We have empathy with watchwinder brands that are family owned. Family businesses are mostly solid, ambitious and interested in the long-term. A good example of such a company is Döttling from Germany. This company was founded in 1919 by Ernst Döttling the great grandfather of today's CEO Markus Döttling.

In the beginning Ernst Döttling's company was a locksmith shop based in Sindelfingen. From 2007 the business expanded with luxury safes and watchwinders. Nowadays the Döttling watchwinders are well known and an important player in the field of luxury watchwinders. The current collection is handcrafted in Sindelfingen which results in the most beautiful pieces. Beautiful materials, craftmanship and quality are key elements for Döttling. 

All safes with build-in watchwinders are made by hand by the skilled craftsmen. The passion of the restorers, goldsmiths, locksmiths, saddlers, painters, and security specialists result in unique pieces ment for real watch enthusiasts. 

With more than 40 official dealers worldwide a Döttling watchwinder is never far away. The collection contains several different styles, materials and looks. The Döttling products are interesting because they combine a safe with a watchwinder. Many watch collectors do have multiple valuable watches which deserve a safe place. To combine this safe place with the rotation of a watchwinder is a great advantage. 

The real watch purist will certainly be interested in Döttling watchwinders, and we are too! 

Since our visit at Benson watchwinders in december 2013 we follow this brand with interest. This Dutch company is a growing player on the watchwinder market and did surprise us with beautiful and mostly clever watchwinders which are suitable for any automatic watch. 

On the internet we see other reviews (we wrote one: review) by watch enthusiasts which are positive too about the watchwinders Benson produces. It's nice to see a relatively small brand is growing this fast, and making improvements which results in better watchwinders. 

We thought it's time to call Benson watchwinders and ask for their expectations for 2015. The first news is that the brand will launch a new series in April. This new series contains 4 watchwinder models for 2, 4, 6 and 8 watches. The design will be modern and there are more details which will give the watchwinders an appealing look.

The price level will go up too, as the new series do have the most modern technique. For example new improved motors, LCD display & control panel and LED backlight. 

Benson watchwinders informed us also that they will expand business with appointing distributors worldwide. Different companies did contact Benson watchwinder to explore the possibilities for a distributorship. In our opinion that's good news, as there is only a limited quantity of dealers right now, and more dealers in several countries would make a Benson watchwinder more easy to buy.

When the new series is available we love to test it and write about it in this blog.

We would like to thank you all for visiting our Watchwinder Blog. We hope you enjoyed our articles and reviews in 2014. The success of our blog depends from you, the watchwinder enthusiasts. We enjoyed your emails with hints, questions and remarks. The new year 2015 will bring a lot of news about the famous watchwinder brands and new technique, styles and models. 

But the most important; we wish you a great Christmas with family and/or friends! We are looking forward to 2015 and hope it will be another successful year!

Watchwinders do have all kind of specific functions to wind automatic watches with the result that they keep running. One of these functions is to select the TPD (turns per day). This is the number of turns of the turntable (or rotor) that is required every 24 hours to keep the automatic watch wound. The exact movement brand and type (for example: Miyota 9015 or Sellita SW200) inside the watch determines the required TPD. There are differences between the movements which result in differences in required TPD.

Most automatic watches require a 600 to 1000 TPD. Nevertheless there are other watches which need a higher TPD, for example 1200 to 1900 TPD. A good watchwinder will offer a function to select the specific TPD manually. Therefore you can choose the required TPD for your specific automatic watch(es). Thereby all good watchwinders suitable for more than one automatic watch, offer the TPD function for all turntables individually. In case you have two or three different automatic watches with different required TPD you can set the exact TPD per turntable, so all watches are wound perfectly. 

It really depends on the watch which TPD is the best to select. If you're not sure, don't hesitate to ask the watch brand or salespoint where you bought the watch. There are also lists available on the internet where you can find a specific watch and its matching TPD. 

An important remark: please don't worry about a too high number of TPD (for example 1500 TPD when you watch require 1000 TPD), every modern watch has an overwind protection by a built-in slipping system

Last week we met Paul Chen, the CEO of Paul Design watchwinders in Guangzhou, China. During our nice Chinese lunch Paul did tell us about his watchwinder brand, its filosofy and future plans. First we give you a short introduction about this brand. Paul Design is created by Paul Chen who worked for a company which import brands as Buben & Zörweg and Scatola del Tempo. Therefore he gained a lot of experience in the field of technique, materials and finishing. He now uses this experience for his own successful watchwinder brand; Paul Design.

Watchwinders made of high-end materials

Paul learned that a successful brand must offer perfect quality to penetrate in the current market of watchwinders. The competition is strong with brands from Europe. Nevertheless there is a gap between the cheap Chinese watchwinders and the high-end European watchwinders like Stockinger, Elma, Buben & Zörweg etc etc. This gap Paul wants to fill with his own brand of watchwinders. When we take a look at the Paul Design watchwinders we must say that we are surprised positively. The design looks great, the materials are solid and beautiful. Thereby the technique is state of the art. 

Future plans for Paul Design watchwinders

We asked Paul what to expect the coming years from his watchwinder brand. The answer is simple: produce high end watchwinders for an acceptable price. Quality is one of the most important elements to have happy clients. Next to quality is innovation. Innovation is important to offer the best functions to wind all automatic watches. Parts as motors, gearing and the control panel are the most important and need continious innovation to keep up with the high end brands. 

We expect a lot from Paul, as he is a smart and experienced guy with a feeling to create beautiful watchwinders. Paul, thank you for the nice Chinese lunch and our nice conversation!