# sapphire-coated crystal



## fermopagus (Jan 18, 2009)

is sapphire-coated crystal the same as sapphire crystal when its comes to watches??? case in point:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Automatic-BigDa...hash=item250381123255&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

are we talking sapphire crystal in this example, or some imitation thing?
thanks a bunch!


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## GuySie (Jan 14, 2008)

fermopagus said:


> are we talking sapphire crystal in this example, or some imitation thing?


I've read recently that sapphire coating for the crystals does actually exist, but that sapphire crystals are so cheap that it's almost not worth using the coating technique on mineral glass to decrease costs.


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## Pawl_Buster (Mar 12, 2007)

fermopagus said:


> is sapphire-coated crystal the same as sapphire crystal when its comes to watches??? case in point:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The crystal material is synthetic sapphire. Some come with an anti-glare coating on the inside and some come with coatings inside and out; they are there simply to cut down reflections.

This anti glare coating makes no difference to the scratch resistance of the sapphire but ones that have coating on the outside are prone to having the coating scratched up.


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## Pawl_Buster (Mar 12, 2007)

GuySie said:


> I've read recently that sapphire coating for the crystals does actually exist, but that sapphire crystals are so cheap that it's almost not worth using the coating technique on mineral glass to decrease costs.


Seiko makes/made a sapphire coated mineral crystal. Seiko called it Sapphlex.

It is probably pointless to produce it now; as you pointed out, full sapphire crystals are inexpensive enough that there is no advantage.


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## dualtime (Apr 29, 2008)

Sapphire coating may be put on mineral crystals because sapphire crystals are prone to shattering and mineral crystals aren't .


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## Pawl_Buster (Mar 12, 2007)

dualtime said:


> Sapphire coating may be put on mineral crystals because sapphire crystals are prone to shattering and mineral crystals aren't .


That was one of the reasons Seiko made the Sapphlex crystals. They others were for scratch resistance and cost of manufacture :-!


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## watchsavant (Mar 23, 2009)

This seller is providing a real sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on the dial-side, I own the watch. You won't find another asian mechanical watch like this one at the price point, the watch and seller competes at near-swiss level and for what they sell and the warranty, in my opinion, there is no competition. The dial is engine turned (with a few tricks) and is simply amazing. This forum has yet to fully discover this seller but it should. See my other post on his chronograph.


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