Watch winders ... pros and cons?

It doesn't hurt a mainspring to sit uncoiled. Think about this; the parts in your watches are constantly wearing if they are in a winder.

 

There is a lot of debate about this amoung experts, some are in the camp that sitting lubricatns are worse for the watch than the wear from motion.

 

Yep, true. But how many guys leave a watch sitting long enough for the lubricants to get hard? It would take a long time and I'm guessing most people rotate their collection so that each watch is worn every couple of weeks or so.

 

Nowadays, none. Especially because modern lubricants are synthetic, unlike the old days when this wisdom started.

 

I fix, repair and have built my own watch (longer story, but love watches ) In any modern watch, sitting idle will not hurt the watch at all, modern lubricants (as mentioned) do not dry as they would in the 60's and 70's. The biggest advantage of winders (I have a few actually), but only have about 6 watches that I keep on them... Reason - so I do not have to set them, I have a few annual and perpetual calendar watches, that are a PITA to set if they go unworn, so I keep those on the winders to keep them running and with the proper date/time due to the specific watch. I also keep my 2 daily wear rotations on winder, over the weekends that I wear my beater watches, so when Monday comes around it is ready to go.

On the flip side, having them on a winder will also not hurt them.

I have actually seen more damage on older chrono watches (1940-90's) running the chrono constantly will hurt the watch more from a wear perspective than anything - but that is unrelated to using a winder (unless you are also running the chrono if on a winder). Newer Chronos do not have this issue due to the advancements of parts (silicon, etc.) for the movement parts.

If you wear your watches regardless of age a few times per month, you should have no issues - other than having to set the date/time when you do want to wear them... If you also have them serviced every 7-10 years, you should have no issues either way.

 

What kind of winder do you use?

 

I have a few: Wolf Heritage (4) winder.. and a leader (6) winder. For the money the leader which is an "off brand" compared to wolf, works fine and 1/3 of the cost. The wolf is pretty nice and the fit and finish is nice, makes a nice display case, but they both wind the same... I had a few knock offs as well over the years, the motor ends up dying about 1-2 years later. The Wolf and Leader have lasted several more years and no issues.

If you looking for really beautiful wolf winder, the Roadster 4 piece (which is the same size, motors and controls as the heritage I have - they also have a 2, 6, and 8 along with the 4), but the display and case are way more decorative (I think it uses tiger oak) - but is is also double the cost..

 

You do know if today is the 2nd and your Rolex is on the 4th you don't have to go all the way around don't you? A vintage Rolex will wind backwards and change the date backwards as well.

 

I got a winder for the practical reason that if I was in a hurry and the watch needed to be set and wound I would tend to not wear it and opt for the DD which is a sun powered radio set watch (Citizens titanium Eco drive) or one of my battery models. So I was not enjoying the automatics as often. The winder solves that issue for me and I now rotate watches more ie greater utility for me.

 

You have gotten some great replies. I have been using Orbita winders. I have their very basic dual watch units that run on batteries. Very easy to hide them out of site in a drawer. As much as the winders are great, there is nothing like the feeling of winding a manual watch!

 

Richard Wallace is bang on, newer watches don't need a winder unless they are complications you have no desire to set every time you put them on.
Get a winder that has multi directions and multi TPD setting, Wolf is a solid brand, so is orbita and the sky is the limit if you want to go Italian
I never messed up a watch on a winder as a collector for the past 30+ years

 

Does keeping a manual wound watch on a winder do anything? Without a counterbalance, how would the winder wind a manual?

 

It does nothing for a manual wind watch, only for display purposes would you put it in the winder.. Has to be an automatic to do anything on a winder.

 

Manual wind watch is wound via the crown only.
Self Winding = Automatic = has the ability to be wound by a rotor when in motion. Can be unidirectional or bidirectional winding.

 

My two cents, nothing against winders.

I like the feeling/experience of setting the watch, same way as starting your (F)car in the garage, that initial connection with the machine and anticipation for enjoying it for the day/night.

 

I keep my watches on winders i have an 8 place winder box... mostly so they don't lose time and i dont have to re- set them

 

I only keep my perpetual watches on winder because too lazy to set it every time I want to wear it.