Chanda ranga: Automatic Watch Winder

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Automatic Watch Winder

I'm sure this question has been asked before and for that I apologise for posting it again but I use a linux at work and the web browser is pretty unstable. Every time I tried to use the search option, my browser simply hung and I had to restart it.
Anyway, moving along, I have just a couple of automatic watches in my collection and I really don't have the spare cash on me to invest in a quality winder right now.
The two watches I have are:
1) Vostok Europe Gaz 14 with a VE 2426 movement &
2) Invicta 7176 with a Miyota movement

I was planning on wearing my watches in rotation and so the above mentioned watches will probably get 1 day a week on my wrist (I have to show some love to my other quartz watches as well :D )
I was wondering whether it would be OK for me to manually wind those watches, on the days I'm not wearing them.
I contacted Vostok Europe and they said that its absolutely fine if I do that, but read somewhere online that doing this can potentially damage the watch over time.
As for the Invicta, its got a screw in crown, so I think I'll avoid winding that and instead just give it a good gentle shake for a few minutes, every night since the rotor is rotates pretty freely (unlike that of the VE)
What do you guys think? I could really do with some inputs from you guys.
Thanks