Watches 101: Should I buy a watch winder ?

Hello everyone !

I now have too many watches…. Everyone was right… watches are great. Being fairly new to this crazy watch world, I still have a lot of questions when it comes to owning/ caring for a watch like ….

Is it bad to let a watches power reserve die out?? Will it damage or impact the movement negatively, to leave a watch unwound for say a day?, a week?, what about a month? Now that I own multiple watches there is a possibility that a couple of watches in my collection might be left unworn and unwound for a week maybe 2 weeks. Is this bad ? How long can a watch stay unwound before it begins to damage the watch/movement ? What should I do instead? Should I buy a watchwinder? And do you have any recommendations for watchwinders if I do need it ? Thanks everyone

Reply
·

A machine at rest is merely a machine at rest. (I am in the anti-winder camp, can you tell?)

·

Me too! Your watch won't detiorate whilst sitting unworn.

On the other hand if you keep it in a winder the parts will wear more quickly and it will need servicing sooner.

I find people recommending winders quite odd!?

·

Unless your watch is a perpetual calendar, skip a winder. I have watches that sit for a month, perhaps more. As others stated, there is no harm in letting a modern watch sit. Best practice (besides simply wearing it) is to occasionally wind it, but save the money. Invest in a nice watch box instead, or another watch.

·

Unless you own a very expensive super complicated perpetual calendar watch you have no need for a winder.

·

You don't need one unless as said in the comments above if you have a perpetual calendar watch which would be a bitch to set when the watch stops running.

Cheers!

·

It would be funny if the OP turned out to own a Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar, and he got tired of resetting it all the time.

Obviously not my image.

Image
·

When decide to wear an unwound watch, enjoy bonding with it by ritualistically winding & setting. Just remember not to change the date between 11:00 pm & 2:00 am

·

If you have a calendar yes you need one. It’s easy to set a calendar takes like 5mins. And you can’t over wind an automatic watch. However, letting watches sit unworn for a long time is not good for the watch. The lubricant used in watches are designed to be used. I would at least wind the watches once a week and let them run down. If you have a winder and have a large collection u could throw a watch that’s been sitting unworn for a long periods, and unable to get wrist time, put on a winderfor a day or two and rotate so they stay moving few times a month.

·

Some of my automatic are in winders and some are in boxes, I don't have any preferences or recommendations and I never experienced a problem either ways.

Winders are cool to look at but the truth is that it's not necessary if you don't mind adjusting and winding manually the watches that are kept in a box.

·

Personally, it’s a morning ritual for me to wind a watch and set it in the morning before I begin anything else. It is rather calming - almost meditative. Unless I’m late to something, then I grab a quartz watch.

Even the watches I don’t have to wind, I’ll reset the time.

·

No

·

There are a couple of really interesting YouTube channels run by master watchmakers I watch. I’d consider them authorities on watches and they have addressed all the misconceptions about watch winders. Wear and tear, lubrication drying up with unwound warches Ect. Basically watch winders are generally safe but a watch will wear a little faster and require service a bit more often if always run. No harm will come to an unwound watch. Especially with modern synthetic lubricants. Use em or don’t. It’s all up to you.

·

Ok piggy backing on this. I have a vintage Rolex that doesn’t have quickset date, meaning I have to manually turn through every single day to catch up to the most recent date, which is a pain as I like to rotate between watches.

The convenience of a winder is obvious, but the vintage nature gives me pause.

Thoughts / opinions?

·

I used a watch winder years ago. I didn’t really need to as I found myself wearing the same watch almost daily. So when that cheaply made watch winder went kaput I didn’t replace.

In the last couple years I’ve bought some nice modestly priced automatics, so I started using a watch winder again. I have 4 watches on rotation and I find it convenient that my watches are ready to go when it’s their turn on the wrist.

Maybe some day I’ll buy a Wolf winder but for now those cheap single, stackable watch winders I find on Amazon do the trick.

Image
Image
·

I used to want a watch winder but have changed my mind. I will wind and set as needed for wearing.

·

I was given one by a family member a number of years ago. I got it out of its box and well to be honest I can't remember. But it is now in a box on top of the Cubard in my bedroom never used. So ........! No.

·

For me there are only two reasons for a winder:

1 your OCD and you must have all watches ready to go….but what happens to your manual watch (head explodes!)

2 you have perpetual calendar

If you don’t have the above, relax and put the money towards another watch ;-)

·
lmchew

Ok piggy backing on this. I have a vintage Rolex that doesn’t have quickset date, meaning I have to manually turn through every single day to catch up to the most recent date, which is a pain as I like to rotate between watches.

The convenience of a winder is obvious, but the vintage nature gives me pause.

Thoughts / opinions?

If it's vintage the extra wear wouldn't be worth it for me. I would just wear it every 3-4 weeks so it's less painful to change the date. Or, if you are really strong willed, just ignore the date! Admittedly, I couldn't do it. I have a vintage Vostok I only wear if the date stopped within two days in the future.

·

I have 34 automatics, so it's not worth it to me. My understanding is that letting a mechanical watch rest will help to preserve it's life. My general approach is having a balanced collection between mechanicals and quaztz/eco-drive. I think of my collection as a toolbox with different tools for different occasions.

·

I have a winder. Apart from displaying watches in it it's never used. Waste of money.

·
tonmed

If it's vintage the extra wear wouldn't be worth it for me. I would just wear it every 3-4 weeks so it's less painful to change the date. Or, if you are really strong willed, just ignore the date! Admittedly, I couldn't do it. I have a vintage Vostok I only wear if the date stopped within two days in the future.

This is basically why I haven’t pulled the trigger on one yet. If I can remember I just pull it out of the box and shake it a bit so it’s at least not so far off when I want to wear it again, but if it’s a good 2 weeks out, then it’s another 2 weeks before it re-enters rotation! 😂

·

If it has a perpetual calendar, day date, or moonphase, maybe. If not, no.

·

The only watches you should consider putting on a watch winder are those that have complex perpetual calendar complications that are very difficult to reset.

All others should be left off the watch winder. As I have said before...you don't leave your car running in the garage so that you don't need to start it when you want to drive somewhere. Why put extra miles on your watch's mechanical parts unnecessarily.

If you don't mind having to service your watch sooner and more often for the convenience of it being ready to wear, then a watch winder is very useful for that purpose.

·

Thank you all who responded and those who will !!! I appreciate it …No I don’t have a perpetual calendar… my watches are all sub $1000 … a couple quartz, some autos and some manual winds. I guess I’ll just save the money, sounds like you don’t really need one until I buy a Patek Philippe in my next life!! 🤞🏼Thanks again everyone

·
AlbertG

Thank you all who responded and those who will !!! I appreciate it …No I don’t have a perpetual calendar… my watches are all sub $1000 … a couple quartz, some autos and some manual winds. I guess I’ll just save the money, sounds like you don’t really need one until I buy a Patek Philippe in my next life!! 🤞🏼Thanks again everyone

You don’t need a Patek or a calendar to get a watch winder you just need a few automatics and hate the inconvenience of winding your watch and re-setting the time every time you pick up a automatic watch that’s not be worn for a couple days.

They’re $30 bucks on Amazon.

·

This gets asked all the time; do a search on the word "winder" and you will find a ton of threads. But long story short, no, you don't need one. Unless you are super duper lazy and can't spend 15 seconds setting the time (and maybe date), on an automatic watch that has run down, then you don't need one.

And if you're wearing the same watch regularly (eg: as your daily), it's not going to be running down all that often anyway, is it? Watch winders are a total waste of time. A nice prop for watch videos ("Ohhh, look, I'm really into watches, you can tell that because I have some watch winders..."), but that's it.

·
lmchew

Ok piggy backing on this. I have a vintage Rolex that doesn’t have quickset date, meaning I have to manually turn through every single day to catch up to the most recent date, which is a pain as I like to rotate between watches.

The convenience of a winder is obvious, but the vintage nature gives me pause.

Thoughts / opinions?

I wear my gmt master 1675 with the date perpetually wrong for that reason. Sometimes, I happen to wear on the date that it was set to so I’m good to go but my feeling is if u don’t want to spend 15 min resetting the date just let it be.

·

Leaving watches sitting won’t hurt them, but I wouldn’t let it sit for longer than a year. The oils in the jewels could dry out (probably even less time for a cheaper watch). I use a winder for the watch that I want to keep the time on so I don’t have to reset it when I’m not using it. I don’t mind using a winder and servicing my watch sooner because it’s worth the investment to service my watches sooner rather than later. My wife got me a cheap winder on Amazon and it’s been working great.

·

I have a winder, and it has been super convenient for making sure my watches are ready when I need them. They're all just 3-handers with a date, but sometimes I'm in a hurry and don't have time for a winding ritual.

But thanks to the comments against using a winder 24/7, I have decided to keep my more beloved watches at rest. 😴

The beater Seiko can stay on the winder 24/7 in case I need a grab-and-go. 🤣 And, I still have the option of running the winder if I need a specific watch ready for tomorrow morning. Or if the movement needs a bit of exercise.

·
watchdawg

If you have a calendar yes you need one. It’s easy to set a calendar takes like 5mins. And you can’t over wind an automatic watch. However, letting watches sit unworn for a long time is not good for the watch. The lubricant used in watches are designed to be used. I would at least wind the watches once a week and let them run down. If you have a winder and have a large collection u could throw a watch that’s been sitting unworn for a long periods, and unable to get wrist time, put on a winderfor a day or two and rotate so they stay moving few times a month.

Excellent advise