Are Watch Winders Harmful to My Watch?

There have been numerous discussions about the safe use of watch winders. Will this have an impact on time accuracy? Will the watch winder attract the watch's magnet? You might get different answers if you look online and do some research. In this article, I'll answer your question and offer some suggestions.

How Does an Automatic Watch Function?

Many people enjoy wearing automatic watches, but do you know how they work? The watch has an oscillating weight. When you turn your wrist, the oscillating weight rotates, storing energy for the mainspring. After a certain amount of accumulation, the mainspring releases energy to drive the gears to rotate, causing the pointer to move.

However, if you take off your watch (for example, resting at night, or wearing multiple watches on wheels) for a period, the automatic mechanical watch will lose power and stop.

What is the Effect of a Watch Winder?

Before we talk about the effect of a watch winder, let me tell you how it works. You can regard a watch winder as a watch box equipped with a micro motor, A battery or an external power source to drive the motor, and knobs and switches that can control the dial.

This watch case has a small rotatable dial that can be slowly driven by a micro-motor. When you put the watch on the dial, it will be in the rotation. This is the process of winding a watch.

A watch winder is like an imitator which can imitate the process of winding your watch with the movement of your wrist. With a watch winder, your watch will keep working when you don’t wear it.

Factors That a Watch Winder Affect a Watch

Whether the watch winder will damage your watch depends on the circumstances. With high-quality motors, you don’t have to worry. As we have seen, the clockwork on the watch should simulate the movement of the wrist, and the movement stores energy, so the watch will not stop.

The problem is that poor quality watch winders can cause over-winding, magnetization, or damage to the watch. Therefore, before talking about all other factors, first, choose a good quality watch winder.

● The Importance of a High-quality Motor

The high-quality motor plays a crucial role in a watch winder. As we know, when the motor is in motion, there would be a magnetization reaction between the motor and your watch. A high-quality motor should contain a closed design to isolate the motor and the watch to prevent magnetization.

From this aspect, Mozsly watch winder does a great job. This brand of watch winder adopts the Mabuchi Motor, which is a well-known brand to make precision motors. These motors not only have low noise but also use a closed design, which is safe for your watch. So if you want to buy a watch winder, I will recommend you this brand.

● Correct TPD & Rotating Direction

The mechanical automatic watch contains a sliding clutch inside to protect the mainspring from excessive winding. Therefore, the mainspring will not be damaged by over-winding. However, excessive rotation of the watch can damage the slip clutch.

Therefore, choosing the right watch winder for your watch is extremely important. As long as you choose a suitable watch winder for your watch, and rotate it in the correct direction of rotation and TPD, the sliding clutch will not be damaged, and there will be no excessive rotation.

● Magnetization

Generally speaking, as long as the distance between the motor and the watch exceeds five millimeters, there will be no magnetization. High-quality watch winder includes motors in closed design, so you don’t worry about it.

In daily wear, you should try to avoid putting the watch in an environment with a large magnetic field. Avoid getting too close to some satchels with magnet buckles. Avoid placing it with magnetic appliances such as mobile phones, televisions, and computers. If the watch is magnetized, then you have to repair it.

● Watch Wear is Inevitable

The watch winder is just the act of simulating the movement of the wrist to wind the watch. As long as the watch is in motion, there is wear and tear. It’s inevitable. While your watch winder won’t spin all day, there won’t be any serious wear and tear. However, if your watch is left idle for an extended period, the oil in the movement will dry out, resulting in insufficient lubrication or rustling of the movement, which will damage your watch more. Hence, the use of the watch winder is obviously necessary.

In conclusion

In total, the watch winder is safe to use. Especially when buying a high-quality watch for winding, you don’t have to worry about magnetization or over-winding of the watch, because there are many modes on these watch winders, so you can wind it according to the watch settings. If you are not sure, you can use the lowest spin and duration to keep it running.