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Let's see your mechanical watches

viclip

Practically Family
Messages
571
Location
Canada
Thanks for the tips!
Now, how do I know if the crystal is acrylic or mineral?
Well, with experience you'll usually be able to tell by tapping the crystal with your finger nail, glass emits a sound or sensation that's more "clangy" or "clinky" (for want of a better description).

If that doesn't work, usually a plastic crystal is well hazed with numerous tiny scratches whereas the glass ones being tougher, tend to show more major scratches. Also, major scratches in plastic tend to have softer edges as compared to sharper edges for scratches in glass.

Note that you can always start polishing any crystal with an acrylic compound. If you see an improvement fairly quickly then the crystal is plastic, otherwise it's glass. The plastic polish won't hurt glass however glass polish will further haze plastic so start with the less aggressive material first.

Incidentally it's possible to hand polish lightly scratched sapphire crystals using diamond dust compound but if you find manual glass polishing to be tedious, then you ain't seen nothin' yet ...
 

Ayeteael

A-List Customer
Messages
333
Location
Atlanta
Seamaster 300 coaxial titanium. It’s got a nice light blue dial. Much lighter than the steel version.
E93BF50C-0325-4FF9-94FE-CE207F934F2F.jpeg
 

Turnip

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,339
Location
Europe
...
Incidentally it's possible to hand polish lightly scratched sapphire crystals using diamond dust compound but if you find manual glass polishing to be tedious, then you ain't seen nothin' yet ...

But you should check first whether the Saphire has got. an anti reflective coating or not, many modern watches feature that. If so you would either screw the whole glass up polishing a hole into the coating or you would end up polishing the whole coating down for a consistent look.
 

viclip

Practically Family
Messages
571
Location
Canada
But you should check first whether the Saphire has got. an anti reflective coating or not, many modern watches feature that. If so you would either screw the whole glass up polishing a hole into the coating or you would end up polishing the whole coating down for a consistent look.
Good point, some brands do coat the outside face of the sapphire crystal with anti-glare.
 

Turnip

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,339
Location
Europe
Yes, some outside, some inside, some both sides, especially on sportive and instrumental watches like divers and pilots...
 

Ayeteael

A-List Customer
Messages
333
Location
Atlanta
Very nice! I've decided to forgo all jacket, boot, and other luxury item purchases for the next year so that I can get one of my grail watches in 2022. Either a no-date sub or polar explorer II. I was going to try and wait for the steel rolex bubble to burst before buying, but who knows when that will be. Seems like when it comes to steel rolexes, the best time to buy is yesterday.
 
Messages
12,928
Location
Germany
My last Zeppelin Hindenburg with Miyota 8215 got acrylic glass, which was mistakenly marked as mineral glass. No problem, you don't see the little scratches, when you look straight on the dial. :)
 

DrVoel

New in Town
Messages
15
I have a small collection of mechanical watches.

An Omega Seamaster, a Steinhart OVM, a Borealis Omega 300 homage, an orient Bambino dress watch, but my favourite by far is the Longines Legend Diver

upload_2021-4-21_18-59-33.jpeg
 
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