Watch winders, like other special accoutrements of the rarified man (or woman), are ostentatious and useful. This one, made by Dottling and called the Gyrowinder, is just ostentatious.
The Gyrowinder puts your ultra-pampered automatic watch in a gyroscope-like harness and spins it around as though it was about to enjoy some 1990’s era virtual reality. The system is totally overkill in the sense that such motion is way more than necessary to wind the watch. Nevertheless, the entire Gyrowinder system puts a smile on my face. Why? Because, at over 11,000 euros ($14,000), the Gyrowinder is meant to be a showy display case that shows off your showy watch in a way that will make the other oil barons and klepocrats grin: it is art and flair as much as it is a tool to keep your timepiece wound.
A standard winder, obviously, simply turns the watch in a single direction and keeps automatic watches wound by moving an internal weight. This one… well, who knows what it’s trying to do.
You can see a video of the Gyrowinder in action (sans inevitable leather-clad butler who will dust the gyrowinder ever so lightly with a rag of ermine) over here.