Watch Winders

[jomama]

Do watches have prolonged or shortened life living in a winder? I like the idea of not having to constantly dink with movement but was wondering if there is a finite life on all movements that is shortened due to winders?

Just got an 8 watch wainder from Acetime and I love the concept but did not know if it was also good for the watches...

[NaviChief]

As I understand it, and there are far more qualified people than I to answer, but I think the major issue is wear after the oil has evaporated. The oil takes 5 years to evaporate (if there was ever any there at all....common problem in reps), and is NOT dependent on use or disuse. So, theoretically having it on a winder all the time should not make any difference. However, common sense might say SOMETHING has to be wearing away. Basically the arguement gets stuck here and boils down to do whatever you are happy with. I have a winder, and I like it. Some people don't see the need. I don't think there is hard evidence that it is a bad thing or a good thing FOR your watch. Hope that helps more than it confuses.

[Watchmeister]

As was said, use does not make watch oils evaporate. Time does. A watchwinder doesn't hurt your watches but it is really a convenience. The thing you will find frustrating is that different watches (both rep and gen) respond very differently to being on them. Some will continue to keep COSC quality time others will gain or lose time. Where I find a watchwinder is invaluable is for automatics with difficult crowns or tendency to strip threads and for Perpetual calendars.

[crystalcranium]

As was said, use does not make watch oils evaporate. Time does. A watchwinder doesn't hurt your watches but it is really a convenience. The thing you will find frustrating is that different watches (both rep and gen) respond very differently to being on them. Some will continue to keep COSC quality time others will gain or lose time. Where I find a watchwinder is invaluable is for automatics with difficult crowns or tendency to strip threads and for Perpetual calendars.

Agree. It's funny, but the importance of "adjusted to 5 positions" becomes obvious on a winder. Your watch will spend a random amount of time in 360 degree orientation on a winder with it running and stopped. The COSC chronometers I own have all done very well on a winder but the watches, replicas and gens, I have adjusted to sub 5 sec/day varience on the work bench show their true colors on a winder. It's the only way to go for the home adjuster to adjust to "on the wrist" accuracy. You become aware of the limits of accuracy and adjustability for a given timepiece when it is put through its' paces on a winder. Some just can't hack it. I had 2 Asian 7750s that I was actually able to get to under 5 sec/day variance rotating on the machine and several that wouldn't get close to this accuracy on the winder but would run very accurately dial up on the bench. That's your wall where balance wheel isomerisim meets mechanical drive train quality.

As for wear and tear.....these are not automobile transmissions. You cannot compare the forces metal is subject to in a mechanical watch with the kind of forces we are familiar with in other mechanical devices. The linear loss of resistance to stress when a gear in an say a piston engine drive train is downsized to the proportions of a gear in a watch drive train is nowhere near as steeply sloped as is the linear loss in forces encountered in both drive trains..or in other words, the gear might loose its resistance to wear by a factor of 100 in being smaller but the forces it's being subjected to are 10,000 times less.

Can you wear your watch out running it constantly? Yes but not in your lifetime or in your grandchildren's lifetimes. Jeweled bearings and pallet stones are virtually indestructable.