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Johnny P Advisor 
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What are Sapphire Crystals? Strictly speaking Sapphire crystals aren’t really Sapphire. The correct name for the material is corundum. Sapphire is used to describe the blue variety corundum, while ruby is used for the red variety.) A Sapphire crystal is a lab grown crystal that has the same properties as a Sapphire; which rate a 9 on the Mohs scale of hardness. Diamonds which are the hardest substance on earth rate a 10. This crystal is then cut and polished and placed as the lens of the watch to protect the hands and dial. Sapphire crystals, which are often coated with an anti-reflective substance, are the hardest lens used on watches and are very difficult to scratch. The time consuming and labor intensive process used to create and finish these crystals to exact standards add to the rarity and value of a watch with a sapphire crystal. In 1812 the Mohs scale of mineral hardness was devised by the German mineralogist Frederich Mohs (1773-1839), who selected the ten minerals because they were common or readily available. The scale is not a linear scale, but somewhat arbitrary.  source: http://www.amfed.org/t_mohs.htm :) |
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jk103 3T WIS
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Thats interesting. The last sentence would make you think they are expensive to buy for replacement. I wouldn't know first hand but I've read it's fairly inexpensive to replace one. |
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oagaspar Site Founder 
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jk103 wrote: depending on the watch can make the sapphire more or less expensive...if it's a commonly used case and crystal less $ as the crystal is readily available....a custom or very large crystal and not readily available....$$$$$ I hear there are different grades of sapphire crystals as well?coyote2.gif TY for the info Gumba Johnnyhand6.gif Thats interesting. The last sentence would make you think they are expensive to buy for replacement. I wouldn't know first hand but I've read it's fairly inexpensive to replace one. |
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Matt V 3T WIS
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jk103 wrote: Thats interesting. The last sentence would make you think they are expensive to buy for replacement. I wouldn't know first hand but I've read it's fairly inexpensive to replace one. Around $100 for most watches; Kobold wanted $350 for a replacement crystal for the SEAL... :X Cheers Matt |
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oagaspar Site Founder
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decided to bring up some of 3T adviser posts that are very educational for all WIShand6.gif |
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RChobby 3T WIS
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Interesting factoid: Many scanners at retail checkout lines use sapphire windows to keep scratching down. Last edited on Sun Dec 28th, 2008 03:56 pm by RChobby |
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KenC Admin 
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Reference list above...#7, Quartz: Al watch movement with no soul! :D |
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cajunjbh 3T WIS 
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good stuff |
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handie 3T WIS
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is there actually any watch that uses diamond as their cristal? must be a high end if there is any.. |
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Skipdawg 3T WIS 
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handie wrote: is there actually any watch that uses diamond as their cristal? Yea that would be rather high end. Even one of the man made diamonds would be rather pricey to make a watch crystal with but it could be done. |
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oagaspar Site Founder
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1st off it would be a waste of a diamond imo and 2nd why?...it wouldn't be very cost effective and I don't think any watch company at any end uses a real diamond for a watch crystal....Rado has a patented crystal that is polycrystalline diamond.... I believe this is a film/process they put on the surface and is totally scratchproof and transparent hand6.gif |
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oagaspar Site Founder
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here is a good article on watch crystals in Europastar...just click on the links hand6.gif WATCH CRYSTALS Clear up your questions about crystals with this brief primer.  What is a watch crystal? What are watch crystals made of? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each material? What exactly is synthetic sapphire? Can you tell if a crystal is made of sapphire by looking at it? Are scratch-resistant crystals new? Are all scratch-resistant crystals made of synthetic sapphire? The terms "lunette," "bombé", "chevé" and "boule" are sometimes used to describe watch crystals. What do they mean? What are "anti-reflective" or "glare-resistant" crystals? How much do watch crystals cost to replace? |
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joecb 3T WIS 
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Very interesting ... If they make synthetic diamonds, like zirconium, and it is supposed to have the same hardness properties as natural diamond, I wonder why they haven't tried making watch crystals out of them or am I way off on this |
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handie 3T WIS
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joecb wrote: Very interesting ... If they make synthetic diamonds, like zirconium, and it is supposed to have the same hardness properties as natural diamond, I wonder why they haven't tried making watch crystals out of them probably zirconium just resemblance diamond in their appearance, but not in strength...just probably :) |
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stormin13 3T WIS 
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Thankls for the terrific information, cheers.  |
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