Jump to content

Budget models with sapphire crystal glass?

MasterG
 Share

Recommended Posts

MasterG New Member

MasterG

Posted
Posted

Hola!

I've yet to own a watch with sapphire crystal glass. Most of my watches to date have been mineral at best (or Corning Gorilla with Samsung Galaxy smartwatch) but I'm willing to get my first sapphire watch. Is the difference really so big in terms of endurance? I've stumble across this list: https://timepieceking.info/best-sapphire-crystal-watches-under-300/ and I'm surprised well-known brand such as Seiko offers sapphire so cheap. Is that the norm?

I won't lie, I've damaged some amount of watches in my life and probably should have got a watch with a more durable glass years ago.

Any feedback is highly appreciated and I'd like you to suggest some other brands too.

spectre6000 Distinguished Member

spectre6000

Posted
Posted (edited)

Plastic obviously scratches very very easily, and is meant to be replaced regularly. I don't think it's worth going into much more depth than this on the subject.

Mineral glass and treated variants is slightly better, but you can definitely still scratch the crap out of them. I wore a Seiko 5 for years, and put it through some serious paces. I am quite the automotive enthusiast, and I that watch spent many hours in many engine bays, behind grinders and welders, on the soft end of body hammers, you name it. By the time I got around to replacing it, the crystal was scratched all to hell, pocked from welding slag, and just not something for polite company. It took some effort to get it to show its wear, but it definitely showed it. You'd probably keep a watch looking fairly sharp if you replaced the crystal with each service, maybe every other if you're kind to it.

Sapphire crystals are a different animal. If your high school science cirriculum had any element of geology to it, you learned about relative hardness. A softer material always yields to a harder one, not the other way around. Sapphire is [i]almost[/i] as hard as it gets. Unless you work at an industrial site with lots of diamond tooling, you'll have a hard time finding anything that'll make a dent. Coatings are a different story; if you have an anti-reflective coating on the outside of the crystal, it will absolutely show wear pretty quickly. 

The watch I'm wearing as I type this has a sapphire crystal, and while it certainly doesn't see the sort of abuse the hardlex did on that Seiko, it's been bashed into the sharp corner of a particular granite countertop more than I care to admit. I took a small chip off said corner, and I scratched the hell out of the stainless bezel once, but the crystal still looks brand new. With hardness comes brittleness, and sapphire crystals can break, but I have not personally seen it happen.

If you look on Ali-X, you can find literally thousands of watches under $100 with sapphire crystals (at least that's what they claim). Some even have reputable Seiko and Miyota movements. You can even go a bit wild in the $130 range (if my memory is correct) and get a dive watch with a ceramic bezel to really test the utility of hardness in watch case materials. If you want to give it a shot without breaking the bank, that's a pretty inexpensive experiment for the genre.

Edited by spectre6000
jdm Distinguished Member

jdm

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, MasterG said:

 Is the difference really so big in terms of endurance? 

Yes it is. A generic flat sapphire cristal can cost just €10 retail, you can have one fit to pretty much any watch. 

  • 6 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • JohnR725
      Parts sourcing for FHF 180 movement

      By JohnR725 · Posted

      I am puzzled by something a snipped out something from your image and what exactly disassemble tell us? my confusion is the symbol for FHF looks like image I have below year symbol as a star and righted this instant are not finding what that means? I suppose we could use the fingerprint system to verify it really is what it claimed to be. Size itself is really interesting there's almost no watches in that particular size. Then were missing details in the photograph above like diameter of movements to verify it really is the size and are missing the setting components.   went to the bestfit book looking at the symbols didn't see it. Look at the link below I did find it back to the bestfit book and yes it really is there https://reference.grail-watch.com/documents/history-of-ebauches-sa/ then bestfit book says lists the size as 10 1/2. one of the problems with vintage watches is finding parts yes a donor watch would be good.
    • Simeon
      Oiling Dubois Depraz chrono module pivots (Omega Speedmaster Reduced)

      By Simeon · Posted

      Actually, this could be the issue. Drag from the module could be overcoming the cannon pinion. It was definitely not at the point that the driving wheel was loose on the cannon pinion, it took a little bit of effort to rotate it when applying the grease. Maybe I need to look again at applying oil to the pivots.    Yeah, it's very annoying. I don't want to give up on it, so back on with it over again until I catch a break. 
    • caseback
      Chinese tools debate

      By caseback · Posted

      The sping is not pushing directly on the cap, but is pushing against the spindle. So, even if the usual black cap is replaced with the micrometer cap, the spindle is still pushed up.
    • Malocchio
      Chinese tools debate

      By Malocchio · Posted

      But he tells that the micrometer cap doesn't screw into the spindle. How can the spring push the spindle up if there's nothing to grip? There is a screw visible on top of the micrometer cap so should it be able to screw into the spindle? I'm feeling really dumb now. Does anyone manufacture that cap as an aftermarket item? Might be worth investing. Ok so the spindle is different, now I get it.
    • JohnR725
      Oiling Dubois Depraz chrono module pivots (Omega Speedmaster Reduced)

      By JohnR725 · Posted

      I suppose? If it worked before and it doesn't work now I guess the question would be why does it not work now? That would come back to if you did not have the chronograph module on will it work or is the chronograph module sucking too much power out of the watch basically 99 usually when they go bad you can hold on the tube part and usually just spin the wheel because it has zero holding at all so usually when they go bad they go bad very bad. You should build hotel when you set the watch as to whether it seems to have any friction or not. I'm just wondering if the chronograph module is the problem.
×
×
  • Create New...