wear from wearing vs a winder?

[jvencius]

I'm still learning about mechanical watches (have had a mix of mechanical and quartz in the past) but I'm curious if there's any measurable value to wearing a watch (in my case a 136660) 12-18 hours per day then taking it off while I sleep and letting the mainspring unwind a bit or if that produces something of a "memory" in the spring that could, down the road a ways, take a bite out of the power reserve? I don't think it's an exact analogue, but with the batteries in my portable power tools, I run them all the way flat then recharge vs topping them off on the charger and I'm curious if the mainspring in a 3235 behaves the same way.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by jvencius

I'm still learning about mechanical watches (have had a mix of mechanical and quartz in the past) but I'm curious if there's any measurable value to wearing a watch (in my case a 136660) 12-18 hours per day then taking it off while I sleep and letting the mainspring unwind a bit or if that produces something of a "memory" in the spring that could, down the road a ways, take a bite out of the power reserve? I don't think it's an exact analogue, but with the batteries in my portable power tools, I run them all the way flat then recharge vs topping them off on the charger and I'm curious if the mainspring in a 3235 behaves the same way.

All Rolex automatic movements wind in both directions,for any non perpetual calendar watch, a watch winder is totally unnecessary. If you have a choice of watches and do not wear it every day, it is not real chore to reset it and wind it by hand must take all of 30 seconds to do.If you don't wear it every day you also reduce wear to the movement components, why waste that benefit by having it wound when it is not required to tell the time on the wrist?.And you will do no harm whatsoever to manually wind watch daily if you want to, watches always perform better when mainspring is at peak power-reserve.

While there is no significant evidence that a good watch winder will either save or harm your watch. Over the many many years of dealing with RSC Bexly and talking to the various watchmakers there, who did not recommend watch-winders for any of the Rolex line up. Its quite funny now that Rolex brought out a Rolex branded winder but made by a third party, its simple today many watch winders = big £££$$$€€ and huge profits. IMHO many watch-winders today have a high quality finish on the outside (to justify the extremely high price),but hiding some very cheaply mass-produced insides. .
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[brandrea]

Not a fan of them, but to each their own

[Andad]

Originally Posted by jvencius

I'm still learning about mechanical watches (have had a mix of mechanical and quartz in the past) but I'm curious if there's any measurable value to wearing a watch (in my case a 136660) 12-18 hours per day then taking it off while I sleep and letting the mainspring unwind a bit or if that produces something of a "memory" in the spring that could, down the road a ways, take a bite out of the power reserve? I don't think it's an exact analogue, but with the batteries in my portable power tools, I run them all the way flat then recharge vs topping them off on the charger and I'm curious if the mainspring in a 3235 behaves the same way.

I take my watches off when I get home and put it back on in morning and have not had any issues with them.

As for battery power tools just don’t run your lithium ion batteries flat.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by jvencius

I'm still learning about mechanical watches (have had a mix of mechanical and quartz in the past) but I'm curious if there's any measurable value to wearing a watch (in my case a 136660) 12-18 hours per day then taking it off while I sleep and letting the mainspring unwind a bit or if that produces something of a "memory" in the spring that could, down the road a ways, take a bite out of the power reserve? . . ..

Modern springs are not as susceptible to "setting" as days gone by.

However, there is potential value to letting your mainspring run down all the way as it relieves the friction that can bind a tightly wound spring.

There is no value to a winder except, perhaps, with not having to reset complications if your watch with these features runs down. That could result in you losing valuable minutes in your life.