# Show off your home-made watch winder



## Ticonderoga

In this thread, I invite you to post your home-made watch winder if you've built one. Or, if you're planning to build one, please share your plans and photos as you make your way through construction.

I'll post mine in a separate post.


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## Ticonderoga

*The goal: a reliable and good looking watch winder for under $10*

Is it just me or are watch winders expensive? I really don't understand why it costs a hundred bucks to put a $5 motor and a timer into a particle board laminate box.

The problem with mechanical watches is that it is hard to stop at one, or two, or ten. And, if you don't have quick change dates, it can be a pain to set them.

I've been thinking over the past few years that there has got to be a way to make a cheap, reliable and good looking watch winder.

With this in mind, I've had my eyes open for anything that could be used to fit this role. I was looking around on the Bay and I saw that there are dozens of vendors selling these little crystal figurine display platforms. I guess, for those who collect crystal figurines, you put one on top of this thing and the LED lights shine up into it making a pretty rainbow effect :roll:

Go Grandma and Aunt Polly!

And, for extra effect, they rotate!

Coming out of China, I saw that you can buy one of these, shipping included for $5 to $10.









Hmmm.... this is interesting.

I decided to buy one to try out as a possible base for a watch winder.

http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/images/g/7bwAAOSwax5Yxr3Z/s-l225.jpg

They all seem to come with slots for AA batteries. Some have power adapters, some don't. I decided to get one with a power adapter. It is nice for the battery slots; if you don't have power in a safe, you can still run this on battery power.









I first saw this one for under $5, shipping and power adapter included. But it sold out and I ended up paying $6.04 for another. I see that the price has gone up on this listing since my purchase:

3.5'' 4.5V Rotating Crystal Display Base Stand 4 LED Colored Light + DC Adapter | eBay

If you look around at eBay and other import sites (Ali xpress maybe?) you can find them pretty cheap - just be sure to get one with a power adapter if you plan to plug it in: many of these have great prices but no plug.

Now, all I needed was something to hold the watch.

The rotating platform is 85mm wide. At my local grocery store I found a microwave 2 tray dish that was 85 or 90mm wide ( about the size of a large drinking glass) and I picked it up for a few bucks.

Just today I got all the parts out to put together and shortly, I'll post some pics as I put it together.


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## mascherani

nice thread. curious to see how it goes.


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## Ticonderoga

Here it is. I remembered that I bought a little crystal mosque when I was travelling in the Middle East (Oman?). Yeah, those colored lights are pretty much Auntie Polly:









4 LEDs that brighten and dim so that the little "magical castle" (as my daughter calls it) changes from red, to blue, purple, pink & every color of the rainbow. In a dark room it throws a rainbow of colors on the ceiling.

It is virtually silent. My Wife who complains about a ticking Timex watch from across the room can't hear it.

The motor seems to be quite strong. I tried holding it still with a finger and it pulled pretty hard and didn't stop.

I fished the Seiko 6309 (Turtle) out of the watch box after a multi-month break and I've been wearing it all week. The accuracy was better than I remembered and I am curious to keep it running. But, I have other watches to wear and it needs to be put down. As I didn't want to have to come and shake wind it every day, I decided it that today was time to start on this project.

Here is the plastic microwave container I mentioned in my earlier post:









As you can see, it has a top tray to separate one dish from the other. I suppose you could put salad on top, rice on the bottom, remove the top tray, microwave the bottom and have a hot meal and cold salad:









I like this container because it fixes a couple of problems that I anticipated early on.

First, I am (was) worried about magnetic shielding. I've read up a bit on this and it seems that most modern automatic watches have some resistance to magnetism, most modern motors give off very little magnetism, and that many watch boxes use good old distance to shield from magnetism. I suppose, this is the reason why watch boxes are so damned big. I never could understand why they are not more compact. This two stage plastic tray keeps the watch a sufficient distance from the turning motor. I held a compass above the turning platform - the same distance as the top plastic tray - and I saw no movement. When I lowered the magnet down to an inch or so (2 or 3 cm) I saw the needle turn every so slightly.









I plan to get the iPhone gauss meter and check this "winder" and if it is good as is, I won't change anything. If I see some magnetism, I can worry about shielding the motor later.

The second "fix" of this plastic case is that it provides a space that is just perfect in size for a watch and pillow. When the top is closed, the pillow flares out filling most of the space.

And the third thing this container does is that it provides a "porthole" style lid: I can pop the lid on and off and change watches without upsetting the rest of the winder. And, as the lid is transparent, I can see which watch is getting wound and whether or not it is ticking.

























As this is a prototype, I will try going down some different assembly paths. For now, I just want to keep the Turtle wound so 3 spots on the platform with the hot glue gun and the container is temporarily fixed.









I took a box I had laying around and cut a groove and just taped the new "winder" at a ~ 45 degree angle.

I turned it on and it seems to be working just fine!









Other good news, when you turn it off and then turn it back on, it changes directions. It makes exactly one revolution per minute. And so, at 60 revs per hour, with a standard timer that has 30 minute on/off segments, you can set this to rotate between 30 and 2400 revolutions per day.

The difference in the photo above and below is 6 seconds:









I plan to run it for 10 hours each day, to get 600 revolutions. When I have a chance to check the exact # of turns for each watch, I can set the timer to any number that I desire.

At first, I had planned to build a wood box and have only the top of the lid facing an opening. But, as I look at it now, I could take a piece of wood, a piece of acrylic or aluminum base, simply cut a groove in it and then fix it with some cement and it wouldn't look 1/2 bad. After the stickers are removed from the plastic and it is mounted in a semi-professional way, I think it might work as is. I don't know yet, I'll play around with it. I would invite anyone else who's interested in this project to order some components and give it a try. Maybe, with many minds, we'll come up with a stellar winder.

I came back after an hour (it was off) and after two hours and it was just running along, the Seiko ticking away.









The disco lights are starting to grow on me: it is easy to tell from across the room if it is running or not. If I want to obscure them, a piece of cloth or a black sock in the bottom tray will hide them just fine.

I found some similar plastic containers on the net - 6 for $6 shipped. The base was $6, and I see electric plug timers on eBay for about $4. As it sits now, it is ~ $10. I have some old wood and paint and I can make a base and so far as I can tell, it will work just fine.

I will post some more news and pics as this evolves.

Hope this is helpful to some of you.


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## 3dogs

Here is my DIY winder. The first version had the watches positioned at a 45 deg angle. It took 4 hours to wind my Seiko 5 to keep it running on a daily basis. I modified the winder so the watches are at 90 deg and now the Seiko only takes 1 hr, 15 min to wind.

Details (including where I got the motor) are on this post


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## Ticonderoga

I was looking through my eBay watch list and I saw these that I had added earlier.

These are 6 for less than $6. If we find that there are no issues with magnetism, they should work as is. If not, a simple spacer between the rotating deck and the bottom of this container should work (or you could even glue one atop the other). They appear to be screw on and with the clear & untinted plastic, you can see the watch quite well.

Best yet, they're economical so if it comes to making 4 or 6 of these, at least they will all match :-!

6PCs Plastic Beads Display Storage Container Round Transparent 6cm Dia.(2 3/8"


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## TNmatt

Great work!
How sturdy is the motorized base? And how strong is the motor?
I've often thought of taking something like that and attaching a cheap watch box to it. Something like this.
Zeeshy 6- slot Watch Box Black Pu Leather Diaplay Case Glass Top with Key Lock https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JIPGGYQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_TcJdzb830BDBY
As long as you get it well balanced, it shouldn't take much torque to turn the box. I've never really understood why you don't see watch winders sold like this. Why not just rotate the whole case instead of individual (or sometimes pairs of) watches?


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## Ticonderoga

TNmatt said:


> Great work!
> How sturdy is the motorized base? And how strong is the motor?
> I've often thought of taking something like that and attaching a cheap watch box to it. Something like this.
> Zeeshy 6- slot Watch Box Black Pu Leather Diaplay Case Glass Top with Key Lock https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JIPGGYQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_TcJdzb830BDBY
> As long as you get it well balanced, it shouldn't take much torque to turn the box. I've never really understood why you don't see watch winders sold like this. Why not just rotate the whole case instead of individual (or sometimes pairs of) watches?


The motor is quite strong, I tried to stop it with my finger and it moved my finger.

The base seems quite sturdy - but everything comes down to leverage. With a Seiko Turtle at the top end of the holding container, it puts some torque on the rotating part of the platform. Not really sure what this will do to it over time but it seems to be cranking away. If it craps out in a year or three (something I see reported here about + $90 watch winders), big deal, buy another $6 crystal display platform LOL.

Now, putting a whole jewelry box on this little thing isn't going to fly; perhaps on 3dog's steampunk winder.

What I'm thinking to do, if this all works out, is to build a little 3 x 3 box with 9 of these in it. How cool would that be, rotating 9 auto watches for < $100.

In time, I would like to do something with gears. I envision putting a round gear that sits on the top edge of the rotating platform and then having a vertical gear (90 degrees to the platform) attached to a shaft - on this shaft would be mounted one or more watch holders. In this way, the little platform sits flat on the table and the watches rotate above it, still connected but be somewhat disconnected. The huge upside to this would be that you could gear it to provide more speed or more torque. If you gear it for more torque, you could put a lot more watches on the horizontal shaft.

I made a quick mock up using Powerpoint:









I'll bet that in 2 or 3 years we will see all sorts of genius ideas for watch winders here...


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## Techme

If you get one with the usb style power adapter, you can use a spare phone plug to suit your native power points. Perhaps better than bending the pins or using a travel adapter.


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## Techme

I bought a base, and might get a diecast style display case like this:
(ebay Australia link) Clear Acrylic/Plastic Display Box Case Dustproof Tray Protection Cube 2.8"/7cm | eBay

There are many sizes available.


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## Magister Vigilate

Ticonderoga said:


> The motor is quite strong, I tried to stop it with my finger and it moved my finger.
> 
> The base seems quite sturdy - but everything comes down to leverage. With a Seiko Turtle at the top end of the holding container, it puts some torque on the rotating part of the platform. Not really sure what this will do to it over time but it seems to be cranking away. If it craps out in a year or three (something I see reported here about + $90 watch winders), big deal, buy another $6 crystal display platform LOL.
> 
> Now, putting a whole jewelry box on this little thing isn't going to fly; perhaps on 3dog's steampunk winder.
> 
> What I'm thinking to do, if this all works out, is to build a little 3 x 3 box with 9 of these in it. How cool would that be, rotating 9 auto watches for < $100.
> 
> In time, I would like to do something with gears. I envision putting a round gear that sits on the top edge of the rotating platform and then having a vertical gear (90 degrees to the platform) attached to a shaft - on this shaft would be mounted one or more watch holders. In this way, the little platform sits flat on the table and the watches rotate above it, still connected but be somewhat disconnected. The huge upside to this would be that you could gear it to provide more speed or more torque. If you gear it for more torque, you could put a lot more watches on the horizontal shaft.
> 
> I made a quick mock up using Powerpoint:
> 
> View attachment 11740714
> 
> 
> I'll bet that in 2 or 3 years we will see all sorts of genius ideas for watch winders here...


Any chance that the motor could rotate three containers plus watches at the same time?

I'm thinking.... What if you added a 9" round piece of hardboard as a base and attached three containers at once? (Might also help as a magnetic shield.)


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## Ticonderoga

I don't see the motor having a problem turning two or three, the problem I see is the leverage of the watches when they're mounted directly to the base. If each had its own axle and was connected only by gears, I think this little motor could turn a few.


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## ancanclin

Clever!


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## homebrewer

I just bought my first automatic watch recently (Oris Artix Complication) and now it seems a watch winder could be very useful. I first thought of using a stepper motor. It seems perfect for this job. But, then I thought of how the watch gets wound when being worn. Is it possible to place the watch on a pendulum to get wound? How far does the watch need to go to get wound? 90 degree? 180 degrees?


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## Ticonderoga

homebrewer said:


> I just bought my first automatic watch recently (Oris Artix Complication) and now it seems a watch winder could be very useful. I first thought of using a stepper motor. It seems perfect for this job. But, then I thought of how the watch gets wound when being worn. Is it possible to place the watch on a pendulum to get wound? How far does the watch need to go to get wound? 90 degree? 180 degrees?


I believe that if it has a bi-directional winding mechanism, 90 degrees will wind it to some extent. But I think that a full rotation would work best. One poster said that when his watch dial was perpendicular to the ground it wound faster than when at a 45 degree angle.


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## Bill110

Nice work!

I've been thinking about this also. I foresee having a need for maybe 10 watch mounts on the unit. I envision something that looks like a windmill, with two (or more) watches on each arm simply arcing around all in formation.


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## homebrewer

Bill110 said:


> Nice work!
> 
> I've been thinking about this also. I foresee having a need for maybe 10 watch mounts on the unit. I envision something that looks like a windmill, with two (or more) watches on each arm simply arcing around all in formation.


Interesting idea! I didn't think of a windmill design, but that could work. The biggest challenge I see is how to mount the watches securely without scratching them.


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## Bill110

I figure just wrap the bands around whatever the arms are, and buckle them. Maybe use some velcro to tie them down.

I was thinking maybe use PVC for the arms, but that might be too heavy. But maybe not; the arm going up would be balanced by the arm coming down, right? And if we make the unit a wall-mount, we can mount the whole arm assembly directly to the turntable. If it needs to be a pedestal or table-top unit, there might be a little more engineering involved. Maybe get some gears from the local hobby shop or salvage a kid's toy, and create a tower-shaft that would transfer the rotation from the motor across two 90-degree bends. 

Maybe just stick with the wall-mount.


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## lalalandrus

i just started a thread on this watch winder i made with my 3d printer


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## TNmatt

How about a link to the thread?
It looks awesome!


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## lalalandrus

TNmatt said:


> How about a link to the thread?
> It looks awesome!


sorry my account was too new before this is the thread

https://www.watchuseek.com/f423/custom-3d-printed-watch-winder-4424794.html


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## Bill110

Way cool! I would like to know how you control the motor, and what kind of motor did you use anyway? Did you do any re-gearing?


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## longthizzzzy

Ticonderoga said:


> In this thread, I invite you to post your home-made watch winder if you've built one. Or, if you're planning to build one, please share your plans and photos as you make your way through construction.
> 
> I'll post mine in a separate post.


 I was thinking of using your ideal to make my own winder.. but have some questions ...
1. if you want it to rotate the opposite way (left to right or right to left ), do you need to turn it off then back on ?
2. How many rotations per hour/ day do you need to keep a auto winded


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## RobodocX

This is just awesomely clever. Would look terrific next to one of those $40K orbita winder safes. Great job!


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## pgm

I'm Not sure if this is still being checked, if it is, take a look at this...
Apparently I cant put a link in yet.
If you goto
The Instructables web site and search knex watch winder.

Thanks 
Peter


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## blasibr

pgm said:


> I'm Not sure if this is still being checked, if it is, take a look at this...
> Apparently I cant put a link in yet.
> If you goto
> The Instructables web site and search knex watch winder.
> 
> Thanks
> Peter


https://www.instructables.com/id/KNex-Watch-Winder/

That's pretty sweet. Wish I still had all my Knex.


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## blasibr

pgm said:


> I'm Not sure if this is still being checked, if it is, take a look at this...
> Apparently I cant put a link in yet.
> If you goto
> The Instructables web site and search knex watch winder.
> 
> Thanks
> Peter


https://www.instructables.com/id/KNex-Watch-Winder/

That's pretty sweet. Wish I still had all my Knex.


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## sblantipodi

Building mine right now with Arduino. Hope to show you the final result soom


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## jpoehler

Some interesting things here. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ExpiredWatchdog

Yeah, I'm trying...


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## laredy26

Oh wow, home-made winders? Some geniuses here!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## sblantipodi

here's mine.

Components:

Arduino C++ sketch running on an ESP8266EX D1 Mini from Lolin running @ 160MHz
Raspberry + Home Assistant for Web GUI, automations and MQTT server
ULN2003 BYJ48 Stepper motor
SD1306 OLED 128x64 pixel 0.96"
1000uf capacitor for 5V power stabilization
Google Home Mini for Voice Recognition

here you can find the source code:
https://github.com/sblantipodi/smart_watch_winder

here some photos:































































I have created a remote control for my mobile using Home Assistant and MQTT:









and here the video of the watch winder in action with google home voice recognition:


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## hisaac

@sblantipodi - Wow, incredible work!


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## mosill

@sblantipodi - Very impressive! Thanks for great write up too. I definitely want to try to make one these at some point.


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## ZisguyZaphod

View attachment 14732245


I've had it since I was a child! :-d


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## sblantipodi

hisaac said:


> @sblantipodi - Wow, incredible work!





mosill said:


> @sblantipodi - Very impressive! Thanks for great write up too. I definitely want to try to make one these at some point.


thanks guys


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