The perfect Crystal

[Morich]

Hi Folks,

See a lot of discussions goes around the crystal on a watch.

Ones say CF a bad, others say they upgraded others swear to Xtal.

Sorry for the question, my eye is untrained, how do I recognize quality?

By the mirror finish? Shouldn't it be milky?



I scroll through discussions and everything looks the same to me

 

[Feefo]

If you don'T recognize the quality, enjoy what you have and save the money. I hardly recognize the differences, not important to me.

 

[Dave2302]

If you don'T recognize the quality, enjoy what you have and save the money. I hardly recognize the differences, not important to me.

Same here, I love them all for what they are.

I don't buy CF, but I do buy VSF, ZF etc etc, IMHO CF are just overpriced and still have flaws.

 

[Reaps]

As others have said, if you can't notice it, don't worry about it, but I will rehash what I said in this thread here :

What Does "Better Crystal" Actually Mean?

I'm currently debating between Clean and VSF for a Black 41 Submariner With Date Window. I've seen a few people say that the Clean has better aesthetics but the VSF has better movement and "better crystal". Can someone tell me what this actually means in literal, practical terms? I obviously...

forum.replica-watch.info

Basically, crystal quality lies in two aspects :

Crystal anti reflective coating/anti reflectiveness
Crystal "clarity"

Both work together in tandem and can be easily mistaken together, but are independent properties.

Crystal AR prevents reflections - ever take a watch outside and it reflects like a mirror? That's lack of AR, and it impacts the viewing experience.

Crystal "clarity" is how muddy/foggy a crystal is. Ever feel like a crystal is always smudged or you have to wipe it? That's probably crystal clarity

Some combination of both properties impacts the viewing experience and enjoyment of a watch dial.

Really, if you want to experience this, you just need to handle more and more watches. Maybe not even reps, but gens. Like my Hamilton Khaki has horrible crystal, no AR means it reflects like crazy, but the clarity is ok. Handle some crappy cheap Seiko mod crystals and you'll immediately see "foggy" crystals.

This is not a rep but check this one out :

You can see Baltany vs Militado, the Baltany has superior AR AND clarity. The Militado reflects like crazy, and look how the dial looks "gray" when the Baltany looks "black". Both AR and clarity in full swing here side by side.

 

[dewieduck]

The V7F IWC Ingenieur's crystal might be one of the best crystals out of the box, where both AR and clarity are perfect. There are no bad angles to view the dial.