****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I researched watch winders for quite some time before coming across Barrington and their product range. I found with the cheaper winders, and their seemingly more palatable price, you will likely trade away some features/benefits......such as CLEARLY adjustable turns per day (TPD) settings, near-silent operation, quality of finished product, or a warranty from a reliable Western company, together with EXCELLENT customer service.The Barrington is extremely well made, with a beautiful green-glossy piano finish on my example. It does not operate silently, but the sound you hear is VERY quiet (from about 2-2.5 feet away - bed to nightstand where the winder sits - I measured around 33 dBA with an SPL meter - which is around the background level of my bedroom).There is an unobtrusive green flashing light when the actual winding is taking place (there are rest periods). The watch "pillow" is brilliantly simple and easy to use assuming you are using an average mens' sized watch. Just close the strap as if your wrist is large, click-down the "foot" on the back of the pillow, which holds it in place so you can work your watch onto the pillow assembly and center it up. Then, press on the "foot" again, and it will release under spring tension and press straight out and back against the strap with adequate (but not excessive) force to keep the watch centered on the pillow. The pillow itself is held in the winder with two notches on the rotating carrier, and that easily engage/disengage the pillow with a slight squeeze on the pillows "ears." I bought a second Barrington winder in white for my wife, and her watch uses the "FLEX" pillow - which is a firm, dense foam that is used for smaller strap diameters. Works the same, holds the same - just squeeze down the foam and place your watch on the pillow before releasing the foam against the closed strap.Of note during my research of watch winders, the ease in ACTUAL TPD adjustments were especially important to me. From what I've learned, it is important to not overwind and prematurely wear the sliding mainspring bridle in the barrel - I'd rather not replace those parts at service, and the Barrington makes it easy to set the appropriate TPD for any watch to prevent overwinding (research online or contacting the manufacturer of your watch gives the recommended TPD).It seems many cheaper winders DO correctly allow selection of single, or bi-directional rotation, but they lack a clear and easy setting for TPD, or they have excessive TPD modes instead of intermediate TPD modes which could be useful for some watches. You can do math to figure it out (not difficult but inconvenient when different "programs" in cheaper winders are not clearly marked)...….or I had seen some folks buy a smart plug and use it to "program" in the activity of a cheaper winder to achieve a certain TPD......not necessary with the Barrington and its clear rotation direction and TPD knobs - especially convenient if you rotate between watches and want to use the winder while you rediscover a safe-queen with different TPD requirements that you haven't worn for a while.In whole, the Barrington single-winder range gives you a wide choice of colors to satisfy quirk or room decor, beautiful finishing and quality, near silent/unobtrusive operation, choice of optimal "pillow" for your watch(es), easy and secure mounting/dismounting of the pillow, easy to use directional and TPD setting knobs, the ability to "daisy-chain" additional winders on a single AC adaptor as needed, and stellar customer service (I needed the Flex pillow for my wife's watch, and it was a pleasure to interact with Barrington Customer Service).The price is a little more, but worth the quality and features if you're trying to take care of a nicer watch(es). Don't spend money on this Barrington for your only watch, a Seiko5....but if you have a few to several nice Swiss watches or nicer Seikos, they can take turns on this winder (or several daisy-chained together) as you enjoy wearing your collection.
