At its worst, it actually harms your watch. At its best, the watch winder offers minor convenience. It’s also an overpriced, gaudy and (almost) wholly unnecessary device that masquerades as an essential tool in watch collecting. What Is a Watch Winder?Ī watch winder is a tabletop box (or, if you can afford it, a big-ass vault) that ever-so-gently rotates an automatic winding watch when it isn’t being worn to keep the mainspring wound and, in effect, the watch running. Even as somebody who loves watches, I must tell you that there’s something in the watch collecting sphere that surpasses the watch itself as an excessive use of cash: the watch winder. But most watch dorks have more or less accepted that style, history and charm offer enough meaningful value to keep mechanical watchmaking alive. We all know nobody needs one - there are plenty of more convenient, affordable tools to tell time. I’m a self-professed watch dork but let me be the first to admit that an automatic mechanical watch is the spitting image of a gratuitous use of money. Make sure the winder you get can adjust CW/CCW in case your watch is uni/bi-directional.Welcome to Counterpoint, a series in which we challenge commonly held ideas about well-known products. I have an Amazon winder purchased for $60'ish where my Perpetual Calendar is currently parked. Most winders can be adjusted for XX rotations per hour, if CW, CCW or a mix. As long as parts are lubricated, nothing will get worn or damaged. Once timekeeping starts being an issue, you give it a service and off you go another decade.Īll moving parts are covered in synthetic oils that don't try up and are typically good for 8-10 years. I would argue that wearing a watch on the wrist is far more hurtful in terms of all the bumps, vibrations and knocks it will receive. A watch slowly and carefully being rotated on a winder is not going to damage anything more than if it was on your wrist. Not just a few times per month, but every hour of the day, every day of the week, throughout every year and every decade. While there is no significant evidence that a good watch winder will either save or harm your watch.Over the many years of dealing with RSC Bexly and talking to the various watchmakers there, who did not recommend watch-winders for any of the Rolex line up.Its quite funny now that Rolex brought out a Rolex branded winder but made by a third party,its simple today many watch winders = big £££$$$€€ and huge profits.IMHO many watch-winders today have a high quality finish on the outside (to justify the extremely high price),but hiding some very cheaply mass-produced insides.ĭon't worry, watches are built for being used. So its not a problem to just rest a watch for a month or longer then just wind reset and go, must take all of 30 seconds to do.īut if stored for longer than a month I would recommend to just give them a small wind to keep the tiny amount of oil around the movement.Think of it this way if you had a choice of two watches one thats been on a winder for a few years.Or a watch that was new old stock unused unworn which one would you choose. IMHO a badly designed winder could in theory damage a watch and cause wear from excessive and repetitive movement on the same plane and axis to the escapement wheel pinions.And today because the oils used in most modern watches including Rolex, and when properly serviced are not very prone to clotting or coagulating like the old mineral oils. Now most people move in a huge diversity of manners, causing a fairly even distribution of motion of the watches winding mechanism and escapement positions.Now because a watch winder is normally limited to a very small number of directions and types of movement normally just back and throe. Well the best winders are wrist thats for sure,IMHO automatic watches are designed to be worn by people only, and not on a expensive box machine winder, and while on a machine its in the same position for hours,days or even weeks,months. I have two Rolex models and I can’t rely on myself to wear them enough to keep them both wound.Īdmittedly, I don’t really want to spend a lot of money on one, but I’m happy to if a more expensive one takes better ‘care’ of my watches. That being said, I think I could use one. I’ve done a little research on these devices and I’ve encountered mixed opinions on them - some claiming they’re perfectly fine, and others saying they damage watches.
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