Watch Winder Drive System

One of my past designs for a watch winder uses a simplified belt-drive system. Depending on the construction and materials used, it may be a little quieter than the direct-drive winder units.




Although Orbita uses the direct-drive method to rotate the watch, the motor used is an expensive servo motor from Faulhaber and they ingeniously made a few changes to the circuit voltage, aided by precision bearings to have its silent operation. All this done without having BIG mechanical or rocket-science implementations. In the Rotowind system, it deploys a unique method that only “pushes” the rotating cup to a certain angle and then let the natural force of gravity take over. Read about it in their website. It’s rather interesting.



Rapport winders use belt-drives. The engineers calculate pulley ratios to make winders rotate at the ultimate RPM (Rotations per Minute) desired. The pulleys are made from some sort of cast zinc alloy and a double-belting system is used. Silent system but the rotating cup assembly contributes a clicking (creaking) noise problem due to the spring beneath rubbing against the acrylic panel.



From what I see, Buben & Zorweg winders also use the belt-drive system and have coupled (usually) four rotating tables to one circuit. This is not a confirm fact. I’ve yet to get a chance to review and test a unit.



The Chinese winder, on the other hand, uses the direct-drive method. Meaning, the rotating tables are directly mounted onto the motor shaft. This is the cheapest alternative without the use of any pulleys, belts or additional mounting accessories. So the winding mechanism depends greatly on the quality of the motor and not the quality of the whole assembly of pulleys as in the belt-drive system.

To make it even more affordable, they’ll place two watches per turntable and thus adding more stress to the motors. I’m not saying that it’s bad, but if a reliable motor is used this method is the most affordable solution for a affordable watch winder.



In every mechanical assembly or devices, there are bound to be failures. It is how much the manufacturer can reduce such failures without increasing the cost. I’m sure they have gone through many phases of Research & Development to optimize functions and minimize failures. Such evaluations take time and effort on their part; not to mention money too.



And in both the systems above, there are also advantages and disadvantages in using them. There is no perfect solution to everything.



From what I’ve seen the belt-drive system will definitely cost more as more parts are used. From my experiments, I know that all the parts of any winder system interlink to give silent operations, good battery life, low power consumption, durability, reliability and control over the TPDs. This interprets to taking good care of your luxury timepieces.



In summary, I find belt-drive winder systems quieter than the direct-driven ones but more expensive to manufacture and assemble. On the other hand, the belts have a limited life-span.

Labels: watch winder drivers