Highend expensive watches usually have sapphire crystals and for a good reason. However, the term sapphire encompasses all other gem varieties and colors of corundum as. Sapphire crystal vs mineral crystal watch discussion. In the gem trade, sapphire without any color prefix refers to the blue variety of the mineral corundum. Comparing the 3 common types of watch crystals with regards to scratch resistance, toughness, transparency, etc. When a watch enthusiast is developing their criteria of value, some of the first considerations are movement, the precious metal, however, one of the top levels of criteria on the list is. The k1 falls right between the hardness and scratch resistance of sapphire and the shatter resistance of mineral. Watch glass is the transparent covering on the face of the watch. Many people who own fine watches, or aspire to own them, have wondered about the difference between mineral crystal dials and sapphire dials. Both can be superior watch dials in appearance and in performance.
If water gets on a sapphire crystal, it will come together forming a bead. Various internet experts offer a variety of crystal tests from tapping, heating, touching even licking yuck. It has a mineral crystal on the front, so it isnt the same as ionx or gorilla glass, but it is a fairly sturdy material. I dont have any scratch on any mineral crystal but i tend to be careful with watches. But it is still mineral based glass, and it has the same properties as mineral crystal glass used in other watches. The second watch is one that i hesitated to post, but i figured id post it anyways since it shows how a normal watch would stand up to what ive done to my sapphire watch crystal. Mineral glass versus sapphire what you need to know s.
Hardened mineral crystals are used in most diver watches since the sapphire type is more prone to shatter into pieces under heavy underwater pressure. That was my 1st realisation just how resistant mineral glass can be. Sapphire is the most precious and valuable blue gemstone. In comparison to sapphire crystal, mineral crystal is less durable, because under certain circumstances, this glass coating can scratch or shutter. Mineral glass is more pure, structurally harder and more difficult to scratch than acrylic. It is named after the german geologist and mineralogist friedrich mohs 17731839. Sapphire crystal is more reflective than mineral crystal due to its higher index of refraction. Sapphire crystal is cold or icy to the touch where the mineral crystal is not. These crystals are sometimes preferred in the field because of their shatterresistant qualities. Contrary you ought to be more concerned that the watch may scratch another surface.
Watch glass guide sapphire crystal vs acrylic vs mineral pros. Mineral crystal is a glass crystal that has been treated both with heat and with chemicals in order to become scratchproof. Up until the late 20th century, most watch crystals were in fact acrylic with the exceptions being mineral glass or expensive sapphire only seen on higher end watches. Very often, lines and marks on the top surface of a sapphire crystal are mistaken for scratches but are actually the. Sapphire and mineral glass are both tested by dropping a 2. Mineral crystal glass cons can still be scratched harder to buff out. They are a little more expensive than plastic or acrylic crystals but are significantly more scratch resistant. The reflection given out by the sapphire glass can be diminished by adding the smallest antireflection coating. If you want to never have to worry about your watch getting scratched it is better to make the investment on the purchase and get a watch with a sapphire crystal. Seiko hardlex vs citizen crystal many cheaper seiko 5s use a mineral crystal.
Mineral glass versus sapphire what you need to know. Sapphire glass sapphire crystals the most expensive of the watch crystals, sapphire has gained popularity in recent years, and its use within the industry has exploded. Aside from not keeping proper time there is nothing more annoying than a dinged up watch surface. The sapphire glass has an extreme scratch resistance rating as well as a harder glass and usually will last unscathed for the life of your watch. We carry different crystals in different heights and colors.
Watch crystal types angry sheep blog rejzors flock of sheep. Hardlex glass is now standard in most seiko, pulsar and lorus models. It can be very hard to tell the difference between mineral glass and sapphire. There are several grades with varying properties but in general it is somewhat softer but much more flexible than a pure synthetic sapphire. Sapphire crystals vs other types everything you need to know. When people start shopping for watches, the type of watch glass can cause a lot of. Sapphire vs mineral glass watches youngblood worldwide. With mineral and sapphire glass they are hard to tell apart and a scratch test is the only way to tell which is impractical in most cases. Of all of the glass, sapphire crystal is the least prone to shatter or be scratched. We are often asked how one can tell the difference between sapphire crystal and mineral glass. Question how much difference is there between mineral crystal dial windows, and sapphire crystal dial windows.
In other words,there are less things that can scratch sapphire than mineral. There is an optional upgrade to a sapphire crystal. It is commonly used in many seiko models as it provides a good balance between cost and quality. This is the top of the scale when it comes to watch glass, if you are looking at a watch and it has sapphire crystal glass then you have the highest quality glass that you can get right now. Hardlex is seikos nomenclature or trademark for its mineral based clear glass.
Watch crystals for wristwatches and watches are available in acrylic, mineral, glass, and sapphire options. Generally, there are three types of crystals used in watchmaking. The glass offers a particularly high scratch resistance and is considered more resistant than. Generally a mineral crystal is an ordinary glass crystal that has been heat treated or chemically treated to withstand scratches. Sapphire crystal is cold or icy to the touch where the. Hardlex is a trademark name for a synthetic mineral composite material produced by seiko. An example of a protogenetic inclusion is rutile needles in quartz crystals. The quartz crystals formed around the already existing rutile needles. Plexiglas often called plastic or hesalite acrylic crystals. Hardlex crystal vs sapphire crystal watch discussion. So whats better, acrylic or sapphire rolex crystals. Sapphire crystal glass vs mineral glass the crystal of a watch the clear cover that goes over the dial and protects it can be made of a variety of materials. Thats why sapphire glass from gt advanced technologies is generating a lot of interest. It is a very desirable gemstone due to its excellent color, hardness, durability, and luster.
Unlike its natural counterpart, this type of sapphire. Hardlex glass this is a toughened mineral crystal glass developed by the seiko watch corporation, which is highly resistant to knocks and scratching. These inclusions were formed at the same time as the host mineral. Mineral glass is a common glass and used in the manufacturing of windows and watch faces.
Mineral crystal mineral glass is ordinary tempered glass made from silica. Mineral vs saphire glass i cant quote figures for the mineral or saphire lenses, but i did do some measurments on the maglight oem lenses and some ucl lenses. For decades the watch industry wrestled with these constraints. For many years there were two basic varieties of crystals used in the watch industry. As a point of interest should you be offered a box of crystals as spares a pocket knife of screwdriver will generally mark a mineral crystal where it wont mark a sapphire crystal. There is usually another crystal in the caseback if you have a mechanical automatic movement in your watch. While it is not as scratchresistant as sapphire, it is more scratchresistant than plastic. Each material has its own pros and cons, so choose. I hated looking at my iphone and discovering i had a scratch either on the case or on the screen. Most seiko divers use their hardlex crystal which is supposed to be more scratch resistant than a mineral crystal but not as good as a sapphire crystal.
Watch glass guide sapphire crystal vs acrylic vs mineral. We have focused on the chosen sapphire crystals details. It is a crystal composition that offers the best of both worlds in dial and movement protection. The best way to tell mineral and sapphire glass apart is to try and scratch it, a stainlesssteel knife or screwdriver will scratch mineral glass but not sapphire crystal. Of course, the hardlex crystals on my other watches havent scratched very often either. What is the difference between mineral crystal and. Authored by isthmus i posted the following as a reply to someone who asked for information on crystals a few posts down, and then figured why not post this by itself and expand on it so we can save it as a resource the next time the what crystal is best question pops up and you know it will. Sapphire glass is not actually glass but synthetically produced sapphire.
If water gets on a mineral crystal, the water will separate in different directions. Just like the name suggests it is made from sapphire however it is more commonly made from synthetic sapphire not genuine sapphire. Blue sapphire crystals and blue sapphire mineral specimens at. I have had 56 watches with sapphlex never yet had a scratch. Applying one or more layers of ar antireflective coating will limit this reflection to a very low level. You cannot tell the difference between regular mineral crystal and sapphire crystal, except when you attempt a scratch test. As discussed in this watch glass guide, there are three different types of watch glass sapphire crystal, acrylic, and mineral crystal. With a 5 in the mohs hardness scale mineral glass is located between acrylic glass and sapphire crystal. As the window to your timepiece, the watch crystal or glass takes some of the hardest hits and is the brunt of everyday wear and tear. K1 mineral and sapphire crystal scratch test nite watches. According to seiko, it is more scratch resistant than ordinary mineral glass, but still not as durable as sapphire, which is 3 times as hard as hardlex. The socalled mohs scale assigns the numbers from 1 to 10 to the material hardness.
It ranks 5 out of 10 on the official mohs scale of hardness. Some crystals come with tension rings and magnifiers. Mineral crystal is break resistant but scratches relatively easily. Whether it is a jagged scratch, a fresh divot distorting the date or even stubborn. The complete guide to watch glass first class watches blog.
Mineral glass is used in place of sapphire in watchmaking because it is more affordable. A sapphire crystal can appear as a slightly tinted pink or milk white color, while mineral is often blue. In addition to being scratch resistant, a sapphire crystal has more ability to withstand cracks and breakage than glass or plastic. Depending on the watch model, some hardlex crystals are manufactured w. Sapphire ranking 9 out of 10 on the same mohs scale of hardness sapphire watch crystals are as close to indestructible as you can find. What is the difference between mineral glass, k1 glass and. Hardlex also known as mineral a in some markets is seikos proprietary glass produced from a mixture of barium and silicon. Its a special hardened glass that is much more scratch resistant than mineral glass and a lot more shatter resistant than sapphire crystal. The rohje sapphire crystal is 89 on the mohs scale, being nearly unscratchable. Question how much difference is there between mineral. However, there are a few slight differences between the two that you may want to take into account before you p. Sapphire coating on mineral crystals is the best compromise between scratchshatter resistance.
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