I've been in the watch winding business for a couple of years now so I'll try be as objective as possible.
Personally I think it's very debatable in terms of whether a watch winder is a necessity or not. Everyone will have a view on it and to prove it scientifically I think would require a lot of time. Even that, I personally feel it doesn't contribute enough to cause any significant wear and tear on the watch movement. I do agree that it does help in terms of convenience though. Especially when there is a date function, not to even mention annual/perpetual calendars. And it does look good too. So it varies for every individual in terms of its necessity.
In regards to turn settings, there are a couple of different programs in the market. Minus the expensive German brands, the remaining tend to revolve around the same group of settings. There are those as you speak of, which doesn't rest and rotates based on those mini cycles for en entire day. This would give about 3000+ turns per day (TPD). Which is much more than you need for the normal watch of today's time (600-900TPD). Then there are those that you can vary, 650, 750, 850 TPD etc. These kinds give stronger control in the winding of individual watches. It'll be regulated via turn cycles and rest cycles. So you may see your winder running non stop for 6 hours and resting entirely for the next 6 etc. Again, this is subject to individual, where they feel watches may incur more wear and tear without controlled turn settings.
Hope this helps.
