Originally Posted by monopas

I think Cari might be right. That's what I thought when I read the first post. On mine when I finish I rotate the handwheel towards me until the needle and thread arm are all the way up, and it makes a very subtle click. That's when I know that the stitch is done and the threads will pull smoothly out. Or I take up the foot and then rotate the wheel until the needle is out and the thread frees up. Same with all of the vertical bobbin machines I have, but I didn't know it was a thing before I started on vintage machines and I'd never seen it mentioned explicitly in the manuals.

The semi-vintage electronic Pfaff I use has a feature that does it automatically when you flip the foot lever up. It was creepy the first time I did it accidentally.