Keeping time with the Barrington watch winder
Watch collectors buy watch winders for different reasons. Some use them to keep the other watch(es) on time, some just like the looks of it or buy one because they can. For me personally it was the lack of quick-set in my vintage watches. When my interest in watches shifted to vintage timepieces this became a bit of a problem for me. Changing the date to the correct setting required me to change the time 24 hours for every day the date would be off.
Watch winders come in all kinds of variations and combinations. Even safe builders like Stockinger offer a custom number of winders built into their bespoke watch vaults. For those interested in a single winder, we found these Barrington single winders on our desk recently to take for a spin.
The Barrington winder comes well packed in a neutral cardboard box. When you open the box you will find a power adapter, user manual and the winder itself sitting inside a dust bag. All is being held by foam transport protection. With the dimensions of 11cm x 11cm x 15 cm (excluding control buttons and watch holder) the winder is pretty small and even fits inside a desk drawer, not that you would want to hide it of course. First impression is good, the high gloss finish looks great.
Time for a closer look. Underneath the winder there are screwed in rubber feet which is pretty decent. You won’t believe how many of my appliances have lost those glued on rubber feet over the years. On the front side there is one LED light and the watch holder itself which has an extending back side to accommodate both small and large worn watches. Both watch holder and the inside of the winder are nicely finished in carbon style. On the back you will find two control knobs, the adapter socket and battery compartment. Should you want to use the winder inside a safe or display case, where it’s hard (or impossible) to get AC power you can use the winder on 2 AA batteries. Setting is quite easy as the winder has one button for the winding direction and one for the amount of rotations per day. The left button is for the winding direction. Winding is done in left, right or in both directions alternately. This is also the off button for those moments that you don’t want to use the winder but want to leave the batteries in or keep it powered. The right button is for the rotations and can be switched to 650, 750, 850 or 1.000 turns per day. Which setting is best for your watch depends on the make & model. Please contact the manufacturer for this information.
We’ve used the winder for a couple of weeks and really like it. The winder turns slowly for approximately one minute and will then pause for a period, depending on the rotation setting. This cycle continues for 12 hours and the winder will then rest another 12 hours before beginning this program again. Operation is really quite and hardly audible unless your ear is near the winder. Barrington offers these single winders in 7 colours. From low profile black to striking orange, our national Dutch colour. Price for this Barrington single watch winder is 99GBP (Aprox. 123EU ~ 165USD) and comes with the standard UK 3-pin AC power plug. They have an US or European power adapter available on request. More info on the Barrington website.
