Systems, methods, and apparatuses for detecting a direction of rotation of a rotatable object are disclosed herein. An apparatus includes a sensor having a sensing field and being disposed so that the object is within the sensing field, the sensor being configured to detect variations in measured characteristics of the object as the object rotates, and generate a signal based on the detected variations in measured characteristics. The apparatus also includes a computing system configured to receive the signal from the sensor and to determine a direction of rotation of the object about the axis based on the signal.