Watches and sand - what could go wrong?
When I was young my Dad drummed into me that cameras and sand do not mix. A watch crystal is sufficiently close to a piece of optical glass that I have the same fear for my watches. It's a bit ironic I should love dive watches so much, yet my collection is 'land locked'.
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Raj Jena
I have a 16.5cm wrist, and according to the Geneva Convention, that is all I need to tell you.
Cambridge
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Last active: 1 month ago
Your dad was right about cameras, sand is brutal on equipment, especially if one is routinely swapping lenses.
For your watch, as long as you are rinsing it when done and giving the bezel a few revolutions around, should be okay. I would also take a soft air blower to the threads on the crown too.
Are camera lenses made of sapphire crystal or mineral? I honestly don’t know. I know some cameras on phones claim to be sapphire but aren’t (or at least not 100% sapphire crystal)
Are camera lenses made of sapphire crystal or mineral? I honestly don’t know. I know some cameras on phones claim to be sapphire but aren’t (or at least not 100% sapphire crystal)
Give that optical lenses need to be ground-down to very specific tolerances, I doubt that they are sapphire. Clarity and precision would be more important than scratch resistance.
I think I’d be more worried about getting sand under the bezel than scratching the crystal. I wore a Tandorio (beater watch) to the beach this year, I accepted that I’d probably scratch it, spent my days digging and building sandcastles with my Grandchildren, and didn’t get a single scratch on the watch at all!!!
I have experience with this.
I once deep-sixed my Jeep in a washed out road. My wife’s camera bag was in the back. Once I got my Jeep out with a winch, I was able to drive home and clean it out, but the very finest sand was in the bottom of the Jeep. When we opened the camera, it had no water damage, but that sand got into all of the connection ports of the lens and camera body. Total loss.
Bottom line is that if your watch is water tight it will not get this fine sand debris inside and you will be good to go!
I don’t have a picture of my mostly submerged Jeep, but here I am high centered on a trail:
I had sand scratch the hell out of a Seiko 5. It was super fine marks all over it. You could hardly see it, only in direct nasty light for the most part, but it bothered me so much I sold it on.