Hello everyone. I just received my first CW watch, a Sandhurst Series 2. It's a beautiful watch and I'm extremely happy with it except for one hiccup that has me worried. Right after unpacking it I unscrewed the crown to wind the watch and set the time. I've read lots of information about the SW200-1 and how it's best to avoid hand-winding as much as possible, and to do so gently and only as necessary. As such, I proceeded very carefully. After unscrewing the crown into position 1, I attempted to wind the watch in the clockwise direction and was immediately met with strong resistance, like it was stuck. I didn't want to force it so I proceeded to pull the crown out to position 2, then pushed it back into position 1 to make sure something wasn't hung up. Still, immediate resistance to the point I was afraid to twist any harder. I screwed the crown back down and then unscrewed it again into position 1. Same thing. At that point I said what the hell and gave it a good twist thinking I was being paranoid. After a very distinct "snap," for lack of a better term, it began winding. Is was very rough for the first quarter twist or so then it smoothed out. I proceeded to give it a few twists, maybe 5, then set the time and I've been wearing it since without issue.

I'm very concerned about that initial snap or break, whatever you call it, when I first started winding the watch. It felt very unnatural, especially for such small and delicate parts. It has a solid case-back so I can't see anything that's happening inside the watch. When I woke up this morning it was still runng fine but I gave it a few more twists of hand-winding just to see how it felt. There was no hang-up or snap, but the winding definitely feels heavier and less-smooth than I expected. Maybe that's totally normal, I'm not sure. I don't have anything to compare it to.

Just wanted to get some thoughts about whether or not this is something to be concerned about. Much appreciated!

What you were feeling at first was the reverser wheels breaking free. Sometimes these are overlubricated from the factory and can be a bit sticky (see the many posts on Spinning Rotor Syndrome).

My Selittas all feel a little gritty to me.

One piece of advice, if the watch is still running when you pick it up and the time is correct then there is no need to give it any winds. Just grab it and throw it on. It should wind to full through the day.

Also welcome to the forum. Do introduce yourself Member Introduction

Yes reverser wheels breaking free…

As in possibly breaking a few teeth that are now inside floating around!

It is not a good idea to have forced it. You may find folk on a watch forum who will say it’s ok. However I doubt very much you will find a competent watchmaker who will agree!

Neil

Thank you for the response and the input. Really, the only option was to force it. I would not have a working watch otherwise. I figured it would either work or I’d be sending it back either way. It seems like there might be some disagreement over the cause and the potential implications of having forced it. I can’t see inside due to the solid case back so I have no idea if any teeth were broken or not. It certainly didn’t sound good.

Has anyone else experienced this and had broken teeth as a result? I guess I'll reach out to CW and see what they recommend.

Phil83 wrote: ↑Fri May 02, 2025 6:34 pm Has anyone else experienced this and had broken teeth as a result? I guess I'll reach out to CW and see what they recommend.

Well a watchmaker I know had to replace the reverser wheels on one and remove the broken teeth floating around the movement…

Because someone forced it to “free” the wheels!

Neil

That's troubling. About two months ago, I received my new C60 Trident Pro 300, which also has the Sellita SW200-1 movement. I unscrewed the crown and it seemed to wind fine. I hadn't tried to wind it since as I have a watch winder. After reading your post, however, I tried winding it again and experienced the same seemingly excessive resistance you described. So, I've now ordered a portable watch winder (Wolf Rocket) to carry with me when I travel. Probably stupid, because the portable watch winder may cost more than repairs if the winder mechanism should break. Still, I would prefer not to have to go through a repair process. If these manual winding issues are a common problem with the SW200-1, I do wish that CW would use a more robust movement. The additional cost of a better movement would surely be less than the cost of a watch winder.

Thank you, Guy, for helping me overcome my excessive caution. I will just manually wind my watch when traveling. No need for a portable watch travel winder.

Commander wrote: ↑Wed May 07, 2025 9:12 pm Thank you, Guy, for helping me overcome my excessive caution. I will just manually wind my watch when traveling. No need for a portable watch travel winder.

This really is a first world problem. Acceptable solutions include a. alternating watches, b. one on the left wrist, one on the right wrist. See how it goes.