Or you can just get a watch crown winder...I use mine often on smaller crowns and those incredibly awful crowns that many here like as shown by the OP... It helps save the fingers for sure.
What model do you use? I've got no fingernails at all either so I can't even get these crowns out without using something like a thin edge of a credit card
Mine is a Bergeon 30409A. But you can get them in much cheaper versions than this one is, so just look at the sizes of the crowns you need to use it on, and select the one with the range that fits. I use mine almost every day. Cheers, Al
Here's a watch winder for you. Made by Bergeon. The arbor telescopes. The crown is placed in the rubber cup and pushed toward the motor. Takes about 5 seconds to wind a watch from totally run down. The arbor has a calibrated clutch which slips when the watch is fully wound. Works better on wrist watches than pocket watches. The watch is an odd one. It is from the 1950s. It was commonly peddled on shopping centre parking lots or in dimly lit bars. The name on the dial? HORMILTON! That is not a mis-spelling, by the way. Anyone else on this forum old enough to remember these? The movement is pin lever, one jewel.
No wonder you can afford such a wonderful collection I would have expected nothing less or more - Great idea!
Actually, a friend's grandfather was a watchmaker in Saskatchewan. He passed away about 50 years ago. This Bergeon winder is from his shop, and I acquired it by a barter arrangement. My friend needed a watch repaired, and the winder was his payment. Back in the 1950s, while manual winders predominated in the pockets and on the wrists of watch owners, and battery watches were just beginning to appear, an old time watchmaker would have made great use out of this winder! As to my collection? Did you notice the fake Hamilton I included in the image of the winder? As with any collection, mine covers the spectrum from the ordinary, to the somewhat less ordinary.