SwissKubik Masterbox Black Aluminum Single Watch Winder Review

When I started collecting watches around twenty-five years ago the first watches I purchased were all automatic watches. Soon my collection comprised of a few pieces and since I rotated watches fairly evenly my watches would always wind down. I found this as a minor inconvenience, but an inconvenience nonetheless.

With my father being an engineer and having grown up building my own computers and being fascinated by audio equipment, when I found out about watch winders I instantly knew this was a fun solution to my little. In those days my watch budget consumed every extra penny I had, so spending money I didn't have on an expensive winder was out of the question. Also for a fraction of what I good single winder cost I could get a generic four watch winder.



Although it has been a long time since those days, I do remember some things about those cheap winders. I say winders since I went through at least five different winders in those early days. It seemed that the winders wouldn't last more than a few months before something would burn up and the winder would stop. I even had one spark itself to death right in front of me, good thing I was home to catch it and unplug it. Needless to say there were no warranties to speak of and for another few dollars I could just get another winder from another no name manufacture.

Another thing I remember about those winders was how loud they were. Now I knew no better and thought this was just normal for a watch winder. From across the room you could hear the winder stop and start, it was even worse when the winder would change directions.

Finally the watch winders were just huge. I feel some of those four watch winders would easily take up most of my desk today. These were even four watch winders that shared two watches per rotating disc, so it's not like they had four separate discs. The winders were not only wide, but they were ungainly tall and deep as well.



Other things I had no idea about at the time but were surely issues with those winders were things like magnetism, how the watches were turned and how many revolutions the watches received per day. Cheap motors put off a lot of magnetism since they are the cheapest available that can perform the winding function and lack the proper shielding to protect the watches. This can be highly problematic to a watch and can cause its accuracy to nose dive.

Sure as a base concept it shouldn’t matter how an automatic watch is moved to wind itself. If you think about a watch being on your wrist, it can go through all kinds of motions while being worn, so how a winder winds a watch shouldn’t matter right? In fact it does matter, higher quality winders will deliver a consistent rotation to the movement which reduces wear.

Before we get into the looking at the watch winder SwissKubik sent us, let's address the elephant in the room… are watch winders bad on movements?



The arguments against watch winders are that they will increase wear on watch components as well as stress out the mainspring and break down lubricants. Most automatic watches are designed to be serviced every five to ten years and be worn as a daily watch. This means the watch is intended to be worn everyday and run constantly. That doesn't mean if it's on a winder, on your wrist or on your bedside table. Modern movements use materials such as silicon and ceramic to drastically reduce wear on the movement and will have no issues running non-stop. Older more delicate movements might benefit from less wear, but once again they shouldn't be worn daily either and would see the same possible issues worn daily as they would on a winder.

Arguments for using a winder are plentiful as well. First if you have a large collection, it can be a pain to have to wind and set a watch every time you wear it. If you have complicated watches like annual calendars, moonphases and perpetual calendars, they can be tricky and dangerous to set often. I have an easy to set perpetual calendar, but also have a really annoying world timer that I don't wear often since I hate setting it. Also when a watch is on a winder there is less physical interaction with the movement, which can lead to issues. My Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Montoya has a super delicate screw down crown. The crown recently refused to screw down any more and I had to have it replaced to a large sum. I don't wear the watch that often simply fearing the crown could break again. This would be resolved by the watch sitting on a winder. Finally having a watch movement constantly in motion makes sure the movement is fully lubricated.

With all that being said, do I personally use a watch winder? In our new house I fully expected to put all my watches on display in my office on winders but when I informed my wife of that decision she told me "Either put all of the watches in the safe or sell them."… so yeah my watches now live in the safe. One interesting thing about the winder I'm going to talking about today is that it can run on battery, so it could go inside one of our safes. I think my JLC Worldtimer that I hate setting might be the perfect candidate to be paired with a winder inside of a safe moving forward.



So back the topic in hand…

Today we're going to be taking a look at the SwissKubik Masterbox single watch winder. SwissKubik was founded in Geneva in 2007. The goal of SwissKubik was to offer watch winders that adhere to the same standards that fine Swiss watches do. SwissKubik wanted to stick to Swiss watchmaking standards while also being innovative. The first models offered by SwissKubik were small stand alone winders built by the company's founders.

SwissKubik offers a diverse line of watch winders from simple non programmable single winders to compact travel winders to fully programmable twelve winder arrays. The sweet spot in their collect is their single Masterbox. The Masterbox is incredibly small at just under 4 inches in length, width and height and weighs in just under 2.5 pounds. The real party trick of the Masterbox is its ability to be programmed via Bluetooth. Via their app running on your phone, you can set the exact number of rotations and direction needed for a specific timepiece. Also the Masterbox is meant to be stackable, meaning you could make an array of limitless Masterboxes.



When the SwissKubik Masterbox arrived, the first thing I noticed about it was just how small the winder was. When I was younger watch winders were these big bulky things that took up so much space. The Masterbox was basically able to fit in the palm of my hand. Also at less than 2.5 pounds the Masterbox is very lightweight.

The next thing I noticed about the Masterbox was the finishing on the back plate of the winder. This plate covers the batteries and has an extraordinary nearly Cotes de Geneve finish to it. This finishing is such a small detail and hidden on the back of the winder that will never be seen, but it's a nod from SwissKubik to how much they care about their products. In my opinion it's super cool to have a winder that has some movement finishing on it.

Finally the last thing I noticed about the SwissKubik Masterbox was just how quiet the winder was. While reviewing the winder I had it setup on my desk underneath my monitors. Basically the winder is less than two feet away from me all day. Not once have I heard the winder kick on, the only thing that catches my attention is the movement and green LED. Otherwise I would have never known the winder was running. This is a stark difference from the winders I used to use that I could hear from across the room.



Now that we have gone over my initial impressions of the Masterbox, let's get on to the technical specifications of the winder. The model I'm reviewing is the Black Aluminum Single winder model. The winder is a cube measuring 3.9 inches in all directions. The case of the winder is crafted out of aluminum which helps with its light 2.4 pound weight. The winder is powered either 2 C batteries that will keep the winder running for up to three years or a supplied USB C power cable. If running soley on batteries, in the final months of remaining power, a red light will be displayed to let you know well ahead of time that a battery replacement is needed soon.

The cushion the watch sits on is firmly locked in place and requires a good deal of force to dislodge from the Masterbox. At first I wasn't sure I was trying to remove the cushion correctly since it wouldn't budge. I finally said screw it and pulled hard and the cushion popped right out. This is a good thing since you really don't want your watch to just plop out of the winder by accident.

The cushion compresses to hold all sorts of sized bracelets and there is plenty of room behind the cushion to accommodate larger sized watches. I tried the winder with some sub 40 mm pieces as well as my 48 mm IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar Top Gun and same sized Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 500 Fathoms, both which fit into the Masterbox with no issues. Sometimes winders aren't wide enough to have such large watches fit within the rotating area of the winder, not an issue here.



SwissKubik really thought out the Masterbox well, one such example is the soft-touch material around the front of the winder. Since the front of the winder is the only area that might ever come in contact with a watch, rubberized material has been used to here to reduce the chance of scratching your watch on the front of the winder.

Another example of a well thought out product is around back where the finished back plate resides. Instead of needing a screwdriver to remove the back plate, SwissKubik has used a screw that requires nothing more than a coin or other flat headed object to open. Not a huge deal, but it's nice to know that in a pinch the winder can be opened without tools.

It must be said that the black aluminum Masterbox just looks incredible. The winder looks nothing else but a finally made high quality product. The black aluminum is extremely sleek and will go with most decors. SwissKubik also offers the Masterbox is a host of colors and finishing as well. Being in Austin where the University of Texas is king, the orange Masterbox looks super enticing to me!



The good looks of the Masterbox can be attributed to it being 100% Swiss Made and certified. All work and finishing for the SwissKubik Masterbox is done within 50 kilometers of their factory in Givisiez Switzerland. The Masterbox is also a fully handmade and hand assembled product. You can really tell when you get your hands on this winder that it just oozes quality.

Now if all this quality manufacturing and finishing didn't house a quality winder, the Masterbox would be nothing more than a fancy watch box. Luckily SwissKubik outfits their Masterbox winders with their latest sixth generation motor. This motor produces extremely low levels of magnetism and is whisper silent. SwissKubik also uses a mirror effect optical reader to precisely count the number of rotations the winder does. With this technology in place you can be assured that your watches are accurately wound.

The first test I did with the SwissKubik Masterbox was to put my IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar Top Gun in it and see if I could get the watch to first lose power reserve. After playing with the revolutions per day I was able to get the power reserve indicator to lose power. Next I then tried to achieve a maintaining amount of turns per day to keep the watch at half power. Finally I set the winder to the recommended turns per day for the movement and saw the watch slowly top off. I also noticed that every time the Masterbox would stop winding that the watch would be returned to the vertical position. I've seen a lot of winders that stop winding and just leave the watch at a weird angle.



Out of the box the Masterbox is set for 1,900 revolutions per day. While seemingly high, it does ensure that the winder will wind most any automatic movement. Many automatic movements do require less than half of those rotations per day and the Masterbox is fully programmable to meet those needs.

To program the Masterbox you need to download the SwissKubik app from the Apple or Google Play store. For some reason the SwissKubik app wasn't available from the Play store so after about five minutes of digging around I was able to find it on an Android app website. After the app was installed I was easily able to locate the powered on winder through the app. After selecting the found winder and waiting around three seconds the winder was synced with the app.

The app is extremely easy to use and allows you to see the daily rotations as well as if the winder will only wind to the left or right or in both directions. There are also settings to turn off the LED if that would be annoying to you. Finally you can test all the functions of the winder and make sure everything is working as expected. Even if your watch isn't found inside of that app, you are allowed to manually enter the brand and model and then save it to your Masterbox. When you have multiple Masterbox winders having the ability to name each winder after the watch it winds makes working with multiple winders inside the app a breeze.



Finally let's talk about the price of the SwissKubik Masterbox. This single winder version done in black anodized aluminum retails for $820. Sure that is a lot of money for a single watch winder, but if you look around at winders from other high quality brands the Masterbox is actually on the lower end of the spectrum price wise. Naturally you could spend a fraction on an Amazon no name brand winder, but you get what you pay for. I've been there and done that with some pretty bad results. The hobby we enjoy does have a high level of entry, especially when you talk about nicely finished hand built Swiss watches. On that end, remember the Masterbox is Swiss Made and handmade and hand assembled, so that has to be considered when talking about pricing.

In the end is the SwissKubik Masterbox for me? I do feel that I have a few watches that are a pain to set and I don't wear as much because I normally grab a watch on the way out the door and don't have the time for a detailed setting procedure. Also that the Masterbox can run for three years on battery power meaning I can stick the winder easily inside one of our safes. Otherwise it might just be fun to put a less expensive watch on the winder and keep it on my desk as "desk art". I still do enjoy setting my watches and winding them from dead, so I probably wouldn’t want a ton of winders in the safe. My time with the Masterbox has been great and it has performed above my initial expectations. The addition of a well done app to do all the programming duties is another plus since I'm a software architect by trade and enjoy technology.

Would I recommend the Masterbox to somebody looking for a quality watch winder? I certainly would recommend the Masterbox to that person. First the Masterbox has a modular design so you can start out with one and if you like the winder and want to put more of your watches on them you can easily build an array of Masterbox winders that easily stack on each other. The high quality motor of the Masterbox also ensures whisper silent operation and highly reduces the chances of your watch being magnetized by a winder. With the app you can also fine tune the rotations your watch will receive to optimize the winding of the movement. Finally the Masterbox just looks great and is offered in virtually every color and finish you could imagine.



As I opened this review, using or not using a watch winder is a hotly debated topic in the watch world. I've been collecting watches for over 25 years and have been in the watch industry for around 20 years as well. In that time I haven't heard of a case where a quality winder damaged a modern watch. Remember top brands like Audemars Piguet even package some of their complicated calendar watches with watch winders. I'm sure they would not include and recommend the use of a winder if they thought it could damage their watches. I think it's much more of a personal preference in using a winder or not. Could I live without using a winder, sure… are there cases where using a winder would make my life easier, also sure.

I'd like to thank SwissKubik for sending us this Masterbox winder to review. It has been many years since I played around with a winder and it is mind-blowing to see how far winders have come from the cheap generic winders I used back in the early 2000s. I now know it is possible to produce a highly accurate and programmable winder in a sleek and dead silent package.



For more information about the SwissKubik Masterbox please visit : SwissKubik

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: SK01.AE001

Retail Price: $820

Dimensions: 3.9" x 3.9" x 3.9" (lwh)

Weight: 2.4 lbs

Material: Black Anodized Aluminum

Rotations Per Day: 20 Minimum / 3,000 Maximum

Rotation Direction: Clockwise / Counter Clockwise / Bi-Directional

Power: 2 C Batteries (3 Years at 1,900 Rotations Per Day) / USB C Power Cable

Programming: Bluetooth (Android / IOS) or via USB PC Application