I dunno about you guys, but do any of you find that the vast majority of watch-winders use pads/pillows/holders for the watches that are far too big and therefore have to be compressed a considerable amount to fit the watch? My wrists aren't the smallest at 7.75" and yet whenever I use my watch-winders I find I have to compress the pillow a huge amount to get it into the bracelet/strap on it's normal size (i.e. sized for my wrist). One winder I have has these spring-loaded holders and to be honest they're so tough to compress that you could use them as a grip workout!
That then got me thinking about the pretty unnecessary strain that quite a few of these designs will put on straps and spring-bars. Leather and rubber straps will be the most susceptible to stretching and damage from the spring bar cutting into the strap. This has been bothering me to the extent that I've now made new pillows out of brand new bath sponges for one of my winders as they are far easier to compress and yet still hold the watches 100% securely in the cups. Sure, the white bath sponge pads don't look quite as viually appealing as the original cream leather coloured pillows
, but they look nice enough, and at least I know I'm not stretching or otherwise damaging my expensive leather and rubber straps.