Diplomat Single Burgundy Watch Winder with Built-In IC Timer

First Impressions: Great Value for the Price, and Quiet!
Yes, it’s plastic – but it’s understated and not at all unattractive for what it is.For my watch (a 46 year old Rolex ‘Datejust’ that is still going strong) – it’s perfect. I see that some purchasers with large watches have said it may not be ideally sized for such timepieces, but it seems to me the watch would have to be ‘huge’ for this to be an issue.The watch holder is constructed such that, when the clasp or band is closed on the removeable watch holder, a compressible spring accommodates the wrist size by moving a plastic pad in or out to maintain sufficient pressure on the band / watch (from the ‘inside’), ensuring the watch stays in place.A word about operation. The switch is a three position slide type: center off, with rotation clockwise when moved one way and counterclockwise when moved the other.During any single winding “session” the winder rotates the watch head in one direction only, and I was initially concerned about that (during normal wearing of a watch on one’s wrist, the internal winding mechanism rotates alternately clockwise / counterclockwise according to how the watch wearer’s wrist moves – evening out the “wear” on internal parts).But seeing how this works, I don’t really think it’s an issue. That is, I now simply move the slide switch to its center position when removing the watch to wear. (That puts it in standby / ‘off’ mode so that the mechanism won’t rotate while the watch is out of the unit.) When I return the watch to the winder I reinstall the watch, close the lid, and move the switch to rotate the watch in the other direction. Alternating in this way will, it would seem, accomplish the same beneficial effect of evening out wear on internal watch parts.For a second watch I have another (much more expensive) winder. It works beautifully, and has for more than five years. It is programmable as to duration of on / off cycles, and it alternates rotation direction on its own, unattended. It’s real wood with a real glass ‘bubble’ over the front of the watch, and can be battery operated if desired. All of that is great, but then again it cost seven times as much as this one – and in the world of ‘watch winders,’ I don’t think even that amount is terribly expensive: one can spend much more.The winding cycle appears to be something like “one hour rotating; three to four hours off.” That seems to work fine for my watch: it does not run down, and is always ready to go. Others have said the (non-adjustable) cycle was insufficient for the watch with which they were trying to use the unit. This could be a consideration to some, but as mentioned, it’s been fine for my old Rolex.A side note: placing the switch in the center position seems really to be a “standby” operation. That is, if the watch was turning when you wanted to wear it, and you moved the switch to the center, rotation stops and you can remove the watch. When you reinstall the watch and move the switch to either of the ‘on’ positions, it immediately continues its rotation. On the other hand, if the watch was NOT rotating when you moved the switch to the center, no rotation will occur right away when you reinstall the watch later and the switch is moved to one of the two rotation positions. Initially I worried that something was wrong, but it seems what is happening is that the internal ‘timer’ for rotation simply picks back up at the same point in the cycle: if in ‘sleep’ mode when you removed the watch, it will be in ‘sleep’ mode when you switch it back to ‘rotation’ mode. But when that sleep portion of the cycle ends, normal rotation continues. Bottom line: it picks up wherever it left off… (All bets are off if you unplug it, however: my guess [only a guess] is that it then ‘reboots’ itself.)Finally, it’s amazingly quiet! I have it on my desk not two feet away from me, and (though my hearing is fine) I simply cannot hear the motor at all. Maybe I’m lucky, and got a silent example – but that is a very nice feature.I have no idea about the reliability / longevity; we shall see. But the initial impression is: it works very well and appears to be an excellent value!

the watch was left in for over 60 hours and kept excellent time. No problems at all
I’ve read many of the reviews for this item and I was hesitant to try such an inexpensives winder based on several people saying that it didn’t wind their watch and they had to unplug it and plug it in every time they turned it on. So, I wanted to let you know about my experience with this winder and these two complaints.I have an men’s EBEL Wave with an automatic movement. It’s stainless and 18 karat gold, and fairly heavy. The first time I used this winder, the watch was left in for over 60 hours and kept excellent time. No problems at all. I’ve been using the winder for over two weeks, so far so good.As for the people who are unplugging the device. Whenever I take my watch out of the winder, I’ll switch the power switch off, whether it’s moving or not. You don’t want the winder to possibly start up in it’s cycle when you’re removing or putting back in your watch. The winder has a built in timer which runs itself one hour, then off for four hours-so your watch is not over wound. When you turn the winder off with the power switch, the timer cycle is now paused, meaning when you turn it back on it will pick up where it left off in the cycle, not start over and power on right away. If you want the winder to start rotating immeadiately after you’ve switched it off and back on again, then you would have to unplug the adapter from the winder and plug it in again, breaking the internal cycle.The only thing negative about this winder is that it’s kind of cheap looking. Not a problem for me since I do not want to spend $100-$300 or more on a winder, when this one works fine for under $50. My watch was expensive enough.For me, the winder just has to work, not look fancy.

I am very happy with my SECOND watch winder. The first one that came was broken, but I returned it without any hassle and before I knew it there was another one here. It works wonderfully. I have never had any other kind of watch winder, I have read where some are noisey. Well it does make some noise, but I keep it in another room. It keeps my watch running for when I wear it. I do have very small wrists and I did have to put something in between my watch and the holder to keep my watch in place, but that isnt a problem for me.

Compré este winder para el primer reloj automático que tuve. Al principio, como todos alguna vez, buscaba algo de un precio relativamente más alto ya que tiendo a creer que más caro es mejor. Al ver el bajo precio de este winder en comparación con muchos otros obviamente sentí dudas, mismas que se disiparon completamente en cuanto lo recibí. No hace nada de ruido, se ve muy muy bonita y cumple perfectamente su función. No tengo ni una sola queja y en verdad es un producto excelente.

Si tienes relojes automáticos, sabes lo molesto que es dejarlo de usar y que cada vez que lo uses tenga que ajustarlo, este accesorio evita que tengas que hacerlo, muy funcional, silencioso y estético. Es de plástico pero se ve robusto y bonito. Un gran accesorio. Además trae 4 tipos de movimiento, por lo que se adapta a cualquier modelo de reloj.Actualización: Casi 2 años con el, y ningún problema. Por el precio, la mejor opción.