Controllable watch winder for self-winding watches

Abstract

A controllable watch winder for a self-winding mechanical watch, in which a turntable is provided to hold and rotate the watch, including a programmable microprocessor circuit configured to count the number of rotations executed by the turntable. In one aspect, the watch winder is configured to introduce, after the electronic circuit is activated, a delay period before the turntable commences rotating. In another aspect, the circuit may be configured to interrupt the rotation of the turntable with pauses, to break up the rotation into cyclical sets. The circuit may be configured to automatically predetermine the number of rotations in each set. In yet another aspect, the watch winder may be configured to be manually adjustable, to variably predetermine before use, the number of rotations to be executed by the turntable and the length of any pause between rotations.

1 . A cuff for holding a watch on a turntable of a watch winder, comprising:
 a generally cylindrical core, the core having a front end and a back end and being axially compressible from the front end to the back end;   a first relatively rigid end plate positioned at the front end and a second relatively rigid plate positioned at the back end of the core; and   a porous material covering the core and the first and second plates, said material being porous to the passage of air between the core and the environment.   
   
   
       2 . A cuff for holding a watch on a turntable of a watch winder, comprising:
 a generally cylindrical core made of open cell foam, the core having a front end and a back end and being axially compressible from the front end to the back end;   a first relatively rigid end plate positioned at the front end and a second relatively rigid plate positioned at the back end of the core; and   a material covering the core and the first and second plates.