While there’s still some debate over whether constantly keeping your watch movement is a good thing or not, we’re inclined to say that it’s no bad thing. The best-condition classic cars are the ones that still get regularly used after all and the bottom line is anything that avoids the need to set your watch every few days when you want to switch it up is good in our book. That said, there’s a lot of difference between a basic watch winder, something that just jiggles your automatic rotor around, and something altogether more impressive, like these 6 luxury watch winders.
You don’t want your prize Nautilus to slum it in a featureless blank box on your sideboard; you want a piece of craftsmanship that lives up to the watch inside. Fine leathers, sculptural design, tech designed to keep your watch wear-ready at a moment’s notice, these are the best luxury watch winders around right now. And hey, if you end up spending more on winders than watches, that’s fine too. They’re just that cool.
Modalo Showtime 3 Piece Carbon, £439.50
While Modalo offer a more classical approach to watch winders on the whole with elegantly laid-out, generally fuss-free quality, the Showtime dials up the performance aspect to new heights with a full carbon fibre front. It’s not all front either; the trio of winders can all be set separately, meaning that you can customise the speed to fit the watch, invaluable if you have a particularly delicate high complication piece one end, a rugged sports watch with a high power reserve the other. The rest of the construction is made from solidly luxurious high gloss wood from New Zealand, making it the closest thing to a luxury modern Bentley dashboard you can get in a winder.
Available at Modalo.
Swisskubik Startbox, £450
Luxury watch winders aren’t normally something you’d consider fun. That’s until you get a bright splash of pop art colour courtesy of Swiss KubiK. The brand’s an expert at turning what would be a dull box in less assured hands into something with much more aesthetic punch – and nothing punches quite as hard as this bright turquoise. With a soft touch surface its also surprisingly tactile, making for the kind of summery watch winder that you’ll actually enjoy using. That’s not something you can say about most winders. And yes, it pairs pretty immaculately with anything in Tiffany blue.
Available at Swisskubik.
Scatola Del Tempo Rotor Racing Watch Holder, £550
What’s life without a bit of contrast? Or a watch winder for what matter. As the name suggests, the Rotor Racing collection from Italian winder specialists Scatola del Tempo takes their cool, minimal Rotor One and updates it through a petrolhead lens. That means a striking high contrast look in orange and black that’ll match a McLaren nicely. If you want to update the look, you can also opt for one of the Rotor collection’s signature interchangeable bezels. Hulk green to highlight the orange perhaps? Either way, the winder is completely autonomous with a three-year battery life, so feel free to stow it in its spiritual home in the garage next to your car.
Available at Sctola Del Tempo.
Orbit Winder Piano Black, £1,334
Part sculptural masterpiece, part gyroscopic carnival ride, the Orbit is one of the few watch winders that goes well beyond a tech-driven box. Designed and handmade in Finland, it’s a serious statement piece, but one that also offers an incredible 360-degree view of the watch inside. Sure, it’s not particularly efficient like a multi-watch box would be, but when it looks this good, what’s a little impracticality? Not that the winding system isn’t impeccable of course. The multi-directional movement mimics the movement of a watch on the wrist, giving it the most natural winding experience possible in the most out-of-this-world way.
Available at Orbit.
Wolf British Racing 4pc, £1,955
While this black box is about as aesthetically stripped back as possible, this combination of black and gunmetal lets the finer details do the talking, whether that’s the Rolex-esque fluted bezels around each of its four watch holders, or the superlative winding technology behind it. Each winder has an obsessive amount of rotation options and can be set anywhere between 300 and 1,200 turns per day, each of which are counted individually rather than estimated (as most winders are wont to do). The mechanism is even designed to stop your watch being overwound. There’s a reason WOLF is the big dog of watch winders.
Available at Wolf.
Kross Studio Tie Advanced X1 Watch Winder, CHF 2,500 (approx. £2,280)
Yes, this is Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter as a watch winder, which is to say we’d happily turn to the dark side to get this on our shelves. Created by Kross Studio, the designer behind the recent run of Lucasfilm-endorsed Star Wars timepieces devoted to the Death Star and Slave II (Boba Fett’s ship), this scaled-down fighter swaps out the cockpit for a single watch winder. There are plenty of winding options you can adjust via Bluetooth and the battery life is a solid two years. It’s not quite hyperspace levels of cutting- edge, but as winders go there’s nothing else quite like it
Available at Kross Studio.
