Yeah, I can say this has been my experience, too. I once purchased a second-hand, nearly new 3570.50 that had so much resistance to winding the crown that I sold it along after a few months. A few years later my wife purchased a new 3570.50 as a birthday gift to me, and I'm lucky that this one winds easily and smoothly. It just received its first service at age ten. I asked the watchmaker if he could preserve its ease of winding, and he said he could treat the seal around the stem with a lubricant that was temporary and wouldn't deteriorate the seal itself, and that seems to have worked (the watchmaker is Omega-certified and reputable).
Obligatory photo because... well... just because
😀