Watchwinder, good or bad?

[dannesyd]

Is a watchwinder good or bad for the watch? My first thought is that it might casue unnecessary wear on the movement? Especially on the Asian movements most of us have in our reps.

 

Facts and feedback on this would be very appriciated. Im considering whether to buy a watchbox or a winder.

[wiesn089]

Personally I just see the need for watchwinders when it comes to perpetual or annual calendar watches where setting everything right again can be a huge pain. My rotation consists of four watches atm and I don't mind setting them in the morning if one has run out. I actually like interacting with my watches on a regular basis that way, but then again I'm a big fan of handwound movements as well...  

[fraggle42]

The hack mechanism is delicate and (I think this is right) may probably be the most frequent repair in rep watches, (plus I hate setting a watch when I'm in a hurry to get to work!) so I like to keep my autos on a watch winder. It's never bothered any of them so far.

 

Most of my manual watches don't have a date, so it's just a case of simply setting the time.

[Ronin]

I have been using 10 winder bays for 6 years without an issue.

 

It puts no more wear on the watch then driving a car or walking down the street.

 

It is a must for my 1570 powered Rolex's without a quick set date.

 

Edit to add:  Continually unscrewing a crown with a screw-down crown, and pulling the stem to set the watch is probably going to lead to more issues than leaving them running in the winder ~ with an every other month "adjust the date - tweak the time" (28/30/31).

[freddy333]

You are likely to get varying answers to this popular question.

My experience has been that a good winder will not damage a movement in good, working order. However, a low-end winder or a movement in need of routine service can suffer accelerated wear when constantly wound. Because of this, I have come to the conclusion that winders are best used only on watches that lack a quick-set date feature & that you actually wear on a semi-regular basis. Having to spend 20 minutes winding the watch through many 24-hour cycles on a monthly or bi-monthly basis to set the correct date is probably going to cause more wear than a winder. But keeping a watch you wear regularly (at least once/week) on a winder may be accelerating wear that would otherwise be avoided by simply casing the watch when not in use.

[dannesyd]

This question is far from trivial, atleast in my mind haha.

 

So for unserviced asian movements it might be best to aviod winders?

 

[Rolexman]

Freddy nailed it.

[sgtguk]

Been using mine for last couple years now without any issues

[Ronin]

For typical Asian 21J's, regardless of condition just use the winder.  You are dealing with $25.00 movement's that can easily be R&R'd.

 

That said.  The Asian 7750 is another story.  (Hell even a GEN 7750) I would approach a little more cautiously. 

 

Some winders with "Fuzzy Logic"  (i.e. NOT settable for Clockwise/Counter Clockwise) will NOT keep a 7750 (Gen or Rep) wound more than a week without actual wearing it.  This also holds true with Miyota 8215 aka "Asian 21J clones" that "only wind in one direction".