 wt %,
titanium: between 40 and 60 wt %, traces of elements selected from the group formed of O, H, C, Fe, Ta, N, Ni, Si, Cu, Al, between 0 and 1600 ppm by weight individually, and less than 0.3 wt % combined; β-
quenching the blank, such that the
titanium of the
alloy is essentially in
solid solution form with β-phase
niobium, the α-phase
titanium content being less than or equal to 5% by volume, at least one deformation step of the
alloy alternated with at least one heat treatment step such that the
niobium and
titanium alloy obtained has an elastic limit higher than or equal to 600 MPa and a modulus of elasticity lower than or equal to 100 GPa, a winding step to form the
balance spring being performed prior to the final heat treatment step, prior to the deformation step, a step of depositing, on the alloy blank, a
surface layer of a ductile material such as
copper, to facilitate the wire shaping process, the thickness of the deposited ductile material layer is chosen such that the ratio of the area of ductile material to the area of NbTi alloy for a given cross-section of wire is less than 1.