AR Coating a pain
Personally if find AR coating on the outer surface of the crystal a real negative. They constantly looked marked and dirty and are smudge, scratch 🧲 magnets. Why put a softer coating on a scratch resistant hardened sapphire crystal?? I notice manufactures never divulge the specifications of AR coatings? Is there an industry standard? I had an Omega PO once and after only a year the AR coating on the crystal was scratched to hell and looked a real mess.
AR coating on the inside of the crystal only is fine and I applaud Seiko and Rolex for doing this. Interesting to what others think.
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Peter
Been into watches for 25 years. Owned many models, makes over the years. Great hobby to get into.
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Last active: 1 month ago
Doesn’t bother me. I’ve owned an SMP Diver 300 for almost a year with no issues, and it looks great. If it bothers you, you could probably find an easy way to strip off the external coating.
Didn't Rolex only recently start doing this? I thought Rolex didn't use any AR coating until a couple years ago? Am I mistaken on that? I'd rather have AR on both sides than no AR at all.
Yeah, it's annoying as hell. Got a light scratch on one of my Tags and was beating myself up for months thinking, how the hell did I get a diamond near my watch crystal? It wasn't until someone on here pointed out that it was probably the AR not the crystal. So yeah, I'm pretty peed off with external AR coating. 🤬
I agree, and prefer watches with AR coating on the inside only.
Didn't Rolex only recently start doing this? I thought Rolex didn't use any AR coating until a couple years ago? Am I mistaken on that? I'd rather have AR on both sides than no AR at all.
Rolex only do AR on the inside
Rolex only do AR on the inside
I know that. But that’s very recent. Like in the last 2-3 years, max. Buy a 2016 submariner and you get no AR coating at all.
Inside only, here. Had a Sinn U1 and if you let water dry on it (a dive watch) it would leave visible water marks thst were hard/sometimes impossible to buff out. Scratches, too. Ended up selling it and not getting a U50 for this reason.
Its puzzling because I don't really see the point of applying a soft layer that can scratch and abrade over a scratch resistant material. For me it makes no sense because it defeat the purpose of having a sapphire crystal in the first place and an acrylic crystal would be a more logical choice if clarity and lack of reflections are more important.
As someone who scratches the hell out of my watches - I’ve been freaked about brands that do the external AR. At least my untreated sapphire crystals seem to stay pristine.
Decided I’d never go for a Seamaster for that reason. Sorry to hear how it went for you, and thanks for sharing.
As someone who scratches the hell out of my watches - I’ve been freaked about brands that do the external AR. At least my untreated sapphire crystals seem to stay pristine.
Decided I’d never go for a Seamaster for that reason. Sorry to hear how it went for you, and thanks for sharing.
As so many consumers dislike external AR I don’t understand what drives so many Watch brands to impliment AR across their entire ranges???