Domed Crystals

I think the look of a watch is often enhanced by utilizing a domed crystal. I believe, in most cases, a domed crystal's aesthetics outweigh its lack of visibility, clarity and practicality. 

I both respect, and am offended by this response lol - totally get where you're coming from, I suppose I find it especially ironic when it's used on watches like the EZM1, which is was built for a highly specific use case with legibility being a prime need. 

But often, like car design, we like those garish fenders and mud flaps that fly in the face of proper design/implementation. The fickleness of it all🤓

Funny how, in contrast, domed crystals are fetishized on some other watches.  I’m thinking back on all the complaints I’ve seen that the Sapphire Sandwich Speedy is “too boxy and not domed enough.” 

Don’t think I’ve ever seen any legibility complaints about the Speedmasters but rather all the Hesalite purists wax poetic about the ”all that lovely distortion”. 😉

I LOVE domed crystals.  Why?  PRECISELY because it ruins the legibility on my watches.  Sounds insane, right?  But, hear me out:

• I don't buy watches to know the time - at any given moment, I have something like 18 different digital displays screaming in my face to let me know precisely what time it is
• I buy a watch so that I have something interesting to look at when I look down at my wrist
• I got this watch, and when I'm driving, I cannot for the life of me make out the time, because the domed crystal refracts the light in such a way that the entire thing looks like a shining, silver half dome - which is precisely why it is my favorite watch to wear while driving.  If I want to know what time it is, I can look at the dashboard clock

Same. I love my Oris Big Crown Pointer Date because of the domed sapphire. The watch would look and feel completely different without it.

You're a madman, and you must be stopped. 

On a serious note, does this thought process apply to any practical features of a watch, such as its accuracy? Or does it all boil down to aesthetics? 

I should clarify, the particular dome of the EZM1 isn't like a top hat, or box, it literally domes with a peak in the middle, and it makes seeing into the dial a nightmare. Distortion around the edge of a crystal doesn't bug me as much, such as seen on the Speedmaster and even the BBPro on my wrist at the moment. 

On a tool watch I want a flat sapphire crystal, on a dressy watch I'm not picky. I actually use my watch to tell the time, and want it to be as easy to read as practical, which is what draws me to tool watches. 

there is single domed and double domed. Domed gives you magnification with the tradeoff being that specular highlight. Double domed is more about distortion like what omeganut said. I think sapphire presents more of a reflectivity issue - goes completely white if its flat and uncoated. When its rounded it has to be very thick because of how brittle such that it goes milky at transitions. 

As you intimated, aesthetics can trump the intended purposeful  design of a machine. Both a Delorean and a Mitsubishi Mirage can maintain an exact speed of 88 MPH, but like Doc Brown said -- his [domed crystal] is doing it 'in style'.

I am nothing if not unrelentingly, dogmatically, invariably consistent, which is why my wife insists that I always keep my mouth shut in front of friends and neighbors - most effective way to ensure that I don't alienate everyone.

So, yes, this applies to EVERYTHING to do with a watch.

• I couldn't care less about a watch's movement and accuracy.  +/- 1 second per day is the same to me as +/- 180 seconds per day
• I am obsessed with spring drive, but only because of the aesthetics of the smooth sweep of the seconds hand.  If, tomorrow, you told me of a watch that has the same smooth sweep, but they're able to achieve it with a 50 cent quartz movement, and this watch company polishes case, dial, and everything else as beautifully as GS, that's my new watch
• Water resistance?  Only enough to survive washing my dogs in the tub.  Heritage?  Gimme a break!  That watch?  That one that company X produces?  Is that the watch that President Lincoln wore the night he rode a tyrannosaurus into the south and single-handedly captured General Robert E. Lee, thereby ending the Civil War?  No?  Oh...  it's a replica of the watch he wore, yeah?  Well, okay, then what do I care about heritage?  It's all just a bunch of replicas, no?

So, hopefully, I've pissed off every watch enthusiast on planet earth with this dogmatic insistence on consistency.  Let me go one step further and provide other examples of logical consistency that seem to somehow always make the other person I'm talking to slink away from me in utter revulsion when I open my mouth...

Seems, every time I open my mouth, I find a way to offend people from both tribes.

Unpopular opinion maybe but flat crystals just straight up look better as well haha

I'd call this a healthy approach to the hobby. If we aren't buying, collecting, wearing these things for our own pleasure, then it presents a sad reality of reacting to cultural and social pressures that we place on ourselves after a heavy scroll sesh on IG. It's easy to get lost in the superficial. 

The practical nature of watches is a big part of the appeal to me, though I'm happy to admit that I also carry a phone and use a computer, which also give me the time (far more accurately). That craftsmen and women have found creative engineering solutions to giving me the time outside of those sources, is something I continuously marvel at, and do my best to take advantage of. The Spring Drive is a perfect example of that, and I love that we both appreciate it for different reasons (I absolutely admit to taking the same pleasure of the aesthetic that you prize). 

If I can't make practical use of a watch, it loses a bit of its appeal to me, which is what irks me to no end about the EZM1, a watch explicitly designed to be usable in extreme situations (which I do my best to keep myself out of). 

I'm on the go a lot, and I prize a practical watch for its ability to free me from my devices. And while there is a lot of space (light years, even) between an elite commando timing a mission element with their watch, and, well, me using it to make sure I'm on time to pick my kid up from school (I don't own a car so I walk everywhere, no clock in front of me) - I really enjoy that the elements which make it great for the former, also make it great for me as I put them to use in my own life. 

Edit: And as far as offending everyone everywhere all once, well, no one has the right to not be offended. I'd go so far as to say that confronting things that make us uncomfortable helps us contextualize our own opinions and beliefs. 

I like my domed crystal on my Oris BCPD. In practical terms, I live in the blazing sun-glare swamp that is Florida, and I’ve never once looked down at my wrist and not been able to tell what time it is at a glance.

To me, there’s a difference between human legibility and how easy it is to take a good photo type of legibility, but the latter doesn’t really affect me.

Good clarification as that's what the Oris BCPD has, more of a mini dome with most of the distortive effect towards the edge, ironically, making the pointer date feature a bit harder to read.

Domed crystal? All I see is a three thirty date window that I can't look past 😕

This is the comment I was waiting for! 🍻

WIth this clarification, I'm on your side. I adore boxed dome acrylics and think anything that can spare the height and isn't for rough service should have them.  

But that constant curvature dome is BS that needs to be killed with fire. Who thought that was a good idea? It is a fly in the ointment on my Vaer. I mean it's not as sterile and cheap looking as flat-ass window pane glass, but it's a niggle a majority of the time.

Curves are just better…roads, women, grading scales, watch crystals.

Well I don’t know if this is relevant. k will say I do very much wear a watch to tell the time. I find sometimes it’s easier to just turn my wrist then ho digging in my pocket for a phone. and sometimes watches have other uses, for me timing is entertaining with it. despite being less practical then a phone in that case.

now on to the main point of flecto. I’ve only got one watch with sapphire crystal, it’s flat, and has to be the most reflective crystal I own. so as mentioned above the type of crystal could make a difference. But I couldn’t say for certain. my knowledge is limited. I will say my current 1WC watch is probably my most legible. I don’t know if that is because of the acrylic, or if the type of doming helps. overall though it’s a very easy read in most light. 

I guess someone's gotta be that guy

I didn’t notice it due to the glare on the crystal… feature, perhaps?

Don't mind a bit of domage on a watch, depending on the style of course. On my Seiko Marine Master, I think it looks great and while yes in natural sunlight it can be a son of bitch to read, if it had a flat crystal the look of the watch would be boring to say the least.

As for accuracy Omeganut, 7 seconds a year out, what can I say it's a Seiko.

But if that Omega annoys you enough you can always send it down my way, I work nights so no issues with legibility for me 🤣 

i like domed crystal. but its hard to capture them in photoshot

@buettner — Blake, I completely agree with you.  For a watch where so many deliberate decisions were made to optimize visibility aspects on the EZM 1, the decision to go with a domed instead of flat is a bit of a mystery.  The only thing I can think of is if domed crystal is stronger more chatter resistant, but the EZM 50 and EZM UX seem like examples where the flat crystal was deemed strong enough for this type of watch.