A good friend of mine, somewhat new to automatic watches, wrote a review on his initial impressions of the Garinin Dual Tower watch winders. Here you go:
After endless hours of internet scouring and discussion with a fellow watch enthusiast I finally bought a Watch Winder. My collection of auto watches had grown to 5. So I definitely needed a winder to keep them all up and running. But I couldn’t bring myself to buying an Orbita or any other quality (and costly) winder. My previous watch purchases have left me rather baron in the wallet. Plus the wife has me under probation till further notice.
I was told and warned about the cheap China Made watch winders that spawned on Ebay. They were of low quality craftmanship and sub par motors that would only last a few months. So I spotted Garinin Winders during my extensive net search. I liked the look and function of the dual tower winder and decided to try one out. Price wise they were low enough to sneak under the wife’s radar.
Upon receiving my winder I quickly scuttled to my den, just narrowly missing the scouting eye of my better half. I carefully unwrapped everything and inspected the quality of the unit. The first thing I noticed was the “Made in China” label. Really, what isn’t made in China these days? The dimensions come in at L 6.5″ W 6″ H 11.5″inches with glass windows 3″ in diameter and weighing 2 lb.
I opened up the front door and noted that it was at a slight angle leaning back. That way the door doesn’t swing forward while your trying to get your watch out. And I notice a slight resistance just before the door opens. Turns out there are small magnets discreetly built in to keep the door securely closed without a complicated latch system. Very nice!
The watch holders are nothing terribly ingenious in design. Simply spring loaded pushers that add tension to the band when the watch is wrapped around it. You can remove the face of the holder to reveal a smaller face to accommodate smaller bands.
I then load up my two Seiko divers for a test spin. One with a jubilee metal band and the other a rubber strap. The Holders had no problems adjusting to either. My thick Formex AS1500 Auto (About 20mm) on the other hand just fitted in.
The holders slip back into the rotator drum with a click and they were ready to roll. Taking a look at the back there are a few switches. First rocker switch is for On and Off. The second rocker allows you to select counter-clock, alternate and clockwise rotation. The third is the rotation frequency slide switch. You have 4 choices.
> Rotates 33 seconds rests 12 minutes
> Rotates 10 minutes rests 90 minutes
> Rotates 30 minutes rests 180 minutes
> Rotates 60 minutes rests 180 minutes
I plug in the 3 volt adapter and holding my breath I flick the on switch. Brrr-gurgle-gurgle!!! then silence. My heart sunk. Did the winder poof out? A quick peek thru the winders show the watches rotating together nicely. All was silent! Brrr-gurgle-gurgle!! This time my stomach felt something. Ooooh! It was my stomach making that noise as I had yet to have dinner. Ok……..
After realizing that I was very happy to hear how quiet the Garinin winder motor was. I was expecting a Can opener grinding whirr noise but quite the contrary. I had to come within a few inches to really here something going on inside the winder. Leaving this winder on my nite table wouldn’t be a problem at all. After playing around with all the other switches everything appeared to be in working order.
My initial impression of tis Garinin Dual Tower Watch Winder is Excellent. I am very happy with this product BUT it remains to see how long the motors will last. If the motors are brushless I would expect a few years of use. If you don’t see another review then you can assume all is well and running. Otherwise a long, detailed and angry rant will be posted in the near future.
