Watch winders

I have my automatics in watch winders, more because I like the looks and don’t wanna bother to set them. But it’s definitely unnecessary and as said it wears down the watch.

Winders aren't needed unless you want all your automatic watches to always be set & ready to be worn (DST changeovers excluded, naturally).

There was a need when oils dried out if the watch was not running, but if the watch has been serviced in the last 10 years or so, those type of oils are no longer in the watch.

Don't use a watch winder unless you have an automatic perpetual calendar or annual calendar watch.

Otherwise, you are just doing this...

Running your watches in a winder is like leaving your car running in the garage because you want it to be ready for when you are going to drive it next.

Imagine the service bill if you did that with your car...

They can be convenient, but they will create some wear compared to sitting still. They also may prevent some wear in other ways, like from winding, crown manipulations, time setting, etc. compared to letting automatics die and be set again all the time. Basically, it's the wear pattern of wearing the watch without any of the shock. If you want to use them to keep calendars running or just the time running for you, it's fine, but it's not necessary. I personally down own any.

To beat the gripes about them being constantly moving on a watch winder, use a smart plug to set a schedule which means they get a daily spin - say an hour or so depending on how much action your watch needs - and then they'll just sit there for the rest of the day happily tucking away.

Good answers here. It's up to you, but crucially if your watches are in a winder, they will require servicing sooner than if they are not kept in a winder and allowed to stop between wears. Saying that, having a watch in a winder is no different to just wearing it every day, or wearing it again before the power reserve runs out.

Also consider the accuracy, if your watch is running at -10spd and you leave it in the winder for 10 days, you're probably going to want to re set it anyway. In that scenario you're better off letting it stop between wears.

I dislike the car running analogy because a watch will run for many hours after you take it off, unlike a car. The only way to "turn a watch off" would be to pull the crown out and hack the movement, but this opens up a risk of moisture or detritus getting into the watch which is far worse than it just running for a few days extra.

Do you want excessive wear on your watches? Keep them in a winder. Do you want your watches to last as long as possible before needing a service? Keep them in a stationary box. The only real reason to keep a watch on a winder is when the watch has complications that can be very difficult to set. Take mechanical perpetual calender wathes for example. If it stops running, it may need to go back to the manufacturer to be reset. This is a perfect time to use a winder. Beyond that, I don't want to put any additional wear on my watches.

To be honest, I got one at one point without that is was a watch winder. So I had a mechanical in it because I thought it looked cool😁.

I think I'd only bother with a winder if I get a perpetual calendar watch

I know, I have a few, however they still rotate more than is really needed therefore a smart plug can mitigate that.

You don't need one. If you have a perpetual calendar and it's a bitch to set or your Jeweler has set it for you then yes. Otherwise it's............smoke

I got a watch winder for Christmas and I love it. It does NOT spin 24/7, that WOULD put excessive wear on the mechanism. It has "routines" that you can select. The one I have it set to is to spin 1 hour / stop 1 hour / spin 1 hour / stop 9 hours. That means that the watches spin for 2 hours per 12 hour period, or 4 hours per 24 hour period. If you wear your watch mormally for a working day, you'll put twice as much wear on it as having it on the winder that day. (Because that's wearing it for 8 hours, being on your moving wrist.) You can't overwind modern automatic movements so don't worry about that unless the watch is vintage.