• Apprentice
    14 Feb 2014, 11:19 p.m.

    I am the owner of a new Portofino Automatic which has a Calibre 35110.Its a beautiful watch . Ive had it for a year now and I find that after 24 Hours of not wearing it , it stops.
    The watch is supposed to have a 48 Hour Reserve . I never use the crown to wind it and rely on movement to wind it . What is the collective view of storing the watch when not in use in an Automatic Watch Winder.

  • Master
    14 Feb 2014, 11:53 p.m.

    It is recommended to wind the watch by giving the crown about thirty turns to build up power after resting. By relying on the rotor only to wind up your watch, you are probably not building up enough power reserve. This is probably the reason your watch is stopping after only 24 hours.

    I personally am not a fan of watch winders. Most of my watches are vintage and I believe in letting a watch rest when it is not in use. Manual wind watches when put away will run down, so I ask, Why keep autos wound with a winder?

    The collective thought on the use of winders varies widely and I think I am in the minority.

  • Master
    15 Feb 2014, 1:20 p.m.

    I totally agree with you Mark. I only use winder for a temporary swaps, for longer term breaks I just let the watch run out and wind it again when picking it up next time.

    Also the latest recommendations by professionals through this forum even suggest that storage in winder may couse unnatural wear and damage for some calibers.

    Best
    /Anders

  • Master
    15 Feb 2014, 1:50 p.m.

    I use a programmable watch winder that allows adjustment of: the start time for winding, turns per day, direction of rotation, etc. And if I notice that a power reserve is already 'full' I manually turn off that specific watch winding module. All of this helps prevent any chance of so called 'wear and tear' from excessive winding that anders is referring to (although there are differing views even amongst iwc technical staff on this point).

    The other reason I have my watches in a winder as I think it's a great way of proudly displaying them, and there's something mesmerising about seeing them all as a collection spinning around. It allows me to admire them all at once.

    regards,
    thang

  • Graduate
    18 Feb 2014, 6:07 a.m.

    i too dont see the need for auto winders. My watches can sit a couple weeks at a time before i decide to use them, why put the extra wear and tear on them while not in use? So long as you wind them up once a month or so i say let them rest when not in use.

  • Apprentice
    18 Feb 2014, 7:59 p.m.

    I congratulate each company who is able to sell a watch winder. To me, it is nonsense to have one. Isn't the joy of setting the watch after some time the best way to get involved with it? And, I would never put my collection there for display - the ones I don't wear are in my safe. And the safe is just not large enough to accomodate a watch winder.

  • Master
    19 Feb 2014, 9:45 p.m.

    In regards to a perpetual, my own personal view is THE point of a perpetual is that it keeps an accurate date without ever any need for an adjustment. But if I had to manually adjust the date (if I hadn't worn it in 7 days, which does occasionally happen) it seems to slightly 'defeat the purpose'.