Apple Watch 2 stuck on water lock mode and "turn Digital Crown to unlock and eject water"

I had the same problem on my Apple Watch 3: rotating the Digital Crown never fully filled the circle. The solution turned out to be not to rotate/turn the DC but to spin it. I pressed my thumb against the knurled edge of the DC, moved my thumb quickly forward and voilà! My watch unlocked and began to vibrate internally.

Rotate the digital crown real fast. That work for me.

Hi

Keep rotating the Digital Crown (the round button), causing the coloured circle to grow larger, until your Apple Watch unlocks.

If the Digital Crown does not work as expected, it may help to clean it by following the instructions here:

Use the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

If the issue persists, then I suggest that you contact Apple Support (mail-in service may be available, if required), make a Genius Bar reservation or visit an Apple Authorised Service Provider for assistance:

• US: Apple Watch Service Answer Center - Apple Support
• Elsewhere: Apple - Support

Thanks! This suggestion worked for me!

Hello - I had to take my bumper/snap cover (scratch guard) off, then it worked just fine. Otherwise, turning the crown did not work. Not sure why it was hindering the crown turning, but only a few turns of crown with the guard off worked as expected. Hope this helps.

My watch is stuck in a water mode using the digital crone is not helping

This is still not working for me and it will not allow me to turn off my watch either when I press and hold the button on the side. Please advise.

Moti Minsof wrote:

My watch is stuck in a water mode using the digital crone is not helping

Follow the same instructions in my previous reply.

I have tried everything - cleaning (as you suggest), soft reset, hard reset - nothing seems to work. Is my watch permanently broken?

I tried everything else before reading this and rotating the crown real fast. And rotating the crown worked YAY

This worked - but found had to rotate counter clockwise <---- for it to clear the water lock.