What makes a Good Watch Winder


My definition of a Good Watch Winder: -


a) It has at least two Turns-per-day (650/900TPD) selection

b) It winds Bi-directionally, CW and CCW; or just Alternately is enough

c) It is repairable; at least 1 year warranty given

d) It accommodates larger diameter watch dials comfortably; perhaps up to 55mm

e) It winds one timepiece per turntable; dedicated rotor

f) Dedicated controls per turntable

g) It has a soft scalable watch pillow to accommodate all wrist sizes

h) It is operable with AC Mains as well as Batteries

i) Battery Life up to 3 months – susceptible to leaks if extended beyond that time-frame

j) It has a low noise level when rotating; no clicking or grinding sounds heard 60cm away

k) All switches should be easily accessible; no need for tweezers or pliers

l) A “Delay Function” would be a plus



No matter what winding sequence your watch winder has, you must know what TPD it delivers. Most automatic watches require up to 900 TPD (+/- 100). Winder manufacturers usually compensate this TPD on the upper limit in case of low battery power during operations, so 1200TPD should be okay. Above this count, your precious timepiece is subjected to bashing on a daily basis on this winder.


Your valuable timepiece deserves the best. Protect your investments!

Labels: watch winder features

Wind One Watch, Stress-test the Other

There seems to be a feature on some watch winders that puzzles me. It’s called “Fast Winding”. On some others it’s called “Quick-wind” while another says it’s an “Express Continuous mode”.


Intended Purpose
The maker states that (for some reason), the user wants to wear a particular watch within a short period. Once set, the winder will wind your watch continuously up to 3 hours.


TPD Provided
Assume it rotates clockwise for 30 minutes, pauses for 5 minutes, then rotates counter-clockwise for another 30 minutes and pauses again for 5 minutes before repeating the sequence. What would the total TPD be after 3 hours?

CW 30 minutes x 5rpm = 150 turns x 2.57 = 385.7


Pause 5 minutes

CCW 30 minutes x 5rpm = 150 turns x 2.57 = 385.7

Pause 5 minutes

Cycle time 70 minutes

Note: 180min (3hrs) / 70min = 2.57cycles



The above sequence gives the watch about 771TPD within 3 hours.

So let’s say, the user wants to wear a wound-down watch for a business meeting later that day. The watch winder has been maintaining his two other watches. So he removes Watch A and places the wound-down watch in its place. He then sets the winder on a “Quick-wind mode”. Watch B cannot be removed because the turntable needs to be “balanced” while rotating. So this means Watch B would also receive the extra TPD added to the rotations already achieved. That, I believe, is putting undue stress to this watch.


Do note that this watch holder needs two watches to be in equilibrium, so the best alternative is to put a non-auto watch in place.

Whatever and however, in my opinion, this mode, no matter how “Unique”, is totally unnecessary.

Quick-wind cycles would fit turntables with a single watch rather than turntables with two watches.

Labels: watch winder features

Important Features of a Watch Winder

1) Selectable Turns-per-Day

• Available for individual watches are much preferred
• 1200tpd being the highest preferred
• At least a Low-High selection

2) Selectable Winding Direction

• Alternating only would be fine; but all 3 directions is the best
• If the unit has a CW & CCW only selection, ensure you reverse the direction of wind daily to evenly exercise your timepiece

3) Wide Watch Slots

• Slots on the winding cup should be able to accomodate up to 47mm watch dials (including crown); 55mm being the largest dial diameter.
• Wide buckles should also be able to fit.

4) Individual Winding Heads

• Individual timepieces would have individual settings
• Having two watches causes unneccessary axial torque to a motor resulting in premature failures
• Single winding heads extends motor life in some ways

5) Motors

• Silent (low noise) - noise usually measured with watch winder lid closed
• Reliable (Durable)
• Easily replaceable when it breaks down

6) Power Source

• Both AC Mains and DC, Battery for table-top units - up to 3 or 4 winding heads
• AC Mains only for cabinet types; back-up battery preferred

7) Delay Start

• If the unit has a Delay Start feature; it'll be a bonus. Otherwise, just do one of the two...

- Place your watch in the winder but switch it ON the next day, or

- Set to a lower TPD when you place your watch in the winder. Reset the TPD to the normal one next day onwards if you're not wearing it.

Join a forum or horology club where you can get free advice from its members there.

Labels: watch winder features

Adding a Watch Winder Battery Monitor

Most of the cheaper watch winder units do not have a battery monitor to warn you of exhausted batteries. Here is a low cost circuit which you can add to your existing control board. Please be reminded that if your watch winder is new, opening the unit, removing or adding any circuits would void all warranties.

Labels: DIY watch winder, watch winder features

Labels: tpd, watch winder features

Watch Winder Settings

Automatic watches have mainsprings that wind in a clockwise, anti-clockwise or either way. There are also a minimum number of turns that would maintain the torque of the mainspring, thus keeping them wound.

Most watch winders have selections for winding direction and the number of turns. The more expensive watch winder units usually come with “Programmability” for TPD (Turns-per-Day) and Direction settings whereas the simple ones come with a factory pre-set TPD and has only the CW and CCW selector or works in an Alternating Winding (Bi-directional) cycles. Depending on the type of motor, the housing and circuitry used, both types will cost differently.

The MCU (Micro-Controller Unit), usually a programmable chip, takes care of the winding cycles and sequences. A manufacturer will eventually get the engineer or programmer to write several “files” or “programs”. Some programs will have two TPDs, while some with more. Some with only bi-directional winding, others with 3 direction selection - clockwise, counter-clockwise and both. These are often referred to as Winding or Operational Modes.

A manufacturer of an automatic timepiece would specify the minimum TPD for that particular watch model (caliber) and its best to set the winder to meet this requirement. We are truly blessed to have a complete database of TPDs in one of the winder manufacturer’s website. Yet many owners’ of automatic watches still do not make use of this awesome database and have posted questions in forums about TPD settings and their respective directions.

Winder manufacturers have created many ways to input such settings. Here are a few examples.

1. Orbita (USA) users input the TPDs and Direction by way of DIP (Dual In-Line Package) Switches.
2. ABest (Taiwan, ROC) user inputs only the TPD by way of DIP Switches, while the Directions by means of a rocker switch.
3. Wolf Design inputs winding cycles and directions using knobs (rotary switches).

Of late, another manufacturer has found a way to input settings via USB from a computer.

Whichever way, watch winder settings are important to maintain one’s watch mainspring torque and not to overstress it.

For those units that come with factory pre-set settings, the manufacturer usually sets the TPD to about 900 as most watches have a requirement of between 650 to 800TPD. 900 TPD would not stress any timepiece because of a special built-in clutch mechanism that would release “extra” mainspring tension. An increase by, say, 50% is nothing compared to wearing a timepiece for 24 hours on your wrist which actually adds much more than 3000 turns to the mechanism in random directions.

I believe the higher pre-set TPD is also to compensate for loss turns during a low battery state.

With these “programmability”, users can easily and readily select the required TPD and winding Direction for his/her individual wristwatches.

Labels: functions, watch winder features