The "Junk Box Watch Winder"is still on duty every day, but over time I have made modifications to improve performance and reliability.

This page outlines those modifications.

Click on the pictures for a larger view.

To improve the winding of difficult to wind watches such as the Seiko Kinetic I decided to mount the watch holders parallel to the disk.
This would assure that the winding weight in each watch would get 360 deg. of rotation on each wind.

This modification improved the winding of all watches EXCEPT the Seiko Kinetic which seem to require more winding time than is practical and would tend to overwind the spring powered watches.

To prevent the watches from being scratched by rubbing on the metal brackets I used the lids from cans of Pringle's Potato Chips to make protectors.

To prevent the watches from sliding off the holders while the winder is in motion I cut down some more plastic disk drive rails which protrude slightly above the surface of the holder and prevent the watch from sliding off.

Belt driven winders are very quiet, but there is a slight "thunk" heard when the disk rotates with an uneven load. This is due to the slack in the belt adjustment.

To get rid of this problem I devised a spring loaded belt tensioner similar to those found in automobiles with overhead camshafts.

Scrounging through the junkbox I found a bracket and idler wheel assembly from an old tape deck.

These were mounted at the point of maximum belt slack and a spring was selected to keep the tension correct.