Discussion Topic: Watch Winders – Your Thoughts?

Not at all. I put my watch on and go for a 2 mile walk. It's all wound up by the time I get home. 😁

I have a wolf single watch winder, I just use it occasionally, I will still wind by hand.

I use two watch winders. I have two vintage Timex watches without quick-set dates. It takes a lot of time to set the date for those watches. I like to reset the date on my quick-set dates. I use this opportunity to remind myself that every day is new, and we are blessed to have another day!

I bought my winders off Amazon; the brand name is Mozsly.

I do not use watch winders because it causes more stress and wear on the mechinisms than it should. I do not see an ocassion in which I would use one. Unless I owned a perpetual calander watch and I would put it down for a while and then pick it up and want it to be on time and without need for adjustment. Then maybe.

I heard it can put more stress and wear on the watches. I also hear it is not the best to have watches sit too long without moving; they may need to be serviced more. Thanks for your reply.

It it is true that having watches sit for too long may need servicing. Then I wonder how long do they sit at the AD without winding before selling (from manufacturing to being sold)?

It was something about keeping the lubricants moving and distributed. I guess it helps maintain accuracy. I have not had the issue. I think the timeframe would be years of sitting around.

Came back to edit lol they aren’t actually “gay” 🤣

They are lame though lol

It's my understanding that doesn't apply to modern watches and their synthetic lubricants and lab-grown jewels.

The way I look at it, a watch winder is analogous to running your car all the time on a treadmill in the garage. Unless it's the kind of watch you really don't like to have to set, I don't see the point.

I don’t use one now. But I’ve contemplated getting one for my GS SBGM221. Because of the GMT it doesn’t have a quick set date. It’s one of my favorite, but least worn watches. Setting the date can be a pain.

Although they’re nice to have if you have more complications on a particular watch and don’t want to set them every time you put them down for a couple of days, I’m afraid to have to service the watches much earlier then scheduled.

Just wearing your watches at least once a week should suffice, If you have to put the watch off for months at a time, maybe it’s time to move them out of the collection.

I don’t use a winder since all my watches are time and date only with quick-set dates at that.

Kind of pointless unless you are THAT lazy or have super complicated watches that you want to keep in rotation that are a pain in the ass to set. Another maybe is if you have a gigantic collection . . . but that also doesn't make sense. Just wind them up or shimmy em when you want to wear a particular watch. Watches are not going to break if they are sitting in your watch box for an extended period of time.

That being said, I have one b/c I was hoodwinked by social media and influencers early on into thinking I needed one, which I don't. That said, I find my wife uses it bc she isn't really a watch person and often forgets to give her watches enough juice.

But if you don't find some joy in winding or tending to your watches then I don't know what to tell ya.

Watch winders might be for "non-watch" people who have watch enthusiast-collector people in their lives who think they should have an automatic watch. My wife has two automatics she doesn't wear because she does not like setting the date. Interesting.

I use a watch winder to break-in the movement of any new watch I just bought, so the mechanism gets oiled up evenly (if not done already) and will run smoothly for years to come.

It is usually not needed for high-end brands, but lower-end brands which manufacture 100 movements per minute will not make them run for 1000h like Jaeger-Lecoultre does before selling.

So a winder, yep.

(Edit: or better: a cyclotest)

I've always wanted a watch winder it looks cool and having to reset the watch is sometimes - YOU KNOW! But that's first world problems we're talking about 😂 ... And I have lost and stop counting at 86 watches ... That's way too many watch winders to house and inventory 😳

So I haven't used a watch winder ever since I've bought my first automatic watch which was maybe 20+ years ago. Guess what?! I haven't EVER serviced ANY of my automatic watches and ALL of them are running accurate within standard and performs like a well oil machine 💪🏽😎👊🏽

Just like the engine of a car, the more you use it ther more services it will require. In my opinion, watch winders will only wear your watches faster even if you don't use them and you will need to service them more often. Just wind them once or twice per month.

I get that it can be a pain to wind and set highly complicated watches, and that might mean less wrist time for those particular pieces. On the other hand, why buy an elaborate toy if you don’t want to play with it?

I’ve used a watch winder for the last 24 years. What’s the main benefit? My watches are ready to go when I want to wear them. I don’t have all of them on watch winders just the ones in my weekly rotation. I have about 5 watches I rotate through the week, two have a 70 hour power reserve the other 3 are in the 40’s. I only have 2 watch winders, so two in, two off and one on the wrist.

What’s the best brand? 🤷‍♂️I’ve never had the creme de la creme watch winder (Orbita, as I’ve been told) but I got a really good deal on a two watch Wolf from Gilt. It lasted about 5 years, about as long as some of the Chinese ones I’ve gotten off Amazon. I will say the Wolf was quieter than the cheap ones, though I highly suspect they’re are probably made in China too.

For all the comments about it putting undue wear on the watch, if it does, it’s negligible. A scam? How in the world is it a scam? The running your car on idle analogy? Yeah, no, my watch is not a car.

Pictured below is my 20 y/o GMT Master 2. For 15 years it was my daily. I wear my watches while sleeping, so it was on 24/7 for months at a time. There are some years I don’t think I wore another watch. It was a true GADA watch, playing at the park with my kids, golfing, swimming, running, work, a couple deployments and many formal events. On the ocassions when I wore my other watches for a few days, it’d be on a, wait for it… a watch winder. That’s 5340 days running non stop. Oh did it decrease the interval time for service, uhhh no it’s not a car, that whole service interval, now that’s a scam. I got it serviced 3 years ago for the first time at year 17. Get your watch serviced when it needs it.

I ran into a YouTube video made by a Dutch watchmaker who talked about winders and why it wears out the movement when you hand wind an automatic watch. He thought it was OK to use a winder on a limited basis but said shake your watch a bit and wear it. It is my experience that when the watch gets broken in a bit this approach works even better.

I used to run two multi-watch winders all the time. Then it dawned on me (duh) that I was keeping each watch at maximum tension always. I abruptly stopped using them. And then I just never used them except to store watches.

I can understand the ones with timers.

Watch winders put no more wear and tear on a watch then wearing it for 8+hours/day unless it is constantly winding. Most winders have a TPD setting so the watch winds for a few minutes then rests for a hour. If you want your watches to remain water resistant for longer, this is a better option then constantly popping out the screw down crown to reset. You will wear the gaskets out doing this much faster than a watch winder will wear down parts, lubrication, etc.

Great bit of AI art

I used to have them running forever. Now I unplug them some days of the week.

I don’t leave my car running in the garage. Same concept. Wear tear avoidance.

Are we still having this conversation?! Yes if you have a perpetual calendar I can see the benefits of a winder, maybe even a moonphase to save you looking up the correct phase. Other than that, in modern times, winders are a gimmick.

Have used it in the past for my first automatic watch. Haven’t used it for like 3-4 years now. I think it’s only useful for complex mechanisms like perpetual or annual calendars.

Have three winders that will hold a total of 12 watches to wind while storing another 18 total. Am good to grab and go.

You don't need watch winders as the oil and lubricants are made from the highest quality synthetic fluids that would not dry up easily, also putting all the stress from constantly running makes no sense to me, the wear and tear is better avoided. Lastly in the same way I don't need a watch with 200 hour power reseve as my rotation is heavy and it's best to pick up a watch and just turn the crown and your good to go. I've owned a few watch winders and they are kool storage boxes like a condo for your watches but unnecessary. My watch maker doesn't recommend them anymore either. My oldest watch is over twenty years and runs without a hiccup and never serviced which is a discussion for next time.