Among the best watchwinder brands worldwide, is certainly Orbita from the USA. Orbita is a high end brand which produces beautiful watchwinders with the best materials and reliable technique. We did contact Orbita and soon we received a full package with information about Orbita and the nice watchwinders they produce. 

High end materials - pure quality.

The Orbita website says the company aims for the best. This results in watchwinders with natural materials als wood and leather. They also claim that they focus on leading edge winding technology based on fresh ideas, innovative systems and superior drives, gears and control components. When we take a look at the collection we must say Orbita did a great job. The watchwinders combine quality with a classical design. The Orbita watchwinders are handmade and therefore quite exclusive.

Orbita competes with other high end brands.

In Europe Orbita is less known than in the USA. But with a new strategy Orbita will try to gain marketshare in Europe to present and promote their watchwinders. Of course there is a lot of competition from brands as Elma Motion, Büben & Zorweg and Underwood London and some others. But Orbita has an important advantage; their reputation is very good in the USA and they already proved they produce perfect watchwinders for the real watch collector. Orbita watchwinders are not for the average owner of an automatic watch, they are not cheap and standard. On the other hand, if you prefer quality and a high end watchwinder brand, Orbita is certainly a brand worth considering. It offers supreme watchwinders to wind automatic watches.

We will follow Orbita in their "battle" to conquer Europe. We expect we will hear more about Orbita soon, as they have big plans and great watchwinders.

Last three weeks we did test the Scatola del Tempo Rotor One DHG watchwinder. We were very excited to test a watchwinder from an Italian brand which claims they produce high end watchwinders.

During the first week our excitement changed into slight disappointment. Why? Read the complete review about this expensive Italian watchwinder here.

Here is our latest review about the Scatola del Tempo Rotor One HDG, in black color. Scatola del Tempo is an Italian brand which does produce watchwinders for a long time. They focus on high end materials and are in the same price segment as Buben & Zörweg and Elma. They claim that they did produce the first watchwinder.

We decided to test this single watchwinder from Scatola del Tempo because most models are quite big and less populair. The Rotor One models are priced reasonable which makes a high end watchwinder attractive for many consumers.

But is the Scatola del Tempo Rotor One HDG as good as the Italians say? Is the watchwinder offering a good price/quality ratio? We did find out…..

Design

Italians are famous because of their great feeling for design. We can say that brands as Ferrari, Gucci, Versace and Ducati produce really beautiful things. If we take a look at the current collection of Scatola del Tempo watchwinders we see many nice models but not that different from other brands. It doesn’t look like they spent a lot of time to develop new and different designs.

The Scatola del Tempo Rotor One HDG is a small and compact watchwinder. It has a special form with many curves. The front has a plastic cover which protects the watch against dust and other influences. It’s a pity that the cover is not made of real glass, what you might expect at this price level. Therefore the front feels a bit cheap.

The backside is sober and is only worth mentioning because the batteries do go in here.

When we take a look at the outside material of the watchwinder we see a nice leather finishing. It feels good and does look nice.

Originality

The Scatola del Tempo Rotor One HDG has a special “clock” design and therefore does look special compared to watchwinders from other brands.

Because it’s quite a simple and sober watchwinder there is not very much to say about it originality. It’s different than other watchwinders but has no “wow-factor”. It’s not a design which attracts consumers just because of it’s looks.

Quality

Scatola del Tempo watchwinders are known because of their good quality. We tested this watchwinder for 3 weeks. The first week there was no sound, but in the second week the watchwinder started to make more sound. The third week the sound was stabile but you could hear the watchwinder winding at 20cm distance from the watchwinder. We expected a better result from the motor Scatola del Tempo uses. Maybe it’s because the watchwinder construction which makes sounds resonate inside the watchwinder.

A big difference with a brand as Swiss Kubik is that the Scatola del Tempo Rotor One uses two big LR-20 alkaline batteries. This makes the watchwinder quite heavy related to it’s design and not very suitable to travel with. Swiss Kubik uses AA batteries which are smaller (and therefore more eco-friendly).

Maybe it’s a bit strange but when we lift the watchwinder a strange sound appears, we think it’s a spiral spring inside (for the batteries?) or the gearing. It’s not disturbing but details make or break a watchwinder in this price segment.

The watchwinder does wind up all automatic watches (Tag Heuer Carrera, Omega Seamaster and Certina Valgranges) we tried without any problem.

Finishing

The finishing of the Scatola del Tempo Rotor One HDG is of a good level. The materials and details are well choosen. There is nothing bad to tell about the design, finishing or materials used. But we expected a high level of these elements, as Scatola del Tempo places itself among the famous watchwinder brands.

Price level

The Scatola del Tempo Rotor One HDG is available for +-  570 Euro = 750 USD. The watchwinder is presented in a nice box (ours had little stains) and comes with a serial number and international manual. Thereby is a little booklet with other Scatola del Tempo products.

The watchwinder comes with 2 years warranty. Because the motor is from Maxon you may expect a much longer lifetime. In fact Scatola del Tempo is a mix between Italian craftmanship and Swiss technology.

Is it a fair price? In this segment it’s more about , brand loyalty, marketing and image than being better than other brands, as they all use the same technology (Maxon motors) and the finishing is of a good level.

Conclusion

A watchwinder from a brand which claims they make high end watchwinders must be perfect. And that’s exactly what this Scatola del Tempo Rotor One HDG isn’t……It’s a sober watchwinder with lack of functions and a plastic cover. Okay, it has a Maxon motor, but does this justify the 570 Euro? No, in our opinion you pay a lot of money for a very simple watchwinder with a good motor. You pay for the brand name, not for high end quality and handy functions to use winding your automatic watch.

When we pay 570 Euro for a single watchwinder we expect a silent motor, nice functions (as adjustable TPD, sleeping mode, power winding, inside LED light etc etc), brillant finishing and good solid materials. Scatola del Tempo offers good finishing and nice materials, but did forget the rest.

In our opinion Scatola del Tempo isn’t the best innovating watchwinder brand. They believe in their traditional view but forget to improve to meet the current standards other brands offer, for less money. 

Next to many famous watchwinder brands there are also many relatively unknown brands which produce very nice watchwinders. One of these brands is Avante from Hong Kong. This brand tries to join the high end brands with beautiful watchwinders. Thereby, the Avante watchwinders do have all kind of functions to wind-up an automatic watch very easily. 

Avante watchwinders try to combine avant-garde design with innovative technique. Their flagship watchwinder model "Virtuoso" features the world's most compact auto elevated watch winding system, which is even patented. The secure locking system ensure absolute safety of the watch collection. Of course it will stop automatically if it detects hands to protect injury or damage.

That Avante watchwinders are innovative is also because of the smart-card system. The watchwinder operates using the smart-card. There is always a "master key" to reset the watchwinder. The luxury Avante watchwinder models do have a warning alarm which is activated in case of vibration or movement. The silent operation and dual battery packs make sure every watchwinder from this Hong Kong brand is well prepared to wind-up all kind of automatic watches.

The last months there was not too much news from Avante, but we hope that they will keep innovating and producing very nice watchwinders. 

At Baselworld we were invited at several brands which produce watchwinders. Thereby we always take a look at booths of other watchwinder brands. We take a look at the new collection, the innovations and try to get some inside information from the brand itself.

After our visit at Buben & Zörweg we rushed to the booth of the Italian watchwinder producer Scatola del Tempo. They claim that they invented the first watchwinder. They also claim that they are a high end brand with perfect quality watchwinders. Scatola del Tempo positions itself in the

range of Buben & Zörweg, Erwin Sattler and other leading brands. The questions is, is this correct?

When we take a look at the Scatola del Tempo watchwinders we see nice watchwinders made of wood or leather (leather covered). The watchwinders are handmade in Italy. But when we take a closer look we see a watchwinder collection which haven't changed many years regarding materials, innovations or technique. A Scatola del Tempo watchwinder is a very simple watchwinder with a minimum of extras or functions. They don't have special technique or design which makes them more special than other (less expensive) brands.

So why pay a lot of money for a standard watchwinder, which other brands do offer for 20%-30% of the Scatola del Tempo prices. To be honestly, we don't know.....In our opinion you pay a lot of money for the brand(name), not for perfect quality, material or special functions. Many other watchwinder brands do offer far more interesting watchwinders with the latest technique made of beautiful wood or genuine leather, at a much lower price.

Maybe this is the reason the sales of Scatola del Tempo were not that great in 2013 in Europe. At Baselworld we spoke with a few dealers and they told us they sold less than expected. We think the consumer is too clever to buy a "high end" watchwinder which doesn't offer the quality, design and functions which belong to such a high price.

In our opinion Scatola del Tempo shouldn't trust on their history, it should invest in new watchwinders with innovations and perfect specs for a fair price. Is Scatola del Tempo a high end watchwinder brand? In our opinion not, because they only focus on materials like wood and leather, but only materials don't make a beautiful watchwinder. If they don't innovate they will loose from their competition which is really keen on developing their watchwinder collections.

Within the next week we will test a Scatola del Tempo watchwinder in our Review section.