A rotary machine for the treatment of containers is described. This rotary machine comprises a stationary underframe, a rotatable container table for receiving the containers, a motor designed as an internal rotor for direct drive of the container table, a bearing for supporting the container table and/or a non-rotatably connected supporting structure on the underframe radially outside the motor, and a rotary encoder for determining the rotational position of the container table. By positioning the rotary encoder radially outside the motor, the accuracy of the rotary position determination can be improved, especially for rotary machines with comparatively large pitch diameters and the accessibility of the rotary encoder for maintenance measures.