'World's smallest' watch winder is the travel gadget you never knew you needed

Looking for a luxury gift for the watch lover who already has everything? Then look no further, because Wolf has announced the Rocket.

A single-watch winder, the Rocket is designed to be a compact and travel-friendly way to keep a single watch fully wound and ready for use while you're away from home.

Built to keep the main spring of an automatic mechanical watch wound up, by rotating the watch periodically when it's not being worn, the best watch winders tend to be large boxes intended for the bedside or dressing table. Instead, this is a winder that's small enough to be thrown into a weekend bag, ready to keep your watch topped up on your travels.

We know it sounds like an extravagant luxury – because, well, it is – but for watch fans who like to travel with a timepiece on their wrist and another, perhaps for a different activity or outfit, in their hotel room, the Rocket has its place.

The winder is programmed to rotate 900 times per day at a speed of six rotations per minute, splitting this into clockwise and anti-clockwise rotations.

Once a watch is inserted, the Rocket rotates clockwise 180 times, then counter-clockwise 180 times, before resting for 25 minutes. It then repeats this process five times, then rests with the watch the right way up for 16 hours and 55 minutes, before starting again. That way, the watch is wound, and then allowed to run for most of the day before having its power reserve topped back up.

Wolf, a British watch accessory company established in 1834 and which specialises in winders, claims the Rocket is the world's smallest travel watch winder.

About the size of a small travel flask, the cylindrical Rocket puts your watch on display at end, which spins to keep the main spring wound and the movement on time. 

The Rocket is powered by a lithium battery and features nylon components in its gearbox for quiet running. It is charged via a USB-C port on the rear, a set of LEDs show the winder's status, and when finished the winder returns to the 12 o'clock position, ensuring your watch is the right way up. Handy if you use it as a bedside clock while travelling.

Battery life is a claimed 45 days, and the winder takes eight hours to charge, Wolf says.

Watch winders may seem unnecessary when your time-only watch takes just a few seconds to set. But if you happen to own a more complex timepiece with multiple complications, like a day and date function, and even a moon phase complication, resetting everything when the watch has run out of power reserve can be a lengthy process. It's therefore handy to keep the watch's energy topped up with an automatic, battery-powered winder.