automatic watch winders and Rolex wearing out

[TheVTCGuy]

Originally Posted by Rockrolex

Paul, I purchased my newest Rolex over 13 years ago and have yet to have any of them serviced (I have 4). I also keep them on winders when I'm not wearing them. Put that in your sock or underwear drawer and think on it.

Stay out of my underwear!!!!!!!


I too use a winder, personal choice but I think stuffing your watch in a drawer 40% of the time to reduce wear is ridiculous. Why not put it in a safety deposit box immediately after purchasing and never wear it; I'll bet it will last a long time

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

Stay out of my underwear!!!!!!!


I too use a winder, personal choice but I think stuffing your watch in a drawer 40% of the time to reduce wear is ridiculous. Why not put it in a safety deposit box immediately after purchasing and never wear it; I'll bet it will last a long time

I have no desire to get into your underwear. I have plenty of my own.

[cjohns]

I'm a simple thinking guy but isn't just like a car if you aren't driving, motor is off it's not wearing out ?? I'm I off base here ? I know all my machines I'm in charge of at work to keep them running don't break if they are not in use.....

[breitlings]

Originally Posted by cjohns

I'm a simple thinking guy but isn't just like a car if you aren't driving, motor is off it's not wearing out ?? I'm I off base here ? I know all my machines I'm in charge of at work to keep them running don't break if they are not in use.....

Well I am not sure if it is a good analogy but there are some issues from not running your engine for long periods of time and some serious car collectors do hire people to drive their car for a bit now and then to keep them up.

Also some engines don't like to stop and start, Newton's first law comes to mind... Not sure if either are applicable to watches but could see the argument.

[droptopman]

Originally Posted by Rockrolex

Paul, I purchased my newest Rolex over 13 years ago and have yet to have any of them serviced (I have 4). I also keep them on winders when I'm not wearing them. Put that in your sock or underwear drawer and think on it.

Very similar experience. I have used winders for many years and the last service I did on a Rolex...the watch was 15 years old. Have not serviced any of my current 6 watches and all run well and keep excellent time and all are on a winder when not on my wrist. One is a 50 year old 5513.
I have never had a Rolex break on me. Only reason I serviced the 15 year old piece is because the bezel insert got a pretty good ding in it and I wanted it replaced. Watch still kept good time.

[Andad]

I'm with Larry on this.

No movement - no wear.

[Tony64]

Originally Posted by directioneng

I'm with Larry on this.

No movement - no wear.

I hate to drag this topic on, but respectfully I think Larry's example is an oversimplification.

Clearly a watch that is never worn will incur no "wear", but that's only a fair comparison if a watch is never to be worn. Otherwise we must consider the first law of physics: "an object at rest remains at rest, an object in motion remains in motion". A watch worn intermittently, once allowed to stop, must overcome inertia each time it's called into use. That requires an additional force applied to the mechanism that a watch on a winder would avoid.

Does that result in premature degradation of the movement vs a watch left on a winder? Who knows, and more importantly, who cares? The additional wear resulting from either winder or inertia is hardly significant enough to keep a watch unworn. Only an unworn watch incurs no wear, unless we're now going to discuss the process of natural corrosion and decay in the sock drawer vs the winder. Please, let's not.

tl/dr version: it's not science, it's preference.

[wrist_watcher]

Originally Posted by directioneng

I'm with Larry on this.

No movement - no wear.

If wear concerns you, throw it in the sock drawer or the safe and call it a day!

[brkanand]

I do not have a watch winder. Three out of four watches of mine stay idle for months - at times more than a year. I have not had a problem with any one of them. I pick up what I like to wear. I wear that for a couple of months. Set the time and wear it as if it was always sitting on my wrist. No problems whatsoever so far.

[Rock]

If you contend that having the watch running continuously causes wear that would not occur if it was stopped, then you must also acknowledge that winding and setting the watch every second day causes wear on the relevant parts that would not otherwise occur.
I have had problems with the Crown mechanism on both of my automatic watches that has required an RSC service and so I am keen to minimise the 'wear & tear' on this part of the mechanism.
This is not why I use a winder however. I use it because I'm not interested in winding and setting the watch every alternate day when I swap over.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by wrist_watcher

If wear concerns you, throw it in the sock drawer or the safe and call it a day!

No, I just don't see the point in having my auto watches (30) all buzzing around on watch winders.

Could just be a Scottish thing.