Hi folks!

Ever since I got my beautiful Dune, I noticed that time setting was a bit stiffer than I was used to and not as smooth. Some of you might know that I mentioned it on the forum a couple of times. Even unscrewing the crown seemed rougher than on my other watches, but I thought this might be due to WR gaskets. Anyway, it wasn't that bad and I took it as an acceptable difference to my other movements.

But yesterday I wanted to wear my watch for work, and decided to give it a few manual winds. And the rotor started spinning like crazy. There was a good amount of tension in the crown as well, and a slight metallic noise when winding.

I was not familiar with the "helicopter rotor" or the "spinning rotor syndrome", somehow I managed to be completely oblivious so far despite having several watches with the same movement. That might also be because I almost never wind my automatics, but I did it yesterday since the watch didn't start ticking after giving it a couple of (gentle) shakes, so I just wanted to speed up the process.

I then kept winding it a few more times so I can record the following video before packing up the watch to send it to CW. You can see the video here: https://vimeo.com/1071810757

I did not apply a massive amount of force and it did not feel like anything was bending or getting damaged inside, but I could say that I did have to give the crown a firm constant pressure spin at certain points. Hard to say how much more but if I'd have to guess I probably used 2-3 times (at most, I think) more force than usual.

So after taking the above video, I wanted to show the issue to my wife, and the funny thing was, I could not make it happen anymore. I tried a dozen times yesterday and again today, and the issue seems to have went away, at least for now.

Not only is the rotor not spinning wildly anymore, but time setting and even unscrewing the crown feels much smoother now, in line with my other watches with SW200 movements, so I would say that the noise and feel when winding is now similar to my C1 Moonphase and Bel Canto. By the way, I'm not exactly sure how the crown is related to all of this, but I'm absolutely certain it's not placebo.

After reading a fair share on the subject (some of it on this forum), it turns out this is a relatively common issue with SW200 movement (and not only, other movements might develop it as well). Also, the root cause seems to be either too few or too much lubricant, and usually happens if the movement has been sitting on a shelf for too long before being used.

I also gave it a few gentle shakes and looked through the display caseback, nothing seems to be moving inside and overall I believe I haven't done any damage. I recall my grandmother winding her manual watch when I was a kid, I think she used more force on a regular basis than what I did yesterday.

I only got the watch about a month ago so it's still under the 60 days of return, and I think I wore it about 10 times since then. Bit given how well it's behaving now, I don't think I will be sending it in for warranty, unless somebody else on this forum persuades me that I really should do it.

Of course, if the issue does happen again, I'm packing this baby next day no questions asked. But as it stands now, I think CW might look at it and just send it back to me since it's not exhibiting any problems. I will update this thread if there are any new developments, but hopefully that won't be the case.

I just wanted to share the story in case somebody else is experiencing something similar, but I'm not saying that what I did was the best course of action. After reading some stories, it could have gotten much uglier. So please tread with care if this ever happens to you, and try not to apply more force than you feel is safe for the tiny metal gears.

Any feedback is highly appreciated! Thanks!

I assume there must be some difference between a manual wind and an automatic.

I have never owned a manual wind that has been anything other than super smooth, and you wind a daily wearer a thousand times over 3 years, far more than you would wind an auto.

Chronographs seem slightly more awkward, but I think that's because my chubby fingers get stuck grasping the crown between the two pushers.

I would be perfectly happy to have 100% manual wind watches.

I do have a couple of autos that are stiff to wind, but most aren't too bad, and some are as smooth as manual winds.

I hope your issue doesn't return, or at least you can get it resolved during the warranty period.

The crown engages with lots of cogs inside the mechanism, so if it's not exactly engaged I can see it would cause problems, like trying a doorkey in the wrong door.

Thanks for the input and your explanation about the crown. Makes a lot of sense!

I do agree that manual wind would likely be more resilient, since they are designed to be wound daily unlike autos. To my shame, I have never owned a manual wind so far, all my watches are autos, so I don't really have much else to compare with. But I do have an upcoming Mun Orion that will be my first manual.

As I said, I only wind my autos very rarely, and now that I think about it, I did also get some issues with my SH21 Abyss when I was manually winding it, fortunately it was covered by warranty. So I guess the morale of the story is "don't wind autos"?

I completely relate to your point regarding chronographs, especially if they have crown guards. I love my speedmaster but taking out the crown and setting the time, the monnphase and sometimes the date is not the easiest thing, however the operation itself is very smooth, despite being automatic. My other chronograph has a Valjoux 7750 and it's probably even noisier than SW200.

I also took most my watches for a spin this morning to see if any other has the rotor issue and if the sound on the Dune is on par with them. Fortunately none of my others have it, and the sound and operation on Dune seems on par with the rest of my SW200 watches. While doing this exercise, I was pleasantly surprised with my Aquitaine GMT (SW330-2) which was almost dead silent and butter smooth. So much that in fact I was afraid the manual winding doesn't work, but when I put it just next to my ear I could hear the winding sound. For comparison, I could probably hear the SW200 winding from half room away.

Here’s a link to a thread of my experience with spinning rotor syndrome about a year ago

general-discussion/spinning-rotor-syndr ... inning#top

ajax87 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 03, 2025 2:16 pm Here’s a link to a thread of my experience with spinning rotor syndrome about a year ago

general-discussion/spinning-rotor-syndr ... inning#top

Thank you! I actually read your thread yesterday, after already winding the watch.

So I take it that your watch is still fine and the issue hasn't come back then?

alexqaws wrote: ↑Thu Apr 03, 2025 2:29 pm

ajax87 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 03, 2025 2:16 pm Here’s a link to a thread of my experience with spinning rotor syndrome about a year ago

general-discussion/spinning-rotor-syndr ... inning#top

Thank you! I actually read your thread yesterday, after already winding the watch.

So I take it that your watch is still fine and the issue hasn't come back then?

The rotor actually did start spinning again maybe 6 months ago, then mysteriously stopped a day later. It hasn’t started up again, and has always run a consistent -7spd. Soooo who knows what’s going on there? If it comes back again I’ll send it in for warranty service.

I did have a spinning rotor on my C60 sapphire a few years ago that didn’t go away. I sent it to CW who corrected it under warranty.

@ajax87 Thank you, I think it that sounds good. I would have probably done the same. If the spinning doesn't happen more often, I think I can live with it one day a year.

I'm personally not concerned about accuracy unless the delta is like half a minute or so. My only (mild) concern is mostly about unnecessary wear and tear, but I guess it will still need servicing at some point and some parts will eventually have to be replaced.

So how is you watch now? Helicopter issue gone?
Happened to my brand new watch unfortunately... Started my thread here:
general-discussion/dune-aeokian-spinnin ... 65580.html

common on SW200s, though only 1 out of 25 SW200s I've owned/ handled had this issue, so about 4% faulty rate.

It often does not affect timekeeping, just the winding experience. That said if it's under warranty sending it back is the right action.

cmpic wrote: ↑Wed Jun 11, 2025 11:41 am common on SW200s, though only 1 out of 25 SW200s I've owned/ handled had this issue, so about 4% faulty rate.

It often does not affect timekeeping, just the winding experience. That said if it's under warranty sending it back is the right action.

2 out of 12 of mine had the issue that had to be fixed under warranty.

A much larger sample than yours or mine would be required to arrive at a statistically sound failure rate.

It would also need to distinguish by brand.

Neil

I'd encourage you to get it booked in and let CW send you a prepaid mailer and return form. I fancy that they're quite familiar with "potential reverser wheels issue".

FWIW I had this problem manifest itself on an almost new watch just a fortnight ago: the watch had behaved impeccably before this occasion and, like yours, has behaved with equal impeccability ever since. On the day though the crown and stem spun, the rotor spun and frankly, the vibration set up in the watch caused me to think of one of those er, adult massage products. I phoned CW they took care of it, they've now got my watch. Do it - peace of mind is easily achieved.

The watch seems to be fine. Nothing broken, spinning rotor issue gone. I will send it in if that happens again though.