Here's why I hate mineral crystal.
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It's frustratingly difficult to find nice quartz divers from watch brands at the 50-300$ range. Invicta has a few but they also have mineral crystals.
I think Seiko quartz divers start at around 300$ though also with Hardlex :/
Time for a sapphire crystal upgrade ! Actually not as hard as one might think 👍🏻
Get at it with some polywatch and toothpaste, see if it feels better about itself. Consider getting a screen protector usually designed for smart watches if there’s one that will fit. Oh, and take it off before having Kung Fu fights with sandpaper wielding androids. ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-KRwrU-a2g
Crystal scratch test. Results were pretty much expected, but the "Hardlex" (Seiko) and "Flame Fusion" (Invicta) crystals performed better than plain mineral. As an Invicta fan, that was heartening to see.
But sapphire rules all in this regard. With a hardness of 9, you won't do better. My Tissot looks like it's doesn't even have one, so flat and clear it is.
I use cerium oxide to polish glass. I imagine if you removed that crystal you could polish it out. Well, if you're doing that just replace it. They're cheap.
It's frustratingly difficult to find nice quartz divers from watch brands at the 50-300$ range. Invicta has a few but they also have mineral crystals.
I think Seiko quartz divers start at around 300$ though also with Hardlex :/
If I remember correctly, hardlex is surprisingly durable. I could swear I saw an article saying that if sapphire was a 9/10 on the hardness scale, hardlex was a 7/8. Mineral was something like a 4/5.
The black Tuna MarineMaster 300m is discontinued, but the regular steel is still sold at over 2000$!!! And still with hardlex (I think) 🤯.
I'll upgrade the crystal if I'm keeping the watch...
Scurfa has domed sapphire. A real dive watch from a real diver.
If I remember correctly, hardlex is surprisingly durable. I could swear I saw an article saying that if sapphire was a 9/10 on the hardness scale, hardlex was a 7/8. Mineral was something like a 4/5.
Ben's Watch Club tested mineral and hardlex, there wasn't much difference.
If you search YouTube for it you can watch the video.
Jody (Just one more watch) on YouTube modded his Duro a while back, there is a video on it. He got sapphire from AliExpress (other retailers out there) for quite cheap, worth a look. Thinking of doing mine.
If I remember correctly, hardlex is surprisingly durable. I could swear I saw an article saying that if sapphire was a 9/10 on the hardness scale, hardlex was a 7/8. Mineral was something like a 4/5.
Your right, Hardlex is more durable. Mineral glass should be about 5.5, same as steel. In the video above, I think Hardlex came out in the 7-ish range. I believe quartz is around 7 and sapphire is 9, from my old geology days.
As justintime has pointed out Scurfa offer almost indestructible proper dive watches and rhe quartz versions are certainly within your budget? Designed and worn by an actual British commercial diver....not a desk in site.
On top of that they look really cool and get great reviews.
Mineral glass has its merits. It is easier to see through for one and not as prone to shattering. You can't easily polish out scratches from mineral glass, it's easier to replace it with a sapphire equivalent or another mineral glass.
I replaced the crystal on my Duro with sapphire purposely to make it pop more:
If you're more into the straight utility of the watch the screen protectors work just fine. I have one on my Citizen PM diver and it looks great while avoiding the glare associated with sapphire. It does not pickup scratches, but even if it does, I just replace the screen.
Mineral and sapphire glasses are both pretty cheap from AliExpress. Mineral you can get as low as $5 and sapphire around the $30-50 mark. If you want a more reputable distributor Crystal Times sells crystals for the Duro.
With a duro, I would rock it until I couldnt see through the crystal and then replace the watch.... then repeat.
You asked for an MTD?
There you go:
Yes it's smaller,but it also has a mineral crystal😅
A propper watchmaker should be able to find you a saphire crystal for the duro and if that's nothing for you there should be some protection foils in the market,too😉
as someone already wrote, get some polywatch, works great.
I tried it on an old Komandierski, I filed the crystal first completely up with a nail file to get the deepest scratches out....then some rubbing with toothpaste, and then some rubbing with polywatch and it looks pretty good now....here some pics from before, during and after
Exact same technique and tools work on a dinged up desk-diving clasp.
There are a lot of sapphire + nh35 watches in Alliexpress. Their saving grace is their Japanese movement where the rest of the watch can be a little rough.
I got one. A pagani. No gasket between the caseback and the case, and the head of the crown broke off the rest of the crown stem.
Use some poly watch on it and then do the sapphire crystal replacement, or have someone do it for you. There are plenty of YouTube videos on how to do it. Regarding replacement watches with sapphire, I would look at Orient divers. I believe they have sapphire. At least the Kamasu does. They are around $300, but I believe Jomashop has a sale on them.
The Kamasu and above are sapphire. Ray 2 and Mako 2 etc have mineral crystal. Still bought them though!
Apeks.
https://www.mikesdivestore.com/collections/apeks-dive-watches/products/apeks-dive-watch-200m-professional?variant=#foo&gid=1&pid=
Looks like tremendous value. I have seen them before. Scurfa are a bit more but look much better IMO.
Holy smokes! What have you been doing?
The black Tuna MarineMaster 300m is discontinued, but the regular steel is still sold at over 2000$!!! And still with hardlex (I think) 🤯.
I'll upgrade the crystal if I'm keeping the watch...
All of the 300m Tuna versions got the sapphire crystal upgrade a few years back.
Orient Kamasu is an affordable automatic diver with sapphire that comes in at just over 40mm. Would highly recommend. Also there's polywatch, should buff out some what.
Ok I just read that my suggestion are moot. There's also the microbrand depth charge watches. Affordable submariner clones with sapphire 40mm the bells and whistles of a diver for under 200$
https://www.watchshop.com/watches/depth-charge.plp
How do you manage to do that to the crystal? I've has a Duro for years. It's still unmarked.
Can I just say, if people don’t like mineral glass don’t buy watches with mineral glass without either considering modding options if you HAVE to have it, or at least an alternative with sapphire crystal. These are hollow rants: my watch crystal is performing as expected - it’s a disgrace! Yes, how odd…
How do you manage to do that to the crystal? I've has a Duro for years. It's still unmarked.
Sailing
Can I just say, if people don’t like mineral glass don’t buy watches with mineral glass without either considering modding options if you HAVE to have it, or at least an alternative with sapphire crystal. These are hollow rants: my watch crystal is performing as expected - it’s a disgrace! Yes, how odd…
You're so right. That never occurred to me.
Holy smokes! What have you been doing?
Sailing of various sorts.
Orient Kamasu is an affordable automatic diver with sapphire that comes in at just over 40mm. Would highly recommend. Also there's polywatch, should buff out some what.
Ok I just read that my suggestion are moot. There's also the microbrand depth charge watches. Affordable submariner clones with sapphire 40mm the bells and whistles of a diver for under 200$
https://www.watchshop.com/watches/depth-charge.plp
Hadn't heard of Depth Charge. They look nice.
How do you even manage to scratch it like that?
How do you even manage to scratch it like that?
Sailing of various sorts.