The Best Watch Winders You Can Buy

One of the key selling points of watches, especially those with manufacture calibers, is very often the power reserve. With the power reserve of an automatic watch being on average of a couple of days, some brands do better than this. Tudor’s in-house movement will last for 72 hours off the wrist, whilst Panerai’s Luminor 1950 GMT PAM00986 can last for ten days… that’s real staying power! But when things wind down, the heart stops beating and all signs of life die out.

Now, on a time-only watch this isn’t a huge problem, resetting the time and a full wind takes less than a minute. Setting the date takes a few seconds longer if, and it’s a big if, you have quick set date. If it’s a vintage watch then you may have to manually advance the watch through a number of 24-hour cycles – and this is why you need a watch winder!

One of my favorite watches I owned was a 1950s Rolex Ovettone (Big Bubbleback) Datejust with stunning tropical dial. It was stunning but a little delicate for everyday use. And of course, dating to the 1950s it had a slow-set date. Every time I came to wear it I had to reset the date. In fact, I very rarely bothered and just wore it displaying the wrong date. What I needed was single watch winder such as the Evo Cube watch winder by Rapport or one of the delightfully minimalistic SwissKubik single winders. Maybe if I bought one of these, I’d still have the Ovettone!

If the thought of manually setting a slow-set date is daunting, then imagine having to reset your perpetual calendar. Please note – I am in no way taking away from the joy of sitting with a glass of something good and enjoying the pleasure of setting your watch;  what a wonderful way to pass half an hour. However, time is often not on one’s side and so a watch winder is essential for such a timepiece. And for the collector with a number of watches with varying levels of complications then look no further than the Wolf’s 32-piece Piano Black 1834 Ambassador Cabinet.

A horological statement installation, this hand crafted cabinet is a stylish as it is useful and the connoisseur’s choice for keeping those Patek complications running.  So what are you waiting for? Head over to the shop and grab a winder – you won’t regret it.