Watch winder

[HKtokei]

I am curious what you think about whether it is necessary to use a watch winder to keep a Rolex GMT Master running all the time. I've heard both positive and negative opinions. I had the watch serviced this past year so presumably the latest synthetic oil was used. What say you?

[Tools]

There is no reason to keep a GMT running all the time, why would you?

Naturally, if you choose to, then a winder is the only option.

A watch that is running is incurring maximum wear, a watch that is stopped is incurring zero wear.

[m3tek44]

No need for winder especially GMT.

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[WatchNutcase]

No certainly not. When not wearing the watch it's ok to keep it in storage but do a manual wind at least once per month. I use Watchpod cases for storage / travel, not a huge fan of winders unless you really need something for a show room.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by HKtokei

I am curious what you think about whether it is necessary to use a watch winder to keep a Rolex GMT Master running all the time. I've heard both positive and negative opinions. I had the watch serviced this past year so presumably the latest synthetic oil was used. What say you?

I sometime wonder how the millions of Rolex watch owners managed before these watch winders, timegraphers etc, perhaps back then they just bought there watches to wear and enjoy. Now 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 .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.


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. 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.

But 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.

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. .

[214270Explorer]

Originally Posted by padi56

I sometime wonder how the millions of Rolex watch owners managed before these watch winders, timegraphers etc, perhaps back then they just bought there watches to wear and enjoy. Now 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 .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.


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. 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.

But 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.

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. .

This great and informative response ought to be a 'sticky' under a DO I NEED A WATCH WINDER heading.
It might help save asking this question over and over ad infinitum.

[Oyster Sauce]

Originally Posted by 214270Explorer

This great and informative response ought to be a 'sticky' under a DO I NEED A WATCH WINDER heading.
It might help save asking this question over and over ad infinitum.

+1 I support a sticky regarding not needing a watch winder as well

[quantumdna]

The response from Peter aka @padi56 is on point and technically correct. Given that there is no empirical evidence that winders are harmful to the movements as such, let me share another perspective.

One of the factors that I considered when I got myself a winder (which I do NOT use anymore) was the size & diversity of the collection. You could get a winder...

1) if you have one or more than 1 perpetual calendars in your collection because it could be pain to set them right.

2) if you have a small collection of 2-3 watch with <= 40 hr power reserve and if you tend to wear one watch for few 2-3 days at a time. In that case you may want your watch to be running whenever you pick them up.

As my collection grew from 2 watches to 7-8 watches (mostly Rolex) coupled with the increased PR (60-70 hrs), I found myself wearing the same watch for 2 days and then rotating to the next one. And when I picked the next one, I would clean (not always wash) it, wind it and set it to the right time. It gave me the opportunity to "bond" with the watch.

I have an almost brand new Wolf British Green winder sitting in one of the closets for this exact reason.

Happy hunting.

[Tikandtokalot]

padi56 says it like it is common sense is all that's required it's a bloody watch wear it enjoy it and occasionally give it a rest. " no pun intended "

[samson66]

I always try to get IBTP (in before the padi) on these watch winder threads but I can never do it

[Kevin of Larchmont]

I have four Orbita winders, I'm currently using two. I only use them if I'm switching back and forth between watches and want to keep more than one accurately set and running. There are great stretches of time when I don't use winders at all, notably when I get a new watch and I wear it for a long stretch to enjoy that new watch smell. There's no point in keeping your watch on a winder unless you switch watches a lot.

[a.l.merc]

The only reason I currently use a winder is for an old seiko with a day-date complication that cannot be wound by hand. I don't often wear it, but it's a whole lot easier to put it on a winder over night and reset it in the morning than to sit there shaking the watch for 25 minutes straight to get the power reserve up high enough for my desk job. Anything that can be hand wound to start gets hand wound.

[Harry-57]

You don't need to keep it running but if you want to, you won't hurt it. I keep mine in winders and I turn the winders on when I remember to!

[Calatrava r]

If you must do a winder, find a better quality one which rotates at slower speeds so its really gravity doing the winding by holding the rotor oriented down. Almost no excessive wear on the rotor this way. Cheaper winders sling the watch around and can put a lot of wear on the rotor.

[teck21]

I use a watch winder but I would not put the words necessary and watch winder in the same sentence.


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[Old Expat Beast]

Fun but not necessary.

[fania123]

I have always used a wolf winder because I don’t wear my watches every day and I like to have the date and time set for when I want to wear them. Rolexes are made to be worn daily not sitting so I believe that letting them stop and having to keep winding them isn’t good.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Tikandtokalot

padi56 says it like it is common sense is all that's required it's a bloody watch wear it enjoy it and occasionally give it a rest. " no pun intended "

Have to agree but many of todays other Rolex toys like phone timing apps, loupes etc, often bring more stress and worry to the owners than what they are worth.

[HogwldFLTR]

I actually find the GMT 2 movement a bit of a PIA to set; I much preferred the earlier (16700) GMT with the much quicker setting. For that reason alone I'd consider a winder although clearly it will still need setting at times (date and time adjustments).