I am considering a watch winder as I have one for work and one for my days off, with a potential third for special occasions. I can manually set but I have noticed a split between letting it die and just resetting upon use versus just keeping it in constant motion.

Any thoughts and any recommendations if you do recommend it? I'm fine with not winding if that's best, and I know there are plenty more knowledgeable than myself here.

Mods, if its more appropriate to move this to the lounge or something then please do. I wasnt sure where exactly to ask.

Watch winders aren't necessary.

Just take the extra few seconds to manually wind and then set the watch that you want to wear that day.

The ones I’ve seen seem really expensive. It takes me about two minutes to wind and set a watch only because I’d OCD about the seconds.

I have a couple of watchwinders and find them to be useful.

People either love them or think they are a waste.

Very convenient if you have several automatics. You can grab any one of them and all the complications will remain accurate.

A buddy of mine who has a big collection ruined it for me. He said it’s like leaving your car running in your driveway during the summer with the AC on so it’s ready to go as soon as you get in instead of giving it a couple of minutes but saving hours of run time. Haha

Some people will say the oils will dry out if not running all the time but I’ve never had that happen on a single watch I have ever owned. Once you learn your individual watches they can all be brought from dead by putting it on and then twisting your wrist back and forth a couple of times. Then they are very easy to quickly set.

I personally wouldn’t use them unless I had a watch with a ton of complications that are a pain to set.

Not a watch guy, but talked to a guy who was about Rolexs and he told me when he first started he thought he needed one-turns out you don’t. Wear the watch A till you’re tired. Pick up watch B, set the time and wear it. He said over a decade, that leaving the one not being worn on a winder just wore it out prematurely.

So I’m with Rogue on this. I have a Rolex but only wear it occasionally, and wear my Marathon all the time. Don’t want to have to send the Rolex anywhere for service until it quits working as they no longer have parts for a 40+ yo watch.

I have a few automatic watches.
To me, and I need to preface this by saying “Im not an expert”, but… Im not going to leave my car running while I’m not driving it.

Im not going to keep my watch running on a winder if Im not using it. Why put it through the extra “wear and tear” if I don’t need to. I’ll set the time when I need to.

There’s others that love theirs, and swear by them.

Im sure some of the other Watch People will give their opinion

I think they're weird and they freak me out and make me want to eat pineapple.

I realize this is an unconventional take on the subject.

I have 2 Rolexes and several other not quite as valuable automatics. I’m in the really not necessary camp and cusses extra wear and tear.

Only time it might be useful is if you put your daily on the winder to wear something else for a very special occasion but even then most modern watches have 40-70 hour reserves.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
I think they're weird and they freak me out and make me want to eat pineapple.

But not on pizza???

As some have said it's like leaving your car running in between using it. If you own several watches and rotate between them, if you let them wind down it can increase the amount of time in between serving.
I own one and the only reason I use it, I have a couple of watches that have a movement that had problems with a gear that would strip teeth if manually wound to much.
The way I use mine is I put the watch I want to wear on it the night before then in the morning I set the time and date.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
I personally wouldn’t use them unless I had a watch with a ton of complications that are a pain to set.

That's the only edge case for watch winders.

There are some fancier automatic watches with complications that are... overly complicated.

I'm talking about stuff like perpetual calendars and moon phases, which can be a pain to reset. So it could be reasonable to keep something like that on a winder, as long as you were willing to accept the extra wear and tear.

quote:

Originally posted by 71 TRUCK:
I own one and the only reason I use it, I have a couple of watches that have a movement that had problems with a gear that would strip teeth if manually wound to much.
The way I use mine is I put the watch I want to wear on it the night before then in the morning I set the time and date.

Even here, it isn't necessary to put it on a winder overnight for 8+ hours of excess wear.

You're avoiding the extra wear from hand winding by putting hundreds/thousands of hours of extra wear on it each year from needlessly winding it all night.

Whereas you can simply rock/shake the watch for a few seconds in the morning to get it started before setting and wearing it. The old "Seiko shake".

(Same thing you do with older automatic movements that can't be hand wound using the crown.)

I've had watch winders in the past. Except for one type of watch which I'll explain, watch winders are not necessary.

I switch watches every Saturday; some people switch every day. I have about a dozen. I pck up the next one in rotation, wind it 25 times. Set the date and time and it's done. I store them crown down as I came across an article as to which storage position keeps the watch most accurate.

I did buy a particular watch winder for a specific purpose: for a Seiko Kinetic watch. A regular watch winder won't be able to generate the movement required to wind the watch. Before I bought the cheap winder (~$15), after it stopped, I had to shake it violently for quite a while before it would come up to speed. I used to wear it playing golf in order to wind it. It does last for about a week before stopping. So with the pendulum watch winder, it keeps the watch wound.

But if you don't have a Kinetic watch, you don't need a watch winder. Just get yourself another watch to enjoy.

My 7S26 Seiko movement reserve time is not what it should be. And setting the stopped watch requires care to avoid damage to the complications for day and date. So, a winder would make it easier to enjoy the watch occasionally. I need a modern Apple Watch most of the time.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
My 7S26 Seiko movement reserve time is not what it should be. And setting the stopped watch requires care to avoid damage to the complications for day and date. So, a winder would make it easier to enjoy the watch occasionally. I need a modern Apple Watch most of the time.

Here's what I learned for watches with date or day/date complications:

After the initial winding to load the spring, pull out the crown as if to set the hour and minute hands first. Set the time to 6 o'clock. Most watches with date complications (except for GMTs) say never set the date when the hands are between 9 and 3 o'clock. Once the time is at 6 o'clock then use the date quick set to set the date one day prior the current date.

Then set pull out the crown to set the time and set the time until the date rolls over into the current date. Then you know it's set for the morning. Then you continue to set the hour and minute hand.

Of course with me, when setting the time, I stop the second hand at the 12 o'clock position first and I synchronize with an atomic watch app on my watch.

Rey HRH, your experience and guidance is what a winder would prevent. My reading of the Seiko manual highlights the time frame to avoid, and it isn't too difficult to perform the reset. But, the winder would be convenient. I'm performing a reserve duration test now, having doffed the watch at 7 am.

FWIW, I have a 55+ year old Bulova automatic dive watch. I asked one of the guys going on R&R while I was in RVN to get me an Omega. When he came back he said the PX was out of Omegas, so he got me a Bulova Oceanographer "Snorkel" instead. I wear it only occasionally, but I put my Sub in the safe, set and wore the Bulova yesterday. Never had a winder, never had it serviced, etc. Still runs and keeps time just fine.....YMMV

If you have a screw down crown, a winder can reduce the opportunity of cross-threading/stripping the crown threads.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
I personally wouldn’t use them unless I had a watch with a ton of complications that are a pain to set.

That's the only edge case for watch winders.

There are some fancier automatic watches with complications that are... overly complicated.

I'm talking about stuff like perpetual calendars and moon phases, which can be a pain to reset. So it could be reasonable to keep something like that on a winder, as long as you were willing to accept the extra wear and tear.

quote:

Originally posted by 71 TRUCK:
I own one and the only reason I use it, I have a couple of watches that have a movement that had problems with a gear that would strip teeth if manually wound to much.
The way I use mine is I put the watch I want to wear on it the night before then in the morning I set the time and date.

Even here, it isn't necessary to put it on a winder overnight for 8+ hours of excess wear.

You're avoiding the extra wear from hand winding by putting hundreds/thousands of hours of extra wear on it each year from needlessly winding it all night.

Whereas you can simply rock/shake the watch for a few seconds in the morning to get it started before setting and wearing it. The old "Seiko shake".

(Same thing you do with older automatic movements that can't be hand wound using the crown.)

I own a Seiko Orange Monster I have to shake because the movement in that watch does not allow it to be wound.

I also have a Tudor Black Bay GMT that takes over 20 turns of the crown to even get the second hand moving so putting it on a watch winder the night before gets it started enough for me to set it in the morning.
Putting a watch on a winder over night for only eight hours I don't think is going to put hat much extra wear and tear on a a watch. I don't think that it will make that much difference in the long run.
I also use a Wolf winder that limits the number of turns per day.

With that said putting a watch on a winder for long periods of time, I think will cause unnecessary where on the watch that's why I only do it to get the initial wind in the watch.

I use Toolwatch to set my automatics. The app notifies you when a month has gone by so that you can reset/wind your watch. This way the watches get wound once a month and get to run some, but not too much.