What is the Clear Coating Over the Pearl Made of?

[tc670207]

Experts chim in PLS!

What is the Clear Coating Over the Pearl Made of? The one Pearl that is on classic Submariner bezel insert.

My Chinese friend told me that clear coating is made of a tiny chunk of sapphire crystal. Some on other forums said it's epoxy. My Swiss friend said it's RC Tritec UV820 - a sort of better form epoxy. Which one is true?

 

[Bonesey]

I believe it should be sapphire crystal, it certainly is on the new ceramic subs.

 

[joegrimm]

I believe it should be sapphire crystal, it certainly is on the new ceramic subs.

yup, tiny piece of domed sapphire crystal. You can see this is evedent especially in older tritium pearls where the tritium has cracked but the cover is still intact. If it was any sort of epoxy or other binder then the whole thing would crack not just the lume inside.

 

[stl026]

Definitely sapphire. In some of the official documentation you can see the full blueprint for how it's constructed. It appears, via Rolex, that the only difference between the ceramic and regular pearl is the extra metal holder on the ceramic models.

 

[Rick914]

Some of the very early subs 5513/1680 had a hard acrylic though....correct me if im wrong here. This is based soley on some old stock rolex parts ive seen for sale.

 

[tc670207]

C'mon guys are you 100% sure of it?

I got an answer from a crystal factory last night they say the kind of sapphire crystal would be very very hard and expansive to make.

I mean, c'mon do the math, a replacement insert from RSC is only $35 to $50 depends on which one you go. That kind of sapphire dome would set you back for over $70 it doesn't even add up.

My Swiss friend says it's for sure UV820 or she'll let me do whatever I want with her.

Man, chim in here! This is the last mile for me on this insert mini project.

Thx!

Definitely sapphire. In some of the official documentation you can see the full blueprint for how it's constructed. It appears, via Rolex, that the only difference between the ceramic and regular pearl is the extra metal holder on the ceramic models.

Care to share a link?

Thx!

 

[andries]

Not big expert here, but technically it will be very hard (and therefore expensive) to produce such a small sapphire crystal with such a large curvature. I would say it is epoxy or acrylic, but that's just my logical statement and not the actual knowledge.

 

[tc670207]

Not big expert here, but technically it will be very hard (and therefore expensive) to produce such a small sapphire crystal with such a large curvature. I would say it is epoxy or acrylic, but that's just my logical statement and not the actual knowledge.

That's my point!

Well, according to my friend, basically their marketing department put a retail price 10 times the exact manufacturing cost is. So, let's say if a insert is $50 at RSC, the manufacturing cost is around at $5 each and Rolex makes 80 thousands of them a month. Which sound quite right to me from what I hear from my Chinese friend.

I sort of can prove this formula as a replacement Sub dial at RSC is $410, that puts the manufacturing cost of the dial alone to be $41, which makes perfect sense to me. I'll explain it later in my "Tour to the dial & hands factory".

So my point is, how could it be sapphire dome if the true manufacturing cost is only $5 a piece?

 

[rsh]

TC
the watchmaterial pearl has a sapphire cover and they sell for $10 a piece so they must not be that bad to manufacture in mass

 

[waterluver]

https://www.watchmaterial.com/listCategoriesAndProducts.asp?idCategory=362 see if this helps

 

[correctime]

I'm not expert and I don't know the in's and out's of the rep (or gen) Factories but the pearl covering on a gen insert is a little sapphire dome. My source of that info has whatever it takes to test and confirm that. According to him, he has, And it's sapphire.
Rep inserts...I have no idea but whatever guys like rsh do to them they can make them look pretty darn convincing

 

[tc670207]

Ok, guys. If it is sapphire on gen pearl, how does it attached to the SS ring?

 

[rsh]

I know on the rep wm pearl, it is a compression fitting and quite tight at that. Not a bad idea to have them rep this but with a nice metal surround that looks like stainless steel instead of pot metal

http://www.watchmaterial.com/viewitem.asp?idProduct=1800

 

[tc670207]

Thanks RSH! That's exactly why I have doubt gen is sapphire. On a gen pearl you can tell and even feel with your fingers the dome covers over the SS ring.

 

[Wiz]

I just looked at a gen pearl under strong magnification and if I had to guess I'd say it's glued. UV glue would be perferct for the job, it's clear, strong, and compatible with lume.

 

[tc670207]

Wiz, you the man! You got my puzzle solved! Thanks!

TC

 

[ajs914]

Does anyone know the quality of the wholesaleoutlet990 insert? They advertise it as having a sapphire pearl ($12/each):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-BEZEL-INS...780?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item483f9c1c4c

 

[rsh]

Does anyone know the quality of the wholesaleoutlet990 insert? They advertise it as having a sapphire pearl ($12/each):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-BEZEL-INSERT-FOR-ROLEX-WATCH-SUBMARINER-BLACK-16610-/310304840780?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item483f9c1c4c

it does not mention a sapphire pearl, does it ? they mention sapphire crystal referring to subs with sapphire crystal (later models) versus earlier with plastic or whatever crystal

"is made for Rolex Submariner with sapphire crystal for 16800"

 

[ajs914]

They sort of say it's made like a gen. Honestly, I'm not sure if they are saying that their insert is made from "higher quality plastic" or their competitor's products are made from that.

"These inserts are made like the original and are better quality compared to other sellers' on eBay made with higher quality plastic (acrylic) pearl."

 

[sanankid]

the pearl mod on my rsh has a clear coating. it is nice.