Gritty Slow Wind - Yes I searched...

[easterbunny]

Quick opinion if y'all have the time:

My 2018 Sub winds a little gritty if I wind it very slowly. I can feel and hear the wizzyness and screetchiness. I've since put it aside to let the power reserve die down so I can try again from scratch.

The odd bit is that if I wind at normal to fast speed the effect and grit is essentially diminished and it feels and winds normally.

All that being said, my GMT and all other watches wind super smooth even when I wind slowly.

Do you think this will merit a trip to the RSC? Thank you in advance, kind sirs.

(in my searches, I only found people claiming gritty wind but not differentiating between winding very slowly or at normal speed).

[thesharkfactor]

Service time.. needs lubrication?

[Bigblu10]

Originally Posted by thesharkfactor

Service time.. needs lubrication?

The watch was new in 2018. Service time already?

OP, let the watch sit until the movement stops. Wind it up 40 turns of the crown and see how it winds. If it winds smooth and easy, no worries. Don't overthink it!

[easterbunny]

thank you both. =) yea. I am hoping this is an anomaly as it is the first time it has wound with a gritty feeling.

also yes, the watch is barely 5-6 months old out of its coffin. just kind of hope I don't have to send it away so soon as it is my goto watch these days.

[antbkny]

Sounds like you’re looking extra hard for a problem lol.
I can’t confirm since I don’t have the watch in front of me but it sounds like it could be normal. If the watch was wound down and it was doing that, then I’d be concerned.

[easterbunny]

makes sense, ant. lol. i swear I am not! =)

you are right that I need to verify when wound down but for some reason I remember noticing it the second I first wound it back into rotation a week or so ago. i've been winding watches for so long, the second i feel that subtle change I can detect it immediately.

[Wristwatcherboy]

With my new SD43 I can definitely hear and feel when the watch is fully wound. The feeling of winding changes from smooth to a “gritty” kind of feeling, and when listened to closely you can hear the mainspring kind of slipping inside the barrel (a kind of clutch mechanism to prevent overwinding). it’s an uneven sound compared to the constant “ticking” when it’s winding up from empty.

[Carondelet]

Why did I open this thread hoping to find a discussion about an R&B song?

In all seriousness, I've only got one Rolex as a data point, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I'd venture to say that the noise disappearing at high wind speeds is probably just due to the speed masking the overtness of the noise. And since you're doing it at full-wind, there's that mechanism, the 'clutch' or what have you, that's making noise too. So it could be that. BUT again I say, I'm no expert, and take what I say with a grain of salt.

If you're not sure, and it's under warranty, why not send it off? You can at least wear your GMT in the mean time!

[Psijason]

Originally Posted by easterbunny

thank you both. =) yea. I am hoping this is an anomaly as it is the first time it has wound with a gritty feeling.

also yes, the watch is barely 5-6 months old out of its coffin. just kind of hope I don't have to send it away so soon as it is my goto watch these days.

Was it like this when you first acquired it? Did you get it from an AD?

[Irydium]

I had this exact problem on my SubC. I got it in March 2018 so it's only been 9 months. It's mostly my daily so I only wind it a bit about once a month after a day or so of not wearing it. When I wound it in mid-Dec it was fine, there's a smooth buttery feel to the winding action.

Last week when I wound it I was surprised to get a grinding, gritty feel from the crown! First couple winds after the crown popped out felt almost like it has grains of sand in the movement. The grinding feeling was not continuous either, sometimes its smoother and then it feels gritty again. Time keeping was not affected and the automatic winding works. Turning the crown counterclockwise has no gritty feel.

So I did a search and seems like some people have had this issue also, and they recommended leaving the watch for a couple days to let the power reserve run out, and then winding it up again. Some people have had luck with this method but not me. Winding the watch from a dead start felt pretty similar, except now I can almost feel as if something was out of alignment with the crown and some gear teeth are gnashing together.

I took it back to my AD and we took some brand new watches out and wound them. He agreed something was up and so now it's being sent to RSC. I am curious what the issue is but from my search it seems RSC just fixes it but does not tell you what they did or what was wrong with it.

My AD said it'll be 3-4 weeks but I have read some people have waited as long as 6-8 weeks.

[exador]

Originally Posted by easterbunny

I can feel and hear the wizzyness and screetchiness.

Did you just invent a new language?

[ntoryes]

Hi guys, I’m new to the forum. Received first Rolex 2 years ago as a gift and had a renewed interest after buying my wife a Rolex as an anniversary gift in November. I began reading here a few months ago and the obsession grows.

Anyway, I thought it was a good opportunity to piggyback on this thread with a question. I recently noticed that the crown is a little finicky on my DJ41 when I go from winding to the date setting and then the hour setting. Sometimes the crown won’t pull out smoothly from the wind position and needs to be turned a bit to “release.” I thought it might need service but then noticed the exact same pattern with my wife’s Lady DJ which was delivered 2 months ago. Any experience or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[Number3]

Originally Posted by exador

Did you just invent a new language?

This made me chuckle!

Got my wife a 31mm DJ late last year and it has this same issue. It keeps good time but when it is manually wound it feels like the movement is coming apart! Back to RSC me think.

[ntoryes]

Hi guys, I’m new to the forum. Received first Rolex 2 years ago as a gift and had a renewed interest after buying my wife a Rolex as an anniversary gift in November. I began reading here a few months ago and the obsession grows.

Anyway, I thought it was a good opportunity to piggyback on this thread with a question. I recently noticed that the crown is a little finicky on my DJ41 when I go from winding to the date setting and then the hour setting. Sometimes the crown won’t pull out smoothly from the wind position and needs to be turned a bit to “release.” I thought it might need service but then noticed the exact same pattern with my wife’s Lady DJ which was delivered 2 months ago. Any experience or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[Seibei]

Sounds like you have an issue. My 2018 Sub winds as smooth as butter, no screech whatsoever. Are you sure your watch is genuine?

[blue lion]

My GMT and Sub are both over 12 years old. Both serviced by the same respected repairman. The GMT is gritty and harder to wind, the Sub silky smooth. I don't worry about it.

[Tools]

Tight squeaky O-rings.

The fix; don't wind it slow. You're welcome.

[easterbunny]

You are all the best. To answer some questions, the watch did come from an AD and is indeed genuine and yes a new language might be necessary as I didn’t know how to best describe it. Haha.

I will report back when it’s fully powered down and rewound. I do hope it’s just that it’s fully wound or that it goes away but yes I can wear the gmt if it does need to get some love from the RSC. Would you all take it to your AD or just contact the RSC and send it in directly?

To answer that piggy back question: I have had the same issue on a lot of watches. Example, my OP 114300 sometimes doesn’t want to budge and the crown won’t pull out. I never force it and just wait for another minute before I retry. On my ETA watch, sometimes the crow doesn’t back the seconds!

[Bigblu10]

Originally Posted by easterbunny

You are all the best. To answer some questions, the watch did come from an AD and is indeed genuine and yes a new language might be necessary as I didn’t know how to best describe it. Haha.

I will report back when it’s fully powered down and rewound. I do hope it’s just that it’s fully wound or that it goes away but yes I can wear the gmt if it does need to get some love from the RSC. Would you all take it to your AD or just contact the RSC and send it in directly?

To answer that piggy back question: I have had the same issue on a lot of watches. Example, my OP 114300 sometimes doesn’t want to budge and the crown won’t pull out. I never force it and just wait for another minute before I retry. On my ETA watch, sometimes the crow doesn’t back the seconds!

With a new watch, the crown winding, hacking and time setting can be a little finnicky as the tolerances are tight with all the parts. Some assume there is an issue when really it is just paranoia and the more the crown is used the easier it will operate and you will discover all the little "quirks" there is with a mechanical movement.

[easterbunny]

Originally Posted by Bigblu10

With a new watch, the crown winding, hacking and time setting can be a little finnicky as the tolerances are tight with all the parts. Some assume there is an issue when really it is just paranoia and the more the crown is used the easier it will operate and you will discover all the little "quirks" there is with a mechanical movement.

makes sense. although, I am comparing to other Rolex watches which all are butter smooth. this sub, which happens to be my sentimental favorite, is the only gritty member of my family.

[Psijason]

Originally Posted by easterbunny

makes sense. although, I am comparing to other Rolex watches which all are butter smooth. this sub, which happens to be my sentimental favorite, is the only gritty member of my family.

I just got a new Sub Date last week and it's smooth as butter. You'll know more after it's wound all the way down.

[easterbunny]

Just wanted to update you all:

After winding down twice it still felt the same.

Took to my AD today, who I really trust and genuinely enjoy hanging out with, and he mentioned it was fine and I shouldn't worry about it or send it in to RSC. I also happened to learn a bit of history about some of the other brands on display and had an overall great time chatting about watches with him.

[Sublovin]

Gritty slow wind was an old show on Cinemax, no?

[77T]

Originally Posted by Sublovin

Gritty slow wind was an old show on Cinemax, no?

No...that was Witty Slow Grind.



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[easterbunny]

hahaha. you guys....

[77T]

It was about a wisecracking pole dancer who wore a Rolex that had a noisy rotor and everyone thought it was her hips grinding.


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[Jackumi]

Originally Posted by easterbunny

Just wanted to update you all:

After winding down twice it still felt the same.

Took to my AD today, who I really trust and genuinely enjoy hanging out with, and he mentioned it was fine and I shouldn't worry about it or send it in to RSC. I also happened to learn a bit of history about some of the other brands on display and had an overall great time chatting about watches with him.

Well I had a different experience. I took my 2016 GMT down to my local AD to have it regulated under gaurentee. It was running 3-4sec a day slow since I bought it new while my Sub and DJ are both running under a second a day. The technician picked up the watch unscrewed the crown and proceeded to wind it. He then told me that the winding felt gritty, it should be as smooth as butter! I then also felt it and I admit I did notice it sometimes before but thought it was normal. After 3wks I got my GMT back and sure enough on winding it was buttery smooth like my other two, and later checking it was running under a second a day fast. So I was very pleased that I took it in.

[DonBateman]

Just checked my brand new 114060 and the wind is “gritty”. Weird. When I got the watch last week and wound it from a dead stop it was smooth. I may let it wind down and see if that helps. It is an uneasy feeling. Please share your results whenever you get an update. Thank you.

[Brian Page]

Originally Posted by easterbunny

makes sense, ant. lol. i swear I am not! =)

you are right that I need to verify when wound down but for some reason I remember noticing it the second I first wound it back into rotation a week or so ago. i've been winding watches for so long, the second i feel that subtle change I can detect it immediately.

IS it keeping proper time?

[easterbunny]

time keeping has been very good. last I checked it was no more than +1 a day.