The Complete Handbook of Watch Winders

Chapter 1: Understanding Watch Winders

A watch winder is a device that rotates an automatic watch when it is not being worn, in order to keep the mainspring at a consistent level of tension. That is the entire purpose. Everything else—the exotic woods, the silent motors, the "programs" that mimic a wrist's motion—is a detail layered on top of that core function. If you are a jeweler, an estate buyer, a repair professional, or a collector with more than one automatic watch, you do not need a winder because it is fashionable. You need it because an automatic watch that sits still for two or three days runs out of power, stops, and requires resetting. More importantly, a watch that is allowed to stop on a regular basis can develop problems with lubricant distribution. The lubricants inside a movement are designed to spread across bearing surfaces when the gear train is moving. When a watch sits idle for weeks, the oils settle and can allow dry contact on critical pivots, leading to accelerated wear when the watch is finally restarted. A winder is, at its simplest, a preventative maintenance device.

To understand how a winder works, you have to understand what it is doing to the watch. Inside every automatic watch is a rotor, a semicircular metal weight mounted on a pivot. When your wrist moves, gravity causes that rotor to swing, which turns a clutch mechanism that winds the mainspring. The mainspring is the power storage device of the