In the CO as shown here (and other manual wind pieces), the 0 indicates FULL, not empty. So, when you wind the watch it has most power when the hand points to the 0 (indicating how many hours since you last wound the watch), and the least power when its past the 40 in the red zone. So FULL power is at the top, and EMPTY is at the bottom, like you said is the correct way 
While I respect your view on typography, I really enjoy the overall aesthetics... each to their own