The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Looking to buy a winder for my Super Ocean. Saw one in Brookstone, but something told me to keep looking. Any suggestions.

Thanks

Drew

I would have a look at Orbita. They are probably more expensive than the winders at Brookstone, but they're higher quality.

www.orbita.net

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Current Collection: Breitling Montbrillant Legende, Breitling Navitimer, Breitling Chronomat Evo, Breitling SuperOcean Heritage 46, Omega Seamaster 300M Ti
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Thanks. I will do that

Drew

just be prepared for the cost. Orbita are top of the line (or at least premium) and their prices reflect that. You can get a very good single watch winder for under $200. Look into Wolf and Official Time as well. Also do a thread search for "watch winders" and you will find hours worth of reading ... here.

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Breitling Steelfish(black)
Breitling Steelfish(silver)
Panerai PAM 312
Bell & Ross BR03-92 Phantom
Steinhart BreitlingSource LE #5/15

I actually have a few different winders at various price points which may or may not suit your needs. Orbita's Sparta Deluxe is the nicest one I have and I like the way it winds the watch. Every 10 or 15 minutes, depending on how you set it, it spools up the watch and lets it swing, mimicing the motion of a moving wrist. Quite neat to observe. It comes in either AC or D-cell battery (supposed to get 2 years out of one set of batteries) powered models. For the single watch winder you can find it online for $296 with free shipping from a number of places (retail is $400). This isn't where I got it (they seem to be out of stock) but it has a nice video of it in action: http://www.automaticwatchwinder.com/wat ... eluxe.html

On the far cheaper end of the spectrum I have SWI's cube single watch winder. It's not very pretty and although it can run on 4 AAA batteries they die within a couple weeks so it really needs to be plugged in. It doesn't have variable turns per day and only goes, if memory serves, 900 turns clockwise, 900 counterclockwise, or 450 of each. I got it for $42 with a coupon I found online but it no longer seems to work. This is the cheapest I found ($80) after a short search. http://www.amazon.com/Black-Single-Watc ... 026&sr=8-4

Finally, I have a 2x2 winder with 5-watch display case from acetimer. I purchased the cherrywood finish: http://www.acetimer.com/quadruplewinder.htm Each of the winders holds 2 watches and can be set to 650, 850, or 1000 TPD but always in both counterclockwise and clockwise directions. If you have a watch that requires a single direction of winding this isn't for you. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the winder at this price point. The wood has a very nice lustre (not quite as nice as the orbita but not far off) and it seems to be well-built. The drawback is the quality, or lack thereof, in the cushions. They really could be better.

I only have 1 "quality" watch (my 1st gen blackbird, currently out for service) which lives on the orbita. The SWI I have mainly for travel use (it's quite small) and I use the acetimer winder for my cheaper autos (Invicta and such) and to display my quartz watches.

I'm sure there are many other brands and options out there but if I only had 1 automatic watch and it were a quality watch such as a Breitling I would probably invest in the Orbita. It's not cheap but it's a very nicely crafted piece that should serve you well for many years.

Hope this helps.

-Henry