Watch Winders

[TempoKing]

An article by By Manfred Streit

Watch winders are machines with a simple but vital task to perform for watch owners: ensuring that automatic (or self-winding) watches have sufficient energy for their clockwork drive by generating constant and steady motion. But that’s not all watch winders can do. The selection of models, sizes, designs and functions of available watch winders is as full of variety as the watch winders themselves. Watch winders can be differentiated based on their functions as well as their design (stand-up or built-in) and form of presentation (show window, box, cabinet).
For collectors and dealers of self-winding watches, it is important that all of their watches run all the time. Of course, a watch that has stopped can be rewound and the date corrected, but having to do that for more than two watches can be a very time-consuming task. A watch winder takes care of this potential annoyance. The watches are strapped into a special brace or a box. An electric motor (powered by a battery or adapter) ensures that the winder rotates constantly and with sufficient motion to keep the watch wound. This protects, in particular, delicate self-winding watches from being damaged through irregular use. The constant rotation also allows you to monitor the precision of the gears and ensure that models with a perpetual calendar are ready to use and set to the correct date even when they have not been worn for an extended period of time. Watch winders can differ significantly even in these basic functions. While simple or more affordable models are equipped with a single motor, high-end watch winders feature a separate motor for each watch. In the premier class, each motor also allows the rotational direction and the number of rotations to be set by the user, since not all self-winding watches are wound through bi-directional rotation. Stylish lighting of select watches, or all of the watches, is a quality feature found in many watch winders.
Another key role of the watch winder is to offer an appropriate and high-quality presentation of valuable pieces of jewelry. Watch winders made of quality materials, including fine woods, are particularly well suited for showcasing valuable watches. Dealers and manufacturers can embellish their products through such presentations, while watch lovers can use the right watch winder to highlight their collection and express their appreciation of their watches.

[Snow-Dweller]

Thanks for posting this. Personally, I love my Rapport quad winder.....but I'll bet the anti-winder brigade will soon be having their say!

[unclesallie]

Hey A: How you doin? Nice to see you posting again. I tried winders up the old kazoo, and not sure if the winders or having to constantly attend to watches is more of a pain.
Be Well !

[77T]

My Wolfies are always running strong and keep me from winding continuously...

[Rockrolex]

My two Brookstone quads run constantly and are always full. Thanks for that interesting article, A. No doubt Peter and his anti-winder brigade will be along shortly to dispute this.

[Rock]

My "cheapie" off Ebay is now 18mths old and running just fine.
I'm looking for 3yrs service for my A$100.
If it fails the test I will buy a quality winder.