# Automatic watch winder question



## Steve D UK (Sep 28, 2016)

Regarding automatic watch winders: If I'm only going to use my watch a couple of times a month at most, will keeping it running by means of an automatic winder make it wear out quicker compared to letting it run down and be started every time I use it?

Just another thought. I have a Tag Aquaracer Grande Date watch that I only wear on a weekend. Same question for that - leave running or pull the pin out to stop the watch?


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## Teg62x (Dec 28, 2016)

I don't think having it on a winder is any different to having it on your wrist if you wore the watch every day. As long as it is well maintained and serviced I don't foresee any problems. Likewise I wouldn't stop the quartz, let it run and keep maintained. Only my personal view mind you! There may be others with a lot more knowledge who can tell you exactly what to do. Good luck with your watches anyway. :thumbsup:


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## JayDeep (Dec 31, 2016)

The only thing a winder is good for, is keeping the date in line.

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk


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## Autonomous (Nov 16, 2016)

I've got some Seikos and Citizens I've had from the late 80's, always let them wind down until the next wear (once a month maybe), never been serviced. I check their accuracy regularly and have never had a problem. Of course these are not high end watches and I would be interested if some others have better knowledge.


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## graham1981 (Jan 1, 2016)

Absolutely no knowledge in this field whatsoever :laugh: But surely anything mechanical will 'wear out' quicker if it is running all the time, which it would be on a watch winder? Or does the fact that keeping it running will help keep oils etc free and not gumming up negate the wearing issue?


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## Chromejob (Jul 28, 2006)

Will it need servicing sooner on a winder than if you let it stop until you wear it again? Well, duh. A watch that's running 24/7 is running 24/7.

Most watchmakers I've heard from discourage the use of winders. They put wear and operation time on a watch when it's not in use. I grok that.

But I use a winder for the following: I have divers that I don't want to unscrew and screw the crowns in many times a month. I have 12 yo Seiko diver that the crown tube threads finally got a little janked, so I have to be gentle with it. I have a Mk II Kingston that the crown screwin' is a bit "rough" after regular wear for 5 years. Resetting the date is easy on most models.

I know I'm putting more wear on a watch by using a winder. I prefer that to cross-threading a crown when I'm in a hurry one morning.


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## deano1956 (Jan 27, 2016)

Winder owner here , you can turn them on and OFF and let the watch wind down natural ! so its not putting any excess wear on the watch than if wearing or so its not spinning mindlessly, there are one with timers too ! I use mine for convenience of having a correct reading watch in time and date before I need it so its grab and go, , mine is good for storage of that extra watch as well , :thumbsup:

deano

mine










one that I really want and would look good with a rolex spinning IMO :biggrin: (only its the price of a good watch!)


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

Steve D UK said:


> Regarding automatic watch winders: If I'm only going to use my watch a couple of times a month at most, will keeping it running by means of an automatic winder make it wear out quicker compared to letting it run down and be started every time I use it?
> 
> Just another thought. I have a Tag Aquaracer Grande Date watch that I only wear on a weekend. Same question for that - leave running or pull the pin out to stop the watch?


 From Ranfft Watches.



*
Run or Rest?*

*
Unadjusted*

The oppinion that a watch should continously run instead of keeping it resting in a drawer is nonsense.
What moves wears, and this applies to the bearings as well as the mainspring. However, if properly serviced, a watch will run almost eternally, but if it is stored in a dry and cool place it will even last "eternallier".
Anyway, this is not actually a question for collectors. If you own a couple of watches, and don't wear them all continuously on your wrists or in your pockets, each watch will run only a couple of days now and then. So if you care for your watches, you don't have to worry about wear.
 

I agree with this, others may not.


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## Ullevi (Feb 7, 2017)

I have a 2 watch winder and 6 automatics in total.

I tend to rotate through the watches on the winder so if they are not getting worn for a while I'll put them on the winder for a few days each month to get them running. For instance my 2 dress automatic watches don't get worn that often at the moment (the other 4 autos are new additions), but I'll still run them for a few days each month.

If a watch is getting a lot of wrist time and I want to have to ready to wear, again I'll put in on the winder for this reason.

Obviously, if I am wearing an automatic everyday for a few days, then it doesn't need the winder during that time.

From what others have said, a winder is not necessary, and the consensus seems to be that it is probably not desirable to keep a watch on a winder permanently if not being worn for long stretches (unnecessary wear). However, my winder was a present and I like using it and rotating the watches through it.


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## Chromejob (Jul 28, 2006)

Haven't mentioned this but both winders (my busted one, and the working one) are display cases, as well. The "working" one has four positions, one has stopped working.

Nice way to show off watches in daily rotation.










There are other pleasant ways to wind one's watch, btw....


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## Jet Jetski (Feb 10, 2019)

If it has no quick-set on the date, then it is going in the winder. That means my 1964 Seiko 5 and my 1980 ish Vostok 'ministerial'.

If I am trying to run an automatic watch for six months without having to set the time (as an experiment in accuracy) it goes on the winder. That means my Royal London (Miyota 8xxx). 2 months in and less than 20 seconds adrift, I'll take 2 minutes per year!

If it is the watch I wear every night (ie does not get much actual wrist action) it goes on the winder. That means my Ball chronometer (with the tritium tubes).

And my Holton automatic gets a place because I wear it quite frequently, at least once a week, and it has a screw-down recessed crown, so far far easier just to keep it wound. It's an NH35 movement so probably as cheap to replace as to service. It is accurate enough to leave weeks between setting (<4 secs per day out), therefore major convenience leaving it on the winder.


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## JayDeep (Dec 31, 2016)

I think it's the worst idea in the world to put a watch on a winder. Useless isn't even accurate, detrimental is more like it. If you don't wear it often then you're not wearing on parts, so why sick it in a winder wearing on parts. Oils do not break down like they used to. They go longer between servicing intervals. Just put it in a box until you want to wear it, then rinse and repeat.


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## Bricey (Apr 7, 2021)

Igerswis said:


> I use winders whilst others choose not to. There is very little difference between the two choices.
> 
> As stated above, winders do NOT run 24/7. They also place considerably less torque on the watch than it was sat on your wrist.
> 
> I also prefer to use them not just out of convenience but to protect the screw down crowns.


 Love your symmetry and attention to colour matching winder and watch.

I am fairly sure that your OCD would love a look through my neatly boxed and arranged kitchen cupboards and organised wardrobe.

If you watched me load the dishwasher, I think you would fall in love with me.

:thumbsup:



JayDeep said:


> I think it's the worst idea in the world to put a watch on a winder. Useless isn't even accurate, detrimental is more like it. If you don't wear it often then you're not wearing on parts, so why sick it in a winder wearing on parts. Oils do not break down like they used to. They go longer between servicing intervals. Just put it in a box until you want to wear it, then rinse and repeat.


 That's fine, but a counter argument would be that the crown will wear significantly slower without the regular screwing in and out and resetting date and time, and it's debatable whether constant stopping and starting is less wearing than constantly running.

Then there is the convenience of the watches being 'ever-ready' to grab and go, plus I love having them displayed for my viewing pleasure.

I get both sides of the argument, but think this is one of those things where there is not so much "the right way and the wrong way" as "the right way for one and the right way for someone else".


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## SolaVeritate (Mar 21, 2021)

Bricey said:


> Love your symmetry and attention to colour matching winder and watch.
> 
> I am fairly sure that your OCD would love a look through my neatly boxed and arranged kitchen cupboards and organised wardrobe.
> 
> ...


 I display mine like this. Simple.










In my living room.

Its usually closed, locked and its fixed solid to that table thing. Just so I can show them off.

If I'm cycling through 10-15 of my favourites that's probably 30 days use each a year per watch.

:thumbsup:


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## JayDeep (Dec 31, 2016)

Bricey said:


> Love your symmetry and attention to colour matching winder and watch.
> 
> I am fairly sure that your OCD would love a look through my neatly boxed and arranged kitchen cupboards and organised wardrobe.
> 
> ...


 Shouldn't be any detrimental wear going on with the crown unless you're being negligent with it, and crown replacement is typically very cheap and easy comparatively.


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

JayDeep said:


> Shouldn't be any detrimental wear going on with the crown unless you're being negligent with it, and crown replacement is typically very cheap and easy comparatively.


 Agree with that as long as the crown is made of "sacrificial" metal. If the crown tube gets cross threaded , then it's not so cheap and easy. Given the fact that my daily wearer for many years was a manual wound watch with a screw down crown without any issues, then I don't really see any problems. :yes:


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## Jet Jetski (Feb 10, 2019)

JayDeep said:


> I think it's the worst idea in the world to put a watch on a winder. Useless isn't even accurate, detrimental is more like it. If you don't wear it often then you're not wearing on parts, so why sick it in a winder wearing on parts. Oils do not break down like they used to. They go longer between servicing intervals. Just put it in a box until you want to wear it, then rinse and repeat.


 None of that addresses any of the reasons I posted for using winders.

How is my Ball going to stay wound if I only wear it in bed? It needs to be ready for action (or inaction) every night.

Winders offer a great degree of convenience in specific situations. Watches I seldom wear sit in boxes, watches I regularly wear - but not every day - and especially those without a quick-set date, go in winders. Please also note that many (not all) automatics are less inclined to be well adjusted for isochronism, as wearing them perpetually (as designed) means they are always in the top third of the power reserve anyway. Winding machines keep them there until you need them, which increases precision.

Please note that some watches have no quick-set date, no quick-set day, and no facility for hand winding. These are no fun if left in a drawer for a couple of weeks, and fun, after all, is the name of the game.

The anticipated extra wear and service costs are insignificant, compared to the benefits of grabbing a watch that is fully wound and on the correct day and date, and I think everyone should have at least two watch winders, whether or not they need them, as it is a sensible contingency, and I commend them to the house.


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## AVO (Nov 18, 2012)

JayDeep said:


> I think it's the worst idea in the world to put a watch on a winder.


 Dancing on Beachy Head after a gallon of Delerium Tremens might possibly edge it.


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## JayDeep (Dec 31, 2016)

WRENCH said:


> Agree with that as long as the crown is made of "sacrificial" metal. If the crown tube gets cross threaded , then it's not so cheap and easy. Given the fact that my daily wearer for many years was a manual wound watch with a screw down crown without any issues, then I don't really see any problems. :yes:


 Precisely, as that again goes back to negligent use. I've never had a cross thread issue, nor would I imagine do most WIS folk, as we care about our timepieces enough to be cautious enough. Oh well, to each their own. I find the entire idea of a winder, to put it uncharacteristically politely, ridiculous.



Jet Jetski said:


> None of that addresses any of the reasons I posted for using winders.
> 
> How is my Ball going to stay wound if I only wear it in bed? It needs to be ready for action (or inaction) every night.
> 
> ...


 Fair enough. I couldn't disagree more about your reasoning and thought process behind it, but to each their own. It takes me no more than a minute to grab a stagnant watch, shake or manually wind it a few times, set the date and time and move on. Although, if I'm being contemplative and honest, I actually really enjoy that part, so of course I wouldn't find any value in a winder, that would literally be taking the joy out of it for me.

Plus I would never do an auto for a sleeping watch. They lack the necessary lume to truly last and they lack the functionality I would want, such as alarms and indiglo backlighting for actual visibility in dark situations and ease of quick glance readability. So I've got a digital hunk of junk for sleep.

I don't have much for watches without a quickset date function, have only had a handful in my time. I avoid them like a plague, unless there's something else about the watch that is just too perfect to ignore. That said, why would one care about a date function if it's a watch they sleep in? Maybe that wasn't what it's all about for you, just a thought based on a point you made is all.

In the end, there's zero sensibility in a winder as far as I'm concerned. It's all just a matter of preference really. I find it much more sensible to just have quartz if grab and go is the concern. I find taking just a spare minute out of ones day to quickly wind and set a watch is nowhere near something someone could consider insensible. Anyway, no offense Jet, just a difference of opinion and taste I guess.



AVO said:


> Dancing on Beachy Head after a gallon of Delerium Tremens might possibly edge it.


 Hyperbole is my middle name and exaggeration is my game. How dare you challenge my clearly superiorly dodgy excuse for logic and rationale! I smite thee!


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## JayDeep (Dec 31, 2016)

Wait a minute, now I've got a solid case against them... Wait for it...

Because they take up too much valuable space which otherwise could be a box for more watches instead!!

Boom! Mic drop! Nuff said. :clap:


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## Jet Jetski (Feb 10, 2019)

JayDeep said:


> They lack the necessary lume to truly last


 Not true. Try Tritium tubes. I did. They are perfect for me.


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## JayDeep (Dec 31, 2016)

Jet Jetski said:


> Not true. Try Tritium tubes. I did. They are perfect for me.


 I'll stick with digital backlighting and multifunctional use. Don't like the of tubes on indicies and hands. Just gives it this cheap and cheesy effect to it for me. Plus for sleeping I might light weight plastic over heavy metal. In case I hit myself on the head with it, or the headboard of my bed frame or the wall. Lol you get where I'm going with this...


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## Bricey (Apr 7, 2021)

JayDeep said:


> Lol you get where I'm going with this...


 All over the bed by the sound of it!


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## Jet Jetski (Feb 10, 2019)

JayDeep said:


> tubes on indicies and hands - cheap and cheesy


 Check out my Gas Tubes song!

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I like Gee Tees!

I like Gee Tees!

They're brighter than my mushy peas,










They're ....

Cheap,

And cheesy,

And ready to please!

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## Caterham Kid (Oct 23, 2017)

JayDeep said:


> The only thing a winder is good for, is keeping the date in line.
> 
> Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk


 I agree with this although i do use a modified one to keep my Seiko Kinetic fully charged. I just put it on the winder for about 5 days per month.


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## JayDeep (Dec 31, 2016)

Jet Jetski said:


> Check out my Gas Tubes song!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Yip hate em


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