Poll: Watchwinder yes or no and opinions

[Mystro]

Originally Posted by Ollie1982

I'm sorry but your point is hardly scientific, just because you use the term 'empirical data' doesn’t make your case anything more than anecdotal. There are various reasons why your watch may have not shown excessive signs of wear during those 15 years, but there will never be a clear and fair way of knowing for sure if the parts in that watch wore more or less due to being on a winder or not.

My experience of maintenance and reliability, to which I am educated and work at engineer level, shows me that mechanical items that are in use continuously, wear quicker than items that are not. Yes, this is also anecdotal, but I was asked for an opinion and I stand by it.

It matters to me because it’s my experience. We can only use the data on this forum from actual experience. We have yet to see a watchmaker open up one of our watches from being on a winder and reporting excessive wear. I have been in the Rolex/automatic watch world for over 30 years now and have a very good bead on automatic movements and how they work so I tend to be set in my ways from 1st hand experience and observation of dozens of movements on the winder. If I felt there was any direct correlation between their performance with accuracy slipping, main spring issues, I would not continue to use a winder. (I have a masters degree in engineering if that helps you gage my train of thought.)

[IamJacky]

Not for me. I wear and rotate my watches as much as I can and I enjoy winding them myself, setting up the date and time as well, so quick and easy.

[Ichiran]

I don't use winders though I have a few calendars. I like spending that little bit of time "waking" and setting them. It's like saying "good morning".

[padi56]

Originally Posted by brandrea

They aren’t for me. I find winding and setting a watch to be a pleasurable part of ownership

Have to agree Brian to hand-wind any movement only take a few seconds most of the older Rolex hand-winds have a reserve of 38 to 42 hours. Myself did have two OPs from the late 1960s my sons wear them now most days,40 years old and still beating strong. Both have had just normal stem tubes service twice if I remember in there life and both have there original crowns. Automatics in reality made us all lazy press button for this and that. Must have this faster bigger etc but a automatic movement is only a hand wound movement with a automatic mechanism fitted, hand-winds are far simpler and less things to go wrong.

A hand-wound movement "lives" because you actively want it to run . you sort of breathe life into it, and you have to do it on purpose. I think that's an entirely different attitude toward a watch than merely picking it up and find it working. And knowing that it will continue to do so without additional intervention by yourself. And IMHO makes you just part of the soul of the watch, plus I like having to wind it every day or so whether manual or automatic to keep its heart beating.

When I pick up one of my hand-winds and wind it, the whole process, the act of winding, just seems to have a sense of history and tradition to it. This makes hand-winds special to me. I can imagine my grandfather, and his father, and his father's father performing the same daily ritual. It's a connection to the past horology speaking.


An automatic movement runs just because of gravity and the fact that you are not dead and still, and are moving alive and kicking to speak. Or as long as the electric winder thing doesn't stop or burn out. In that sense now especially on a winder, I find automatic movements sometimes as "soul-less" as quartz, when compared to a true hand-wound movement. One might argue that an automatic movement on a winder is not so much "alive" as permanently undergoing gentle resuscitation. I for one deplore the demise of the hand-wound movements. And plain simple fact if any mechanical movement or machine is running its wearing, any stopped rested movement or machine is stopped its producing no wear on movement parts..

[101031-28]

Originally Posted by padi56

Complete waste of money unless you have a watch with many many complications which no Rolex has.

All Rolex automatic movements wind in both directions, and for any non perpetual calendar watch, a watch winder is totally unnecessary.

If you don't wear it every day you also reduce wear to the movement components, why waste that benefit by having it wound when it is not required to tell the time?

This.

[Seddyspaghetti]

No.

[yesnaya]

Not gonna say anything scientific. I used to use watch winders, cause i rotated my watches daily and i hated taking the 2 min each day to wind them up, set the time and date correctly. Then I started getting lazy about rotating my watches daily. So some we staying on winders with no end in sight. So after a couple of weeks I took everything off the winders. Now that none are on winders I'm even more lazy about rotating cause I already hated setting the date and time and now that none are wound i end up staying with the same watch for a whole week lol.

[Tikandtokalot]

No.
Give the watch a rest.

[Meyrin]

No, personally I'd never buy a watch winder. I like winding my old Sub if it ever stops because I haven't been moving enough. My kitchen is full of all sorts of gadgets that seemed a good idea at the time but are now never needed or used. That would be, I'm sure, the fate of a watch winder were I to buy one...!

[Daytona88]

Originally Posted by yesnaya

Not gonna say anything scientific. I used to use watch winders, cause i rotated my watches daily and i hated taking the 2 min each day to wind them up, set the time and date correctly. Then I started getting lazy about rotating my watches daily. So some we staying on winders with no end in sight. So after a couple of weeks I took everything off the winders. Now that none are on winders I'm even more lazy about rotating cause I already hated setting the date and time and now that none are wound i end up staying with the same watch for a whole week lol.

this was me, prior to getting a multiple watch winder. I love winding my manual winds but it takes more than a few seconds on my automatics to unscrew the crown, wind the watch to get it moving, look to see what the current date and time is, advance the date to the date prior of current, advance the time to whatever it is - which is invariably not the time that it was when I checked on the current date, then screw down the crown. I guess I'm just too impatient. Maybe that's why I gravitate to no date watches or at least my SD4K with a date so small that I can't read it with my aging eyes, so I don't care if it is off.

[HiBoost]

Originally Posted by hamidsalman

Unless you have a annual calendar, I would say no!

I'm 100% confident I could set a Sky-Dweller faster than my 1974 Root beer with no quick-set date haha. It just keeps going, and going....

I think the more watches you have the LESS you should use a winder, at least for the whole collection. If you have 20 watches, then keeping them all on winders will increase wear by 20x. If you have 3 watches it'll only increase it by 3x. Which of course 3x is still an argument against, but not nearly as crazy as the guys who have a watch running year round to wear it maybe 2 days.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by padi56

Have to agree Brian to hand-wind any movement only take a few seconds most of the older Rolex hand-winds have a reserve of 38 to 42 hours. Myself did have two OPs from the late 1960s my sons wear them now most days,40 years old and still beating strong. Both have had just normal stem tubes service twice if I remember in there life and both have there original crowns. Automatics in reality made us all lazy press button for this and that. Must have this faster bigger etc but a automatic movement is only a hand wound movement with a automatic mechanism fitted, hand-winds are far simpler and less things to go wrong.

A hand-wound movement "lives" because you actively want it to run . you sort of breathe life into it, and you have to do it on purpose. I think that's an entirely different attitude toward a watch than merely picking it up and find it working. And knowing that it will continue to do so without additional intervention by yourself. And IMHO makes you just part of the soul of the watch, plus I like having to wind it every day or so whether manual or automatic to keep its heart beating.

When I pick up one of my hand-winds and wind it, the whole process, the act of winding, just seems to have a sense of history and tradition to it. This makes hand-winds special to me. I can imagine my grandfather, and his father, and his father's father performing the same daily ritual. It's a connection to the past horology speaking.


An automatic movement runs just because of gravity and the fact that you are not dead and still, and are moving alive and kicking to speak. Or as long as the electric winder thing doesn't stop or burn out. In that sense now especially on a winder, I find automatic movements sometimes as "soul-less" as quartz, when compared to a true hand-wound movement. One might argue that an automatic movement on a winder is not so much "alive" as permanently undergoing gentle resuscitation. I for one deplore the demise of the hand-wound movements. And plain simple fact if any mechanical movement or machine is running its wearing, any stopped rested movement or machine is stopped its producing no wear on movement parts..

This is so well said Peter.

You have managed to put into words the essence of what makes owning a mechanical watch means to me.

I truly hope that my kids feels the same way about these little mechanical marvels as I do.

Thank you for sharing with us all

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[BNA/LION]

No. Bought one, tried it and it's been in my closet for several years now.

[GolfJunkie]

I don't feel the need for a winder. I like to wind and set my watches when they come up in rotation.

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by brandrea

They aren’t for me. I find winding and setting a watch to be a pleasurable part of ownership

Agreed
My Automatics are only ever wound enough to kick start them with 5 or 6 turns. Then they're set, put on to wear and left to wind up by themselves as the day progresses.
The Manual winds are fully wound and set as one would expect and i enjoy it.

IMO, unless one has a watch with a list of complications that require fiddly processes to set up fully, there's no need for a winder.

[GST15]

Originally Posted by Ollie1982

No. Do you leave your car running overnight so it's ready to go in the morning? I like the fact that when I'm not wearing a particular watch, it's not accruing any unnecessary mechanical wear.

For me, windinG and resetting a mechanical watch is part of the fun.

[SkyJuice]

I got one and its good for rotating 3 watches at one time. Make sure to get a good reputable brand with variable roatations and duration.

[fania123]

Winders simulate the act of wearing the watch on a daily basis which these watches were made to do. To me the stopping and starting of a watch would seem a lot worse for the watch rather than keeping it running like it’s intended purpose.

[Old Expat Beast]

If you want one, get one. It's not a big deal either way.

[Keepchasing]

I bought one a few years ago but don’t use it anymore. If I rotate to one that has stopped, I’m like, “oh goodie, I get to fiddle with it.”

It’s a bonding thing for me. But I will say, sure, if you are looking for just convenience when rotating, why not?

[doboy007]

Don’t get all the hoopla over using or not using a winder. Use it if it’s a benefit to you.

[bestwatch1]

Must have for perpetual calendars.

[Lesnerelli23]

I’m disabled and do not move my arm enough to my watches wound. I usually put whatever piece I’m wearing for the week on the winder every other night :) Sometimes I’ll keep one in there so I can rotate day to day without setting each time.