Motor Controllers in a Watch Winder

Watch winders basically needs two important components to effectively maintain and keep a timepiece wound. Firstly, the brains of the winder unit is essentially a controller circuit board. This circuit board controls the number of turns per day and the direction of the motor. And secondly, the most important component is the motor which will carry a load (the wristwatch) and rotate as controlled by the circuit board.

The Controller Circuit Board

Most controller boards have a programmable chip called PLD (Programmable Logic Devices) or PLC (Programmable Logic Controllers). Perhaps one of the simplest forms of PLD/PLC is a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory). These types of Microprocessor ICs are used widely in almost every industry, from cars to space shuttles, from digital clocks to computers.

A watch winder uses this same technology to control its functions. Zilog, Motorola, Atmel, Winbond, Microchip and Holtek are some of the manufacturers that provide watch winder companies with such ICs. Here is an example of a watch winder (L80 x W45mm) circuit board, which works off AC Mains and Batteries. It uses an “Unbranded” chip.

The Motor

If the circuit board is the brain of a watch winder, then the motor would be its arm to rotate your timepieces. This is the most crucial part in the whole winding system.

Generally, the two types of motors used for watch winders are the AC Synchronous and the DC Gear motors. There are tons of motors available in the market. Some of the well-known manufacturers for DC motors are Portescap, Escap, Mabuchi, Maxon, Buehler and Faulhaber. These quality motors have high reliability, long life-span and a cost to match with it. An ex-colleague who now works at Danaher Motion once told me that a particular series of Portescap motors could cost as much as $100 each. Maybe at $80 with huge volume. That’s why high-end units are built with such motors. So don’t expect a reliable winder to be cheap. They are of a different class.
 
For a Quality Watch Winder, an Intelligent Circuit-board and a Quality Motor is required. One cannot go without the other. A few of the motors that I’m experimenting with are shown above.


Look beyond the glossy surface and take a peek inside the shell and you’ll find a good micro-controller system paired with a reliable motor. Then you’ll begin to understand and appreciate its engineering and pains taken to manufacture a quality watch winder unit to maintain all your precious timepieces.


The point is… buy with sense!

Labels: watch winder parts