Are you tired of constantly resetting the time and date on your automatic watches after a few days of not wearing them?
In this review, we’ll take a closer look at the Mozsly watch winder, examining its design, performance, and overall value.
If you’re considering investing in a watch winder, read on to see if the Mozsly is the right choice for you.
Why would you need a watch winder?
Wearing your automatic watch sparingly doesn’t necessarily lead to a longer service interval.
Giving your watch a few twists of the crown or jolting it to get it running can actually put a strain on delicate components like the reverser wheels and rotor pinion and bearings.
In any automatic movement with a hand-wind capability, each assembly is interconnected, so hand-winding the mainspring barrel can also affect the auto-winding assembly and rotor.
It’s important to keep automatic movements running rather than putting excessive strain on them, especially if they don’t have a manual winding mechanism.
Unboxing the Mozsly watch winder
My immediate reaction upon unpacking was very positive. Mozsly offers a choice of a single and double winder and several different finishes. I chose the piano lacquer wood version, and I believe it was the right decision. The winder looks absolutely stunning.
In some ways, it reminds me of the decorative interior panels in BMW or Audi cars or a high-end audio system.
I really like the brushed metal front combined with the screw-on lid. The surface is finely brushed and feels solid. It has a high-end speaker vibe to it. It’s a fine decoration for any „WIS cave.”
It has a matte black plastic back. It’s well done but nothing too fancy. It’s not that important since that part will face the wall anyway.
The technical stuff
The watch winder is powered by a Japan-made electric motor.
While it isn’t completely noiseless, it’s quiet, giving off only a gentle hum. It won’t wake you up when it starts up while you’re sleeping. It blends into most background sounds unless you keep your ears peeled to hear it.
Excluding the stationary/off position, there are three settings for winding depending on the auto-winding system in your watch. We have clockwise rotation, counter-clockwise rotation, and alternating between the two.
Any of these three modes will do for a bidirectionally winding rotor.
But when you have, for example, an ETA Valgranges, a Valjoux 775X/SW-5XX automatic chrono or a Miyota automatic movement, these have unidirectional rotors, meaning that only spinning in one direction winds the mainspring. A spin in the other direction is like idling the engine on neutral.
There are four settings for winding cycles, depending on how much power your watch requires. Some auto-winding designs are more efficient than others. Watch manufacturers sometimes provide specifications for how many TPD (turns per day) a particular movement needs, but most of the time, they don’t.
Bidirectionally winding ETA/Sellita movements are probably best set at either 900 or 1200 TPD. The first or second setting will likely be enough for highly efficient automatic winding systems like Seiko’s Magic Lever or IWC’s Pellaton pawl system.
For what it’s worth, the winder doesn’t spin continuously, nor should it. It fires up once per hour, for a short cycle.
There’s a winding period of 3 minutes 28 seconds up to 8 minutes 8 seconds, depending on how much energy your watch’s movement requires.
Matters of power
The Mozsly winder is powered either by an adapter looking a lot like a phone charger, or ordinary disposable batteries. The “or” matters here since batteries should not be inserted while the adapter is plugged in.
The winder has two sockets (marked simply IN and OUT), which surprised me a bit.
A short cable with two identical plugs is also included. You may wonder what purpose that might serve. It’s quite simple.
Mozsly assumes that you may buy another winder. I wouldn’t be surprised if you did, considering the build quality of this one.
By connecting the connector cable from the one powered by the adapter to the IN socket on the second winder, the cable connects two winders – one powered by the adapter and one powered by the cable. One adapter can power two winders, resulting in a rig that requires only one wall outlet. Clever and simple.
Since I don’t like using disposable batteries unless absolutely necessary, I’ll stick with the adapter and not use the battery-powered feature. I intend to keep the winder on the nightstand so that the power cable will be hidden behind it anyway.
Would I change anything about it?
The only thing I’d suggest is making the pillow a bit larger, or adding a second larger pillow to the kit.
You see, when the watch is on a strap, you can just buckle it up tightly. In the case of a watch on a bracelet, however, if you have a large wrist and your watch bracelet is sized accordingly, the pillow provided will be too small.
It’s necessary to lock a relatively heavy watch, like a dive watch in stainless steel, tightly around the pillow. Plus, you don’t want the bracelet to rub against the plastic walls of the slot in the winder.
Using a large but very compressible pillow, you would isolate the bracelet from the slot walls and secure it firmly in the winder because the sides bulge substantially around the bracelet. So, Mozsly, here’s an idea for one small bit to add to the kit.
Prices and shipping
Mozsly ships from where these winders are made – China. Since they do it via Amazon, at least in Europe, you do not have to worry about the fees since they are included in what you pay directly to Mozsly, and they handle the import formalities.
Mine has arrived in three days – well done!
The single winder is priced at US$89.99 at the Mozsly website. Considering the build and finishing quality, I think it’s fairly priced for what you get.
All in all
It’s an affordable accessory that looks great and actually serves a purpose.
As Melvin, Waha’s founder and editor, can attest, matters of wear to keyless works and the reverser wheels are very real. Real enough to send two 2824 clones – by STP and Sellita – in for repair.
Wear and tear occurs no matter what, but you can reduce the risk of it with a winder, aside from its main purpose of simply making your automatic watch a grab-and-go piece.
Additionally, this reduces wear on the crown threads and stem tube threads in watches with screw-down crowns. So, a winder’s a win-win thing; with its looks, this one is a triple winner.
