Cheap Watch Winders break my Watch - Truth or Myth

In some aspects, this may not be true. I’ve toyed around with a couple of watch winders over a five year period now to know that there are some (less than 3) units that are affordable and reliable. I’m not here to promote any of these units but just stating the fact that a cheap watch winder will not necessarily break your valuable timepiece but a poorly designed and manufactured one will. Such units come with many different foreign sounding names, sold by different dealers or agents but are from the same source and made in China. Tell me, what isn’t made in China nowadays?




There are certain general specifications that a good “engineered” watch winder has, in order to be reliable and seem to last “for ages”. I won’t go into the technical details but I can tell you that a good motor is most important. Having motors from a manufacturer linked with NASA is overkill and costly while having motors made for toys is hitting under the belt. Your watch winder is NOT a toy.



Most China-made winder units are cheap, using low quality motors that are mass produced. A buyer cannot identify what sort of motors was used when buying a china-made winder. Taking it apart after purchase would mean voiding all warranty, so they generally stay away from it. But that said, motors alone will not break your timepiece. It’s probably the inappropriate TPD (Turns-per-Day) that will eventually do the worst for it. It’s very disturbing to see various sellers only stating the winding sequence on their sale site. It really doesn’t tell me what TPD the winder provides. I’ve mentioned it a couple of times in my other blogs and will continue to crusade that this is the most crucial feature that any winder should have.



Copy laws in China are well known for their slack. So many companies jump on the band wagon and copy full scale. I have a friend who works for a Singapore-based company designing and manufacturing communication products but made-in-china. He told me that his boss found copies of their product in the China market just weeks after their first launch. Upon close inspections, even the bugs in programming got copied over in their haste. It’s an exact replica except the brand and housing was changed. How did they do it so fast?



So some companies producing these cheap watch winders may not know what they’re doing. They are just merely “surviving” and giving jobs to the masses while still make some profits.



I see several reviews about low cost chinese-made winders and how happy the new owners were. But seldom, if not rare, did I see a follow-up on this particular winder, say after 6 months. Did these winders last? Are the owners still happy? Was the unit re-sold after that time?



Forums are a good place to start before you make any serious choices on buying a watch winder. Although a handful of members share their experience there, it’s still a reliable source of information about watch winders. I hope more members would spend a few moments giving their personal take on any winder units they have bought with the others. Have an introduction to what purchases you’ve made and a closure with your comments after about 6 to 9 months. I’m certain this time frame would tell everything about their valuable timepieces and that of the cheap watch winder. Your contributions will definitely give other members an idea on which cheaper alternatives are value for money.

Labels: cheap watch winder