Screw down crowns

[DemonSlayer]

On my SMP and Planet ocean with the asian 21J movement, I have found that when I screw them in, I can hear the gears inside the movement turning, pretty much exactly the same sound when you wind any mechanical watch by turning the crown. Am I doing anything wrong here?

I have 3 asian 21J rolex watches, however I have found that when I screw the crown in on these, MOST of the times they do screw in smooth, but occassionaly I have had that same noise of the gears turning. This has led me to believe that I am perhaps using the wrong technique, or the asian 21J Omegas I own are not built very well.

Has this happened to anyone else?

[offshore]

@DS,

I could be wide of the mark here....however.

Correct stem lengths, and consequently, the positioning of the crown on the stem, are critical, to the winding and adjusting phases.

If we accept a lack of QC to be the norm, you may find that an adjustment to the crown seating position may alleviate these problems.

I will be corrected by others more knowleagable, however i do see this problem very regularly on especially "cheaper" quartz watches, and don't believe that more "qualified" personnel assemble and QC mechs.

Talk to a repairer, who works on mechs reasonably regularly, and see if a crown adjust may alter this situation.

Offshore

[DemonSlayer]

Thanks for your input Offshore. One thing I have found, is on my asian Datejust, most of the times the crown screws in smoothly, however a couple of times, it has turned the gears and began to wind the watch as I screwed in the crown (exactly what happens on my Omegas). In that instance I simply stopped, turned the crown towards me (anti-clockwise) about a quarter of a turn and then proceeded to screw down as normal. This usually results in the crown screwing in properly (but only on 2 of my Rolex watches).

The main reason this concerns me is because The Zigmeister, not so long ago, wrote an article on why its bad winding watches using the crown, and how the gears and other parts can get worn out over time. I haven't had any issues with threads stripping, its just this issue with the gears being turned as I screw the crown in.