I’ve spoken of these winders in some of my posts. I urge you read this article and absorb it completely and tell me what you think. Go the link below. It’s a two-part article.

http://people.timezone.com/msandler/Art ... nder1.html

Very interesting article. Had not seen it before. Thanks. Call me crazy, but so long as I don't over do it, and keep the power down to a couple hours a day (staggered I might add), even the most basic of winders like Joe and I have should suffice without doing any damage. Thats the way I understand it. Yes a very expensive one that has multiple programming abilities would be good, but for now with a bit of caution and a good timer per your suggestion, we should be fine.

Kip,

Yes, exactly what I’m doing. I bought the cheapest winder I could find and I’m going to control it with a 24 hour household timer just as you’ve described. There are many of these type timers on the market and in hardware stores costing very little. I just wanted everyone to be aware of the information in the article and learn something about their watch. I’m just glad I happened to stumble on this article while fishing the net for info. I found a great web site which lists nothing but links to information, sources and articles. This article was one of them.

Russ

Can you share that link please?

Kip,

What was I thinking? I should have just included it... here you go:

http://zibet.net/watches.html

Russ

Thank you for the link - I've just read a grand article on Railroad watches... UB

Great link. Thank you. This should keep me busy for a while.

Very interesting article... I recently got a winder setup (a cheap one, similar to this http://cgi.ebay.com/BURL-WOOD-2-3-AUTOM ... dZViewItem).

I've kept my C5 on it for a little over a week, and have put my Bathys Aquaculture on it at night (2824 and 2892 movements respectively). They're both running very well with the winder, the C5 is gaining just a little under 3 seconds a day on the winder (very similar to its behavior on the wrist), and overall, the Bathys has lost about 1.5 seconds per day the past week, on the wrist during the day, the winder at night. From what I've seen of the winder, it goes in short bursts, clockwise, then counter clockwise, then off for a significant amount of time.

It does make sense that this is placing additional stress on the movements, so I'll have to think about not keeping them on there so long, but the consistent accuracy is really nice.

What you need to take note of is how many turns your winder gives in one 24 hour period and perhaps shorter time periods as well. My winder, very cheap I might add, rotates at 6 RPM. It’s designed to be on for 1 hour then rests for 3 and back on again for 1 hour, etc. In a 24 hour period it will rotate, do the math, a total of 2880 turns. Whoever the idiot was that designed it, what were they thinking? That’s about 5 times more turning than is needed for every auto I know of. Think about it! The 2824 only needs 500 rotations of its rotor per day to keep it wound without hitting the wall. I’m sure the 2892 is not much more than that.

Take this into account as well: If you take your watch off after wearing it all day and immediately put it on a winder for the first time, your watch is probably already wound up to half or more, depending. Being the case, you may not want your winder to begin rotating right away. You may want you watch to wind down for a while before cranking it back up on a winder. But of course it all depends on your particular winder, which only you would know about.

I have two automatics with the 2824 movement and I’m planning to wear them both alternately and I want to keep them running as will. I’m getting a 24 hour timer to plug my winder into. The one I've looked at so far has 48 ½ hour tabs to set that will allow ½ hour “on-state" increments of control. In a ½ hour period my winder will turn 180 times. That is approximately 8 hours of run time or roughly 1/3 the rotations a 2824 needs to keep it at an even keel. I may look for a different timer that will give more control of its “on” state. I would prefer 15 minutes over 30 for better control. I have seen timers with digital controls down to 1 minute but they are more expensive. Regardless, I’ll set my timer to not come on and begin rotating for at least 3 hours, giving my watch a little time to wind down first.

Anyway, check your winder and calculate the total turns for a 24 hour period and decide if you need to use an external timer to control it down from there.

Russ

Bring this one back for Steve. You be the judge Steve...

Russ

Sorry if this is silly question but can you damage a watch by just letting it run down and stop them re setting a few day's later when you want to wear it again?

Bruce wrote:Sorry if this is silly question but can you damage a watch by just letting it run down and stop them re setting a few day's later when you want to wear it again?

I think Larry explained that when the mainspring is wound down, it's coils are tightly compressed together causing the oil in-between to stick but he also said that with modern synthetic lubricants this is not a concern. The concern originated with watch collectors who want to keep their investment in good working order. If you have a large collection of mechanical timepieces, you have to think about giving them all some exercise now and then.

Russ

Once a week for winding should be enough for autos.

Yoda wrote:Once a week for winding should be enough for autos.

That's cool, but I wouldn't worry about it in the least.

Russ