Everything owners ask.

Not always — and we would rather say so now than have it come back in a month.

If you wear the same automatic every day, it is winding itself, and a box will serve you better for less. A winder earns its place when you rotate two or more, or when you own something with a calendar you would rather not reset every time you pick it up.

If you own one automatic and wear it daily, buy the box.

For most collections, both. A box protects and displays everything — quartz, hand-wound, vintage. A winder only earns its keep for the automatics you actually turn to.

The setup collectors tend to settle on is a winder for the one to three watches in regular rotation, and a box for the rest.

Count the watches you actually wear in rotation, not the ones you own. One if you rotate one, two if you alternate, four or more once you have passed the point of choosing which ones stay running.

One thing owners tell us again and again: buy a size up from where you are today. The regret we hear most is having to replace the whole thing eighteen months later. If you are between two sizes, take the larger.

Almost certainly. Cushions take cases from 36 mm to 46 mm, on leather straps, steel bracelets and thick rubber, without anything being forced — which covers the vast majority of automatics in circulation.

If yours is unusually large, or you would simply rather be sure, send us the measurement before you order. We will tell you straight, including when the answer is no.

It changes how it looks and how it sounds, not how it winds. Wood damps motor noise rather than amplifying it, which is why it sits well on a bedroom dresser. Leather suits a study or a dressing area. Glass and steel is for a piece you actually want to watch turning.

Every finish runs the same class of motor, so choose on the room it will live in.

That is the whole test, and it is the one thing we refuse to take on trust.

Every unit runs for forty-eight hours in the listening room before it is packed — a room with no window and nothing in it but a bench and a chair. Somebody sits with it at the start and again at the end, at a metre, in silence. Anything that hums, ticks, chatters or drifts goes back in the crate. Roughly one in fourteen does.

The card in your box carries the initials of whoever signed yours off. That is the whole story.

Turns per day — how many rotations the winder gives a watch in twenty-four hours. Most modern automatics settle somewhere between 650 and 900, depending on the calibre.

You should not have to research it. Everything leaves here set to 750, the figure the overwhelming majority of Swiss automatics are built around, so it works the moment you plug it in. If your calibre wants something else, tell us and we will set it by hand before it ships.

No. A mainspring left unwound is not harmed — that much is settled, and we will not pretend otherwise.

What does wear is the crown assembly: the winding stem, the threads, the gasket that keeps water out. Every reset is a handling cycle on the one part standing between the movement and the outside world. A winder means you handle it less. Modern movements also have slip clutches, so continuous winding does not overwind them.

Yes — that is what it is for, and it is how ours are tested. The motor is a Japanese Mabuchi, the class of motor that ends up in precision instruments, chosen because it is quiet at the start and still quiet in year three.

On the cabinets, lifting the lid stops it on its own.

Free, on every order, to any UK address. There is no minimum to reach and nothing is added at checkout.

Orders are prepared within a working day, and a tracking link reaches you by email the moment yours leaves. Most arrive within a week to ten days.

If yours is past that, send us the order number and we will chase it ourselves rather than send you to the carrier.

Not at the moment. We ship to UK addresses only, which is part of what lets us keep delivery free and answer properly when something needs chasing.

Yes — Klarna is available at checkout, so a cabinet can be spread rather than taken in one go.

Alongside it: the usual cards, PayPal and Apple Pay. Everything your account is eligible for appears at the payment step.

Thirty days, which is longer than the law asks of us, and reduced pieces are covered on exactly the same terms.

Write to us before you send anything back — the return address depends on the piece, and we would rather give you the right one than have it go astray. The full terms are here.

Two years on the winder mechanism, parts and labour. A motor that fails inside those two years is replaced, not repaired at your expense.

Cushions and adaptors are available separately, so a worn part does not retire the whole piece. Your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 apply on top of this.

Email us and say what it is doing: whether it hums, whether the light comes on, whether it turns at all. Nine times out of ten we can tell from the description alone.

If it is the motor and it is inside the two years, we replace the unit. You will not be asked to pay for a diagnosis.

It is the most common reason people write to us. You do not need to know their calibre — everything leaves set to 750 turns a day, which suits any automatic, and changing it later takes one button.

It arrives in a presentation box, and the thirty days runs from the day it lands rather than the day you bought it. If they already own one, tell us and we will sort out the exchange.