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I'd really loved if you talked about prices for the material as well. How much is a sapphire watch glass? Is it justified to not have it on a 500usd watch, a 800usd watch etc?
I really liked the video I am interested however in a video going over the best budget mechanical watches you can get right now most videos I've tried to find on the subject are about a year old now and are pretty much just completely out of date I'd really like a look at the movements if possible
Would you look into Titan (I suggest the EDGE and Xylys collection) watches they have a good collection? even sonata (they have watches with small dial sizes) has a few good watches. they are affordable.
Exactly and it doesn't matter what fancy name they give to a mineral glass, it will scratch at a level 6 and sometimes if there are impurities it could be a level 5!👍👍👍
Excellent test!! Studied materials engineering back in the day and yes this reflects the situation perfectly. You have to be careful to clean the tip before testing each crystal to be sure that you're not depositing small grains from a previous crystal. Looks like you did that. Anyway, a warning to all watch lovers! Remember when going to the beach, the quartz crystals in beach sand is at a level 7 and will scratch your mineral crystal and if you're unlucky and there are microscopic gemstone crystals in the sand it could even scratch your sapphire crystal. Well done Ben, been waiting for someone to do this. KUDOS!!
@@athmaid depends on the glue used but considering the surface tension and many glues abilities to create a bond stronger than the material it's unlikely, there's likely a film adding further absorption like a car windscreen where it won't shatter but instead cave in to a concave shape, considering this issue has never occurred before and being a very simple concept I don't think any impact is going to separate the two layers without enough force to seriously damage the body and movement also.
@athmaid I use a special 2 part epoxy made for borosilicate glass (pyrex) it dries clear and has same properties as borosilicate, but bonds harder than melting the glass together. They probably use something similar.
@@mrkiky I'm sure there's a cost/benefit point where they might as well just make the whole crystal sapphire. That's probably why they choose the depth they do. :)
Would be interesting to see if sapphire coated will wear off over time and what sort of things will wear it off, such as the normal things people use to clean their watches etc.
Hardlex has a Mohs of about 7.5. Mohs is a very imprecise scale, since it isn't linear, but comparative. Hardlex is made by treating mineral crystal with a high temperature salts bath, and the various salt ions fill in the voids in the mineral crystal lattice. Seiko also produces a High-End Hardlex, that applies a similar high temp salt bath to borosilicate glass. Kysterna was a version of Dragontail glass, a competitor to 3M's Gorilla Glass. I believe it used a process similar to Hardlex. The older versions of Seiko Sapphlex used a thin laminated sapphire veneer, over a Hardlex crystal. Often the sapphire would begin to delaminate. Flame Fusion seems use a high temperature PVD process to deposit a multi molecule thin layer of sapphire to the top surface of a mineral crystal, fusing it to the substrate. It is hard to know what current process is used to bond the sapphire to the coated cystal, or how thick the sapphire layer is. Too thin, and the sapphire layer will yield to the softer mineral base material with moderate pressure, much like we see with Invicta's Flame Fusion. Sapphire is the penultimate watch crystal material, and can be purchased for a surprisingly small upgrade price compared to a replacement mineral part. I have purchased watches as cheap as $20, that have sapphire crystals, so I wonder how much cheaper these other solutions can be made, and still make any financial sense.
Penultimate means something like "just short of ultimate" or "the second best" or "one short of the end of your scale". I think you probably meant ultimate. (Sorry, I'm a word nerd! 🤓)
@@TerminusVox And the "ultimate" watch crystal would be a synthetic "diamond glass" material, made from Fullerenes, like AM-III (Mohs 10+), so my word choice was correct. Science over semantics, for the win! ruclips.net/video/VrC8kVOEOEQ/видео.html
@@TerminusVox lol yeah I was waiting for him to say what is the "ultimate" if sapphire is the penultimate. But he provided us a good in depth of the materials anyway
@@raidenpz There are materials theorised to have a higher mohs, like wurtzite boron nitride. Whether those can be formed into actual crystals usable for a watch lens I have no idea, and those are theoretical numbers based on chemistry. Also there is lonsdaleite, basically hexagonal carbon rather than cubic carbon (diamond) which is harder than regular diamond, and also pretty much only found in meteor craters...
I have a lot of experience with almost all these materials as a watch collector, amateur watchmaker and intensive watch wearing for over 35 years. Your test conclusions are right in line with my experiences with these.
@@chazdean201 Depends on your preferences, for a tough automatic with great value, look at Islander watches. Nothing really beats them, they have dressy and sporty models, all built with great specs, at great prices. For set and forget quartz, that still look and feel high end and super durable, the Oceanus line from Casio is in its own class.
Buna Mihai :) scriu in engleza mai departe / Im curios whats your opinion for Vostok Europe brand ? in terms of watch crystals and sturdiness in general
@@darthsaren6519 Homestly they are too big and bold for me. They are very well made watches, but never liked their designs. For the glass, there are always trade-offs. The best option is of course sapphire with good anti reflex coating on the inside. I would prefer hardened mineral instead of a non-coated sapphire. Sapphire needs AR coating otherwise is way to reflective. For me that’s a big issue
All I can say is, thank you very much Ben! Been looking for some clarity on this subject for quit some time! Personal experience: I've scratched mineral, hardlex, and sapphire coated crystals with normal wear, but I've never had a watch with a sapphire crystal scratch or chip on me. I haven't had enough time wearing a watch with one of those other types long enough to know their performance.
That would really be helpful! Acrylic may be the most prone to getting scratched but other than with the harder materials the scratches are still easily reversible which should be considered when comparing crystals. Part of that could be to take polywatch to the test.
The peace of mind of sapphire is just nice to have. I like knowing that it wont get scratched by a zipper or if I reach into a small space without thinking and bump it into some rough metal(happens often for me lol)
Interesting 👍 .Scratches, although annoying, don't destroy the watch in an accident. A crystal shattering with impact will really damage the hands and dial, particularly if wet! A would bet acrylic will survive impacts better than sapphire or mineral. You could set up a rig to drop ball bearings from a controlled height with the crystals supported on a ring so the middle is unsupported as xit would be n a watch.
I dropped my CWC G10 from about 160cm onto a hard tiled floor, landing on its acrylic crystal. It had a couple of scratches and some pits that I removed easily with plastic polish. I highly doubt a sapphire crystal would have survived.
Ben, note that Mineral glass can be polished. It's not tricky at all. You will need some diamond polish. It's usually sold in a 10ml syringe ($10-15), but a little goes a looooooong way. Apply a dab, and buff with a dremel/rotary tool.
No watches were harmed in this video! Well done Ben this is the sort of content that I would have eventually covered. You did this very well and its interesting to see the results. Sapphire should really be fitted into most watches now. Its not terribly expensive and as you have proved worth every penny. Really enjoyed this one and will share on my Facebook group.
Thanks you!! I think the whole watch community has been waiting for this video and you where the only channel with sense enough to do it. Thanks for this, I was surprised by some of the results.
I was very impressed with the Sapphire coat, typically I wouldn't buy a watch unless it was a Casio throw away with anything but Sapphire. But the Sapphire coated actually seems like something I might consider.
I work in engineering (auto) so this was my favorite Ben's Watch Club video! I would really love to see how a hardness test goes. For that you would use a Rockwell hardness tester, available from most manufacturing shops. Maybe there's one out there that would let you borrow one? The harder a material is, the more brittle it tends to be. So I suspect that even though the acrylic is soft and more prone to scratches, it might be the most durable when it comes to impacts.
@@seandownes6968 Here's an interesting video that shows that while sapphire is more scratch resistant than gorilla glass (context: phones) it is more brittle. I would love to see this test performed on the watch crystals! ruclips.net/video/kVQbu_BsZ9o/видео.html
@Lab Nine The problem with comparing phones to watches in my opinion is that the "glass" may be used as structural part of a phone to not have to make it heavier by adding other strengthening/stiffening material. So it is intended to "catch" some of the impact force when a phone is dropped. And phones almost always land on an edge. A watch crystal often times is not rectangular in shape and way thicker in relation to its diameter/length than a phone display. Also, it is structurally supported consistently around it's edge. So when you drop your watch in any normal situation, and it lands on anything but a sharp opject with the glass, i doubt the saphire will shatter. (I dropped a watch with a saphier crystal two weeks ago. If fell down roughtly 1m of height and landed on it's crown on the sheet metal floor of a cabinet. Interestingly the crown was not scratched and the crystal did not show any damage either. (But i am quite surprise about the amount of flexibility the saphier glass in the phone video actually had!)
I managed to scratch the sapphire coated mineral glass on my Spinnaker Hull chronograph watch when it came into contact with a door handle. Having said that, it is a very light scratch, and you need to look closely with the light in the right direction to see it.
Well done! This is the study I have been hoping to see from anyone for a long time. Truly appreciate you taking point on this issue as comprehensively as you did. If you would like to retest the flame fusion due to the #6 anomaly I would be happy to send you an invicta collecting dust in my sock drawer! It would be a pleasure if you felt it would be helpful. Surprises? A few. -Did not expect sapphire coated to do as well as it did. As an owner of a Wenger I have a little more security wearing it out and about. -I did not expect K-1/Hardlex/Flame Fusion to be any different than mineral. To be honest, I always assumed Hardlex and Flame Fusion were just rebranded K1. Wishes but not criticism since you are the only one I know of that went this deep down the rabbit hole. -I would have liked to have seen if AR coated sapphire would have performed differently than uncoated sapphire. -I wish there had been multiple samples of the crystals to see if things like the Flame Fusion at 6 was consistent or a faulty crystal.
I was watching this on my watching this on my work computer. Had to pull out my phone to give it a big like. Awesome experiment and really useful for everyone. Thanks Ben!
Good video... I am very easy going on my watches (>100 from ALL brands and price ranges) and have only ever scratched acrylic, so sapphire is nice but I am not put off by Seiko Hardlex at all.
This video is hard to watch, but it's extremely informative. Thanks for doing this, I have always wondered how much of a difference is Hardlex from mineral.
Good test, interesting results. couple of notes; 1. some of the lighter marks may be the material of the pick being deposited, as the weaker of the two colliding materials will wear. 2. as someone else said, cleaning the picks between tests is important, as you don't want contaminants mucking up the results. I will say, I own a few Wenger watches, so very pleased to see the great performance of the sapphire coated crystal.
Great video for pointing out the scratch resistance of crystals. Definately interested in impact resistance though, as this would round off the 'real world' testing of different materials, and which one is overall best. My guess is Seiko Hardlex would be up there, as it is a softer material that improves its impact resistance.
Good idea presented well! Thanks! I've unintentionally tested the impact resistance of "Flame Fusion" having started in on the job of changing brake pads and hitting the crystal three times before slowing down to remove my watch. "Flame Fusion" survived unscathed. I've no illusions about its relative merit and would sort it about where your test results place it. Maybe tougher than my Casios and Timex but less so than my Chinese watches.
Think of a surface coating as aluminium foil on a chocolate. If you press crusch the coating you measure the hardness if the chocolate if not you measure the hardness of aluminium. If the coating is thick and adheres prooerly to the substrate it works like sapphire - if its to thin or not adhering it peels off.
Quite an enlightening video. Thanks for filming that test. I often wonder about this very topic, and thanks to you I now have a little more knowledge in this hobby. 👍
excellent video Ben, would love if you made a video about third party movements. I’ve recently gotten into microbrands, and have been curious about the various movements they use from seiko, miyota, etc.
Just bought a Seiko with Hardlex Crystal in it (SSK001) and was slightly concerned about future wear of the piece. However, thanks to your video, I do feel a LOT better about how Hardlex performs as a crystal! Appreciate the video man!
@@msrdanov1 hey! Yea overall Id say it held up pretty well. I had a lil scratch on the cyclops, but it held up nicely! I did just recently get a Sapphire crystal put in though.
I hope you wiped the crystals after every pick. Picks and knifes can actually leave a small trail that can look like scratches if pressed onto harder materials because they’re being scratched themselves. The same thing as a knife on a matte surface glass. The glass won’t scratch but rather grind off bits of the knife that’ll look like scratches Other than that great video!
I bought my first watch (Citizen Blue Angel) before I really researched them and was ecstatic to learn my model has a sapphire crystal. I had some unintentional bangs against some sharp objects which I thought for sure would scratch it - but nothing. Will never buy another watch without it.
One of your best videos yet! I've rarely bought into the hype about proprietary anything, and tests such as these just reinforce this... educated guess and principle of mine. Not sure if I'm a sapphire absolutist, the next argument tat can be made for mineral over sapphire is perhaps in optical properties, i.e. mineral being more translucent than sapphire and even though I have watches with all types, still can't make up my mind. They're different shapes, too, and that plays a factor. Anyway, I don't consider sappire premium anymore and AR coated sappire should be in anything costing more than $500, i..e. "entry level luxury".
I have a Dan Henry with a sapphire coated crystal. I used to believe that the hype was BS, but I did bang it pretty hard on a pointy metallic railing once and it didn't get a single scratch on it.
Pretty happy with the Hardlex performance, especially given the price of most of the Seiko products that use it. Nice to see it performs a bit better than regular/standard mineral glass, even if it's only just a bit more resilient.
I have to disagree, at least for my uses. I'm a bit of a klutz and every doorknob in the world is at the level of my wrists so my watches suffer hard bangs multiple times a day. My Seiko with Hardlex scratched within a week but all of my sapphire crystal watches are completely spotless.
@@thefox47545 oh I agree that sapphire is superior. I just think that a lot of the Seiko models, especially Seiko 5s, are at the price range where Hardlex is completely acceptable and it's nice to see it performs even slightly better than run of the mill mineral crystal. I've got an SNK809 that's my daily beater that I got for 70 bucks and I can't criticize watches at that price point at all for not having sapphire. Honestly, pretty much anything automatic and under 200 bucks is hard to knock for not having sapphire, though I do agree that a $350 dollar Seiko absolutely should have sapphire.
Ok, before I watch this, I'm guessing all the fancy shmancy mineral crystals will scratch by a level 6, except for the sapphire. Not sure how a coated sapphire will do, suppose it depends on the thickness of the coating. Just a quick tip to recognize sapphire. Go to your watchbox, choose 2 watches, a sapphire and a mineral crystal. Make sure you haven't been wearing it for a good while. Put the mineral crystal to your cheek (the one on your face 😉) and it will feel cold. Then do the same with the sapphire....and it will be freezing! P. S. It is important to clean off the tip of the tool each time you do a test or else you might be leaving residue rather than actually scratching the crystal. That flame fusion glass for example might be showing residue from another crystal.
This review is what separates the men from the boys - in terms of reviewers! So many watch RUclipsrs just take things at face value. Trust Ben to go beyond the surface a little deeper 😉 Love your work Ben! Your unique voice stands out in the watch world. Thanks so much!
Well done Ben, enjoyed watching this comparison of some of these proprietary glasses. Just goes to show the marketing b.s for what it is. However to make this a truly scientific study, the pressure exerted on each crystal type should be able to be measured precisely as this may separate out the ones in Category C further. But overall, excellent test!
Green tint is a sign of cheap glass, which contains iron impurities. Optical glass formulations range from Crown to Flint which at high purity, do not have any colour tint whatsoever. These also have different hardness depending on composition, reaching close to 7. I think Crown being more soda lime heavy compositions would be softer, but i'm not certain!
I’d love to see this followed up with a shatter resistance test, seeing as how a big reason Seiko claims they use hardlex on $500+ watches is that it doesn’t shatter as easily as sapphire
this was an excellent and very educational video Ben! Thank you for spending the time and money and making the necessary (watch) sacrifices to put this together. It looks like flame fusion is probably a lower quality sapphire coating with poor consistency and weak areas as you pointed out. Perhaps the bonding process isn't as good? No clue as to the manufacturing process.
I have heard that too, but haven’t found any vids which test this hypothesis. For me, I think the main issue with the crystal is smacking it against something inadvertently. Not worried about an impact as much.
i'm a bit late to the party on this video, but i think it's one of more valuable examples of testing i've seen and very useful for new enthusiasts i wasn't particularly surprised by the results, but curiously it gave me more confidence in seiko's 'hardlex' which _did_ perform much better than i was expecting
Good test. Did any of the samples have an AR coating on the outside? Sometimes, those coatings also add some level of scratch resistance. That could explain the Flame Fusion failure at level 6. Sapphire hardness does vary by the crystal orientation. I think most watch companies try to orient the crystal a certain way, because you'd otherwise get a shadow / double reflection in a certain orientation. Opaque sapphire gemstones aren't necessarily a single crystal but an amorphous mass of microscopic individual crystals and you'd get a more consistent scratch test result with an amorphous, opaque sapphire sample.
The obvious winner was always going to be saphire with the bottom being acrylic (not that it's bad though in the right application). I was a bit surprised though with the proprietary mineral glass - On the one hand, most of the marketing is a load of ..., I wasn't expecting it to be any better than standard mineral. It seems then that there is a grain of truth to the claims of it at least being better than mineral. I was also a little dissapointed with the coated saphire - I would have thought that would have performed better. Very interesting test.
Late to the party, but really good info. I'm pleasantly surprised with the Hardlex... I just can't do mineral crystal on a $150+ watch with how easy it is to synthesize sapphire now, but I wouldn't rule Hardlex or K1 out now for something cheaper and rugged, but there's always G Shocks for that 🤔. I wonder how much difference there is (really) in shatter resistance. Subbed.
Thanks for doing this test. I've had several "mineral" crystals scratched by a lot less than a metal pick. Bricks and rough aluminum have damaged those. Hardlex field watches will get really banged up on granite. I also found a watch I really wanted on the watchshop sale and got the immediate nut punch of it being UK/EU only.
Interesting video. Really reminded me of how much I hate Seiko for not using sapphire in price ranges where even smaller brands can do it. I'm tempted to continue on to flimsy clasps and low frequency movements... 😂
Interesting video thanks! One thing to test out if you do ever get to do this again is a test that simulates impact with sharp objects, since I am assuming we tend to damage watch crystal through bumping them into things instead of gently scratching them. Would the result be different if you "stab" the crystals with the picks?
Really interesting, I have an older Invicta with flame fusion that has no scratches after a couple of years but a really annoying chip that you can feel with your nail. Maybe they chip easier than scratch. My Certina ds action diver 43mm with sapphire is like brand new and it has been everywhere.
I would add few things here. I had few hardlexes just broke in my hand while installing on the watch. The benefit of Acrylic is that you can easily restore it which is not a case with any other material, many old gold watches have acrylic glass on them. Sapphire is the best, I have 2 watches with sapphire and never had any scratch issues with them.
All of my vintage watches have Acrylic crystals. A 4r39 open heart Seiko with a Hardlex Crystal.It got badly scratched within a week. It was given to me by my family on my 70th birthday 😢 My current daily user is a 38mm Sea-gull 1963 with a domed Sapphire chrystal. No worries. 😊
Once I read somewhere that sapphire was more likely to crack all over from a har hit than mineral, saying mineral was maybe getting some deep chip (from a pointy surface hit maybe) so I was a little reluctant getting a sapphire watch since sometimes I bump pretty hardly against things at work. Got a Pro Trek with sapphire and I always take it off, have no scratches after some years but still wouldn't risk getting it slammed against a hard surface.
Yesss my new watch is sapphire screened, this video made me happy. As a request: please test DLC (diamond-like-carbon) coated titanium watch case vs. other case materials.
Does anyone know if there are different grades/qualities of sapphire crystal? I saw a video where sapphire watch crystals were tested with a diamond tester, and one of them (from a Hamilton Khaki I think) registered a reading that was a smidgeon below the expected range for sapphire.
Very informative video. Thanks, but my problem is that some manufacturers say it's saffire crystal, but I doubt that. Is there any device to know this for sure?
Mohs 8 is a pretty good outcome, I'd say. That means you can rub it around in gravel pretty hard, and it won't get scratched. Those quartz grains are what messes up watches.
i have seen impact tests sapphrie vs mineral and the sapphire performed many times better than the mineral so the shatter resistance is bullocks. In one test the watches were being shot with air guns and in the other video a guy was hitting it with different size hammers, the sapphrie won both times.
Me? I don't much care about the crystal hardness - impact resistance is of far greater concern to me. But most importantly, should the crystal need replacement, can I take it to pretty much any watch repair place and have it replaced quickly and at a reasonable price? To wit, if a sapphire or sapphire-alike crystal requires specific tools and knowledge and cannot be as easily and cheaply replaced as a standard mineral crystal, it is of little use to me.
Very nicely done!!! I came here to see if I should get a protector for my budget mineral casio watch. It looks like I don't have to worry since lvl 6 n 7 are basically like current phone screens lvl of resistance
Thanks for this informative video, Ben! You made very complex tests and giving answers the watchindustrie does not deliver . So, I own some Jacques Lemans watches; they call their glasses "Crystex". Ithink it´s comparable to your tested "Krysterna". I wear all my watches and from practical experience of daily use I can say that none of my watches have visible scratches. So, thank you and go on 👍
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I'd really loved if you talked about prices for the material as well. How much is a sapphire watch glass? Is it justified to not have it on a 500usd watch, a 800usd watch etc?
Hi Sir Ben. Did you ever tried the brand aries gold g? They claimed their watches have sapphire glass and price under 100USD
I really liked the video I am interested however in a video going over the best budget mechanical watches you can get right now most videos I've tried to find on the subject are about a year old now and are pretty much just completely out of date
I'd really like a look at the movements if possible
Would you look into Titan (I suggest the EDGE and Xylys collection) watches they have a good collection? even sonata (they have watches with small dial sizes) has a few good watches. they are affordable.
This was an excellent comparison, thank you !
It would be complex, but I'd love to see a crystal impact test one day 👍
Scratches at level 6, with deeper grooves at level 7
Exactly and it doesn't matter what fancy name they give to a mineral glass, it will scratch at a level 6 and sometimes if there are impurities it could be a level 5!👍👍👍
I’m not sure if everyone here will get the reference lol.
@@natusMCMII the bald hero of durability testing
I wonder how many will get this reference 😄
@@ShyamKrishnanSuresh Yes!! 😂😂
Excellent test!! Studied materials engineering back in the day and yes this reflects the situation perfectly. You have to be careful to clean the tip before testing each crystal to be sure that you're not depositing small grains from a previous crystal. Looks like you did that. Anyway, a warning to all watch lovers! Remember when going to the beach, the quartz crystals in beach sand is at a level 7 and will scratch your mineral crystal and if you're unlucky and there are microscopic gemstone crystals in the sand it could even scratch your sapphire crystal. Well done Ben, been waiting for someone to do this. KUDOS!!
Thanks for the advice, mate!
@@vewert.photography Very welcome, and I have a scratchy old Seiko dive watch to prove it. 😂
ok now I’ll never wear anything to the beach
huh......the sand I had considered before, but not the proposition of microscopic gemstones being present. Good advice, and ty
@@HW.0029 I know what you mean! I only wear a watch that already has a scratch!
The sapphire coating seems like an interesting option. It nearly matches sapphire's performance but logically should have better impact resistance.
Question is, does it delaminate upon impact
@@athmaid depends on the glue used but considering the surface tension and many glues abilities to create a bond stronger than the material it's unlikely, there's likely a film adding further absorption like a car windscreen where it won't shatter but instead cave in to a concave shape, considering this issue has never occurred before and being a very simple concept I don't think any impact is going to separate the two layers without enough force to seriously damage the body and movement also.
@athmaid I use a special 2 part epoxy made for borosilicate glass (pyrex) it dries clear and has same properties as borosilicate, but bonds harder than melting the glass together. They probably use something similar.
I'm actually surprised how well some of these held up. The sapphire-coated vs. sapphire was particularly impressive, given the price difference.
They just have to make the coating thicker. Technically there will be a point where it will perform exactly like sapphire.
@@mrkiky I'm sure there's a cost/benefit point where they might as well just make the whole crystal sapphire. That's probably why they choose the depth they do. :)
How much is the price difference, though?
@@konspiracy0 Good question. I don't know. :)
Would be interesting to see if sapphire coated will wear off over time and what sort of things will wear it off, such as the normal things people use to clean their watches etc.
Hardlex has a Mohs of about 7.5. Mohs is a very imprecise scale, since it isn't linear, but comparative. Hardlex is made by treating mineral crystal with a high temperature salts bath, and the various salt ions fill in the voids in the mineral crystal lattice. Seiko also produces a High-End Hardlex, that applies a similar high temp salt bath to borosilicate glass.
Kysterna was a version of Dragontail glass, a competitor to 3M's Gorilla Glass. I believe it used a process similar to Hardlex.
The older versions of Seiko Sapphlex used a thin laminated sapphire veneer, over a Hardlex crystal. Often the sapphire would begin to delaminate.
Flame Fusion seems use a high temperature PVD process to deposit a multi molecule thin layer of sapphire to the top surface of a mineral crystal, fusing it to the substrate.
It is hard to know what current process is used to bond the sapphire to the coated cystal, or how thick the sapphire layer is. Too thin, and the sapphire layer will yield to the softer mineral base material with moderate pressure, much like we see with Invicta's Flame Fusion.
Sapphire is the penultimate watch crystal material, and can be purchased for a surprisingly small upgrade price compared to a replacement mineral part. I have purchased watches as cheap as $20, that have sapphire crystals, so I wonder how much cheaper these other solutions can be made, and still make any financial sense.
Penultimate means something like "just short of ultimate" or "the second best" or "one short of the end of your scale". I think you probably meant ultimate. (Sorry, I'm a word nerd! 🤓)
@@TerminusVox A diamond crystal would be the ultimate, though I don't think it exists yet.
@@TerminusVox And the "ultimate" watch crystal would be a synthetic "diamond glass" material, made from Fullerenes, like AM-III (Mohs 10+), so my word choice was correct. Science over semantics, for the win!
ruclips.net/video/VrC8kVOEOEQ/видео.html
@@TerminusVox lol yeah I was waiting for him to say what is the "ultimate" if sapphire is the penultimate. But he provided us a good in depth of the materials anyway
@@raidenpz There are materials theorised to have a higher mohs, like wurtzite boron nitride. Whether those can be formed into actual crystals usable for a watch lens I have no idea, and those are theoretical numbers based on chemistry.
Also there is lonsdaleite, basically hexagonal carbon rather than cubic carbon (diamond) which is harder than regular diamond, and also pretty much only found in meteor craters...
I have a lot of experience with almost all these materials as a watch collector, amateur watchmaker and intensive watch wearing for over 35 years. Your test conclusions are right in line with my experiences with these.
What’s your recommendation for a durable & classy sport sub $500 watch? Thanks
@@chazdean201 Depends on your preferences, for a tough automatic with great value, look at Islander watches. Nothing really beats them, they have dressy and sporty models, all built with great specs, at great prices. For set and forget quartz, that still look and feel high end and super durable, the Oceanus line from Casio is in its own class.
Buna Mihai :) scriu in engleza mai departe / Im curios whats your opinion for Vostok Europe brand ? in terms of watch crystals and sturdiness in general
@@darthsaren6519 Homestly they are too big and bold for me. They are very well made watches, but never liked their designs. For the glass, there are always trade-offs. The best option is of course sapphire with good anti reflex coating on the inside. I would prefer hardened mineral instead of a non-coated sapphire. Sapphire needs AR coating otherwise is way to reflective. For me that’s a big issue
"Intensive watch wearring" 👀
All I can say is, thank you very much Ben! Been looking for some clarity on this subject for quit some time! Personal experience: I've scratched mineral, hardlex, and sapphire coated crystals with normal wear, but I've never had a watch with a sapphire crystal scratch or chip on me. I haven't had enough time wearing a watch with one of those other types long enough to know their performance.
That was one of the (if not the) most useful videos I've seen on RUclips to educated watch enthusiasts. Nice work Ben, very well done!
Would have been good if you had used polywatch on the acrylic to show at what point the scratches become too deep to buff out.
Maybe that can be part 2!? 🤔
That would really be helpful! Acrylic may be the most prone to getting scratched but other than with the harder materials the scratches are still easily reversible which should be considered when comparing crystals. Part of that could be to take polywatch to the test.
@@anmalaag1225 wind your neck in, I was just suggesting a way of extending the test for those of us with a few watches with acrylic crystals.
@@anmalaag1225 Suggesting future videos is not entitlement. Calm down.
Why?
The peace of mind of sapphire is just nice to have. I like knowing that it wont get scratched by a zipper or if I reach into a small space without thinking and bump it into some rough metal(happens often for me lol)
🤓Really appreciate Ben’s scientific methodology here in accurately testing the durability of these various crystal substances. 👍
This was so good and well made Ben! I was really surprised about Hardlex actually,
Interesting 👍 .Scratches, although annoying, don't destroy the watch in an accident. A crystal shattering with impact will really damage the hands and dial, particularly if wet! A would bet acrylic will survive impacts better than sapphire or mineral. You could set up a rig to drop ball bearings from a controlled height with the crystals supported on a ring so the middle is unsupported as xit would be n a watch.
I dropped my CWC G10 from about 160cm onto a hard tiled floor, landing on its acrylic crystal. It had a couple of scratches and some pits that I removed easily with plastic polish. I highly doubt a sapphire crystal would have survived.
Mineral glass has improved slightly over the years. Not enough to get close to sapphire though.
It’s much less reflective than sapphire tho. Sapphire is way too reflective for casual watches, even with ar coating. It’s best for dress watches only
@@Ferien7 oil slick coating on a dress watch tho? ar never looks good.
@@MrMadvillan translucent ar coating is much better. The blue kind you can see shouldn’t be used imo
but still goes milky at extremes like double domed bc the ior is so high.
Ben, note that Mineral glass can be polished. It's not tricky at all. You will need some diamond polish. It's usually sold in a 10ml syringe ($10-15), but a little goes a looooooong way. Apply a dab, and buff with a dremel/rotary tool.
Does it buff out evenly?
@@nintendokings yes, circular motion across the surface will do the trick.
with $15 you just buy another glass...
@@oceanzu6585 tell me where I can buy old square/rectangular/hexagonal mineral crystals? Many with a specific fit
@@oceanzu6585 not always an option, and you can use the polishing paste lots of times
No watches were harmed in this video! Well done Ben this is the sort of content that I would have eventually covered. You did this very well and its interesting to see the results. Sapphire should really be fitted into most watches now. Its not terribly expensive and as you have proved worth every penny.
Really enjoyed this one and will share on my Facebook group.
Yet another reason why you are the best watch channel! Absolutely loved this Ben! 👏🏻💕
Thanks you!! I think the whole watch community has been waiting for this video and you where the only channel with sense enough to do it. Thanks for this, I was surprised by some of the results.
I was very impressed with the Sapphire coat, typically I wouldn't buy a watch unless it was a Casio throw away with anything but Sapphire. But the Sapphire coated actually seems like something I might consider.
I work in engineering (auto) so this was my favorite Ben's Watch Club video! I would really love to see how a hardness test goes. For that you would use a Rockwell hardness tester, available from most manufacturing shops. Maybe there's one out there that would let you borrow one? The harder a material is, the more brittle it tends to be. So I suspect that even though the acrylic is soft and more prone to scratches, it might be the most durable when it comes to impacts.
I’ve often heard that sapphire crystal shatters easier than mineral, so I would also love to see something like that
@@seandownes6968 Here's an interesting video that shows that while sapphire is more scratch resistant than gorilla glass (context: phones) it is more brittle. I would love to see this test performed on the watch crystals! ruclips.net/video/kVQbu_BsZ9o/видео.html
@Lab Nine The problem with comparing phones to watches in my opinion is that the "glass" may be used as structural part of a phone to not have to make it heavier by adding other strengthening/stiffening material. So it is intended to "catch" some of the impact force when a phone is dropped. And phones almost always land on an edge.
A watch crystal often times is not rectangular in shape and way thicker in relation to its diameter/length than a phone display. Also, it is structurally supported consistently around it's edge.
So when you drop your watch in any normal situation, and it lands on anything but a sharp opject with the glass, i doubt the saphire will shatter.
(I dropped a watch with a saphier crystal two weeks ago. If fell down roughtly 1m of height and landed on it's crown on the sheet metal floor of a cabinet.
Interestingly the crown was not scratched and the crystal did not show any damage either.
(But i am quite surprise about the amount of flexibility the saphier glass in the phone video actually had!)
I managed to scratch the sapphire coated mineral glass on my Spinnaker Hull chronograph watch when it came into contact with a door handle. Having said that, it is a very light scratch, and you need to look closely with the light in the right direction to see it.
Really brilliant work here Ben! Thanks so much for putting in the time to do this testing.
Well done! This is the study I have been hoping to see from anyone for a long time. Truly appreciate you taking point on this issue as comprehensively as you did.
If you would like to retest the flame fusion due to the #6 anomaly I would be happy to send you an invicta collecting dust in my sock drawer! It would be a pleasure if you felt it would be helpful.
Surprises? A few.
-Did not expect sapphire coated to do as well as it did. As an owner of a Wenger I have a little more security wearing it out and about.
-I did not expect K-1/Hardlex/Flame Fusion to be any different than mineral. To be honest, I always assumed Hardlex and Flame Fusion were just rebranded K1.
Wishes but not criticism since you are the only one I know of that went this deep down the rabbit hole.
-I would have liked to have seen if AR coated sapphire would have performed differently than uncoated sapphire.
-I wish there had been multiple samples of the crystals to see if things like the Flame Fusion at 6 was consistent or a faulty crystal.
I was watching this on my watching this on my work computer. Had to pull out my phone to give it a big like. Awesome experiment and really useful for everyone. Thanks Ben!
i think hardlex is only supposed to be more impact resistant, im not sure though.
Good video... I am very easy going on my watches (>100 from ALL brands and price ranges) and have only ever scratched acrylic, so sapphire is nice but I am not put off by Seiko Hardlex at all.
This video is hard to watch, but it's extremely informative. Thanks for doing this, I have always wondered how much of a difference is Hardlex from mineral.
Good test, interesting results. couple of notes;
1. some of the lighter marks may be the material of the pick being deposited, as the weaker of the two colliding materials will wear.
2. as someone else said, cleaning the picks between tests is important, as you don't want contaminants mucking up the results.
I will say, I own a few Wenger watches, so very pleased to see the great performance of the sapphire coated crystal.
Would be interesting to see a similar test on case materials, which are also prone to scratches and dents.
He said he would, didn't he?
Great video for pointing out the scratch resistance of crystals. Definately interested in impact resistance though, as this would round off the 'real world' testing of different materials, and which one is overall best. My guess is Seiko Hardlex would be up there, as it is a softer material that improves its impact resistance.
Good idea presented well! Thanks! I've unintentionally tested the impact resistance of "Flame Fusion" having started in on the job of changing brake pads and hitting the crystal three times before slowing down to remove my watch. "Flame Fusion" survived unscathed. I've no illusions about its relative merit and would sort it about where your test results place it. Maybe tougher than my Casios and Timex but less so than my Chinese watches.
Been watching watch channels for a couple of years and never seen this done - awesome job.
Think of a surface coating as aluminium foil on a chocolate. If you press crusch the coating you measure the hardness if the chocolate if not you measure the hardness of aluminium. If the coating is thick and adheres prooerly to the substrate it works like sapphire - if its to thin or not adhering it peels off.
Quite an enlightening video. Thanks for filming that test. I often wonder about this very topic, and thanks to you I now have a little more knowledge in this hobby. 👍
excellent video Ben, would love if you made a video about third party movements. I’ve recently gotten into microbrands, and have been curious about the various movements they use from seiko, miyota, etc.
Huge amount if work and well done benchmark. Very instructive. Thanks a lot, I can’t believe you don’t get more likes.
Just bought a Seiko with Hardlex Crystal in it (SSK001) and was slightly concerned about future wear of the piece. However, thanks to your video, I do feel a LOT better about how Hardlex performs as a crystal! Appreciate the video man!
can you give a short feedback regarding thw Hardlex , are you happy with it and how did it cope with wear and tear
@@msrdanov1 hey! Yea overall Id say it held up pretty well. I had a lil scratch on the cyclops, but it held up nicely! I did just recently get a Sapphire crystal put in though.
I hope you wiped the crystals after every pick. Picks and knifes can actually leave a small trail that can look like scratches if pressed onto harder materials because they’re being scratched themselves. The same thing as a knife on a matte surface glass. The glass won’t scratch but rather grind off bits of the knife that’ll look like scratches
Other than that great video!
I bought my first watch (Citizen Blue Angel) before I really researched them and was ecstatic to learn my model has a sapphire crystal. I had some unintentional bangs against some sharp objects which I thought for sure would scratch it - but nothing. Will never buy another watch without it.
One of your best videos yet! I've rarely bought into the hype about proprietary anything, and tests such as these just reinforce this... educated guess and principle of mine. Not sure if I'm a sapphire absolutist, the next argument tat can be made for mineral over sapphire is perhaps in optical properties, i.e. mineral being more translucent than sapphire and even though I have watches with all types, still can't make up my mind. They're different shapes, too, and that plays a factor. Anyway, I don't consider sappire premium anymore and AR coated sappire should be in anything costing more than $500, i..e. "entry level luxury".
A test of the resilience of these glasses would be as interesting. Great video!
I have a Dan Henry with a sapphire coated crystal. I used to believe that the hype was BS, but I did bang it pretty hard on a pointy metallic railing once and it didn't get a single scratch on it.
Pretty happy with the Hardlex performance, especially given the price of most of the Seiko products that use it. Nice to see it performs a bit better than regular/standard mineral glass, even if it's only just a bit more resilient.
Not happy at all. A 500$ Seiko using hardlex is a ripoff. And 90% are using hardlex.
@@O_fata_simpla260 my 90$ seiko 5 snkl23 is also using hardlex so in that price point thats actually pretty good.
I have to disagree, at least for my uses. I'm a bit of a klutz and every doorknob in the world is at the level of my wrists so my watches suffer hard bangs multiple times a day. My Seiko with Hardlex scratched within a week but all of my sapphire crystal watches are completely spotless.
@@thefox47545 oh I agree that sapphire is superior. I just think that a lot of the Seiko models, especially Seiko 5s, are at the price range where Hardlex is completely acceptable and it's nice to see it performs even slightly better than run of the mill mineral crystal. I've got an SNK809 that's my daily beater that I got for 70 bucks and I can't criticize watches at that price point at all for not having sapphire. Honestly, pretty much anything automatic and under 200 bucks is hard to knock for not having sapphire, though I do agree that a $350 dollar Seiko absolutely should have sapphire.
Ok, before I watch this, I'm guessing all the fancy shmancy mineral crystals will scratch by a level 6, except for the sapphire. Not sure how a coated sapphire will do, suppose it depends on the thickness of the coating. Just a quick tip to recognize sapphire. Go to your watchbox, choose 2 watches, a sapphire and a mineral crystal. Make sure you haven't been wearing it for a good while. Put the mineral crystal to your cheek (the one on your face 😉) and it will feel cold. Then do the same with the sapphire....and it will be freezing! P. S. It is important to clean off the tip of the tool each time you do a test or else you might be leaving residue rather than actually scratching the crystal. That flame fusion glass for example might be showing residue from another crystal.
As always, your videos are very impressive, Ben, very professionally done and excellent research reporting here - great work mate!
This review is what separates the men from the boys - in terms of reviewers!
So many watch RUclipsrs just take things at face value. Trust Ben to go beyond the surface a little deeper 😉
Love your work Ben! Your unique voice stands out in the watch world. Thanks so much!
Well done Ben, enjoyed watching this comparison of some of these proprietary glasses. Just goes to show the marketing b.s for what it is. However to make this a truly scientific study, the pressure exerted on each crystal type should be able to be measured precisely as this may separate out the ones in Category C further. But overall, excellent test!
I love acrylic and sapphire watches. What i appreciate with acrylic is that it that it never has oil smears unlike sapphire that’s a smear magnet!
Great video! Would be interested in an impact resistance test too if you are looking for ideas.
Excellent video and brilliant idea 👍👍
Casio gives sapphire with $100 watches. Other companies are just making excuses for not giving sapphire.
Green tint is a sign of cheap glass, which contains iron impurities.
Optical glass formulations range from Crown to Flint which at high purity, do not have any colour tint whatsoever. These also have different hardness depending on composition, reaching close to 7. I think Crown being more soda lime heavy compositions would be softer, but i'm not certain!
prayers for ben's back during these tests
I no longer have one!
I’d love to see this followed up with a shatter resistance test, seeing as how a big reason Seiko claims they use hardlex on $500+ watches is that it doesn’t shatter as easily as sapphire
this was an excellent and very educational video Ben! Thank you for spending the time and money and making the necessary (watch) sacrifices to put this together.
It looks like flame fusion is probably a lower quality sapphire coating with poor consistency and weak areas as you pointed out. Perhaps the bonding process isn't as good? No clue as to the manufacturing process.
Another test you can try is breaking/cracking/shattering. Harder materials tend to be more brittle. There’s always trade offs selecting a material.
I have heard that too, but haven’t found any vids which test this hypothesis. For me, I think the main issue with the crystal is smacking it against something inadvertently. Not worried about an impact as much.
i'm a bit late to the party on this video, but i think it's one of more valuable examples of testing i've seen and very useful for new enthusiasts
i wasn't particularly surprised by the results, but curiously it gave me more confidence in seiko's 'hardlex' which _did_ perform much better than i was expecting
Good test. Did any of the samples have an AR coating on the outside? Sometimes, those coatings also add some level of scratch resistance. That could explain the Flame Fusion failure at level 6. Sapphire hardness does vary by the crystal orientation. I think most watch companies try to orient the crystal a certain way, because you'd otherwise get a shadow / double reflection in a certain orientation. Opaque sapphire gemstones aren't necessarily a single crystal but an amorphous mass of microscopic individual crystals and you'd get a more consistent scratch test result with an amorphous, opaque sapphire sample.
As I evolved from a one-watch user to an enthusiast, I have come to greater appreciate acrylic over the rest since it really won't shatter.
Where did you get these cufflinks? Do they work?
Very interesting. I'd wondered for a while whether how hard you press down makes much of a difference. I think Ben's cleared that up.
I assume AR coating is best applied as an undercoat bc the coating itself can scratch if it on top. would like to see AR in the scratch test as well
The obvious winner was always going to be saphire with the bottom being acrylic (not that it's bad though in the right application). I was a bit surprised though with the proprietary mineral glass - On the one hand, most of the marketing is a load of ..., I wasn't expecting it to be any better than standard mineral. It seems then that there is a grain of truth to the claims of it at least being better than mineral. I was also a little dissapointed with the coated saphire - I would have thought that would have performed better. Very interesting test.
Late to the party, but really good info. I'm pleasantly surprised with the Hardlex... I just can't do mineral crystal on a $150+ watch with how easy it is to synthesize sapphire now, but I wouldn't rule Hardlex or K1 out now for something cheaper and rugged, but there's always G Shocks for that 🤔. I wonder how much difference there is (really) in shatter resistance.
Subbed.
Thanks for doing this test. I've had several "mineral" crystals scratched by a lot less than a metal pick. Bricks and rough aluminum have damaged those. Hardlex field watches will get really banged up on granite.
I also found a watch I really wanted on the watchshop sale and got the immediate nut punch of it being UK/EU only.
Joke youtube ads go off for a minute to answer phone 2 more adds absolutely joke how many great content I've raged quit because of multiple adds
Interesting video. Really reminded me of how much I hate Seiko for not using sapphire in price ranges where even smaller brands can do it. I'm tempted to continue on to flimsy clasps and low frequency movements... 😂
Interesting video thanks! One thing to test out if you do ever get to do this again is a test that simulates impact with sharp objects, since I am assuming we tend to damage watch crystal through bumping them into things instead of gently scratching them. Would the result be different if you "stab" the crystals with the picks?
Now there's some solid, scratch proof consumer advice 👍🏻
Really interesting, I have an older Invicta with flame fusion that has no scratches after a couple of years but a really annoying chip that you can feel with your nail. Maybe they chip easier than scratch.
My Certina ds action diver 43mm with sapphire is like brand new and it has been everywhere.
Yesterday 29 march just arrived my cortina ds action diver 43mm ref c032.407.11.091.00, just make me happy knowing that it will last! Thanks mate!
WONDERFULLY done!
I don't think I have EVER seen this type of study done prior. Thank You!!
Brilliant test thanks Ben - really interesting. Just confirms why use/buy anything other than sapphire unless at the super budget end.
One thing to keep in mind is that when you feel come drag but see no scratches, you are likely damaging the AR coating, not the actual crystal.
I thought the coating was on the inside of the crystal? Not sure though.
I would add few things here. I had few hardlexes just broke in my hand while installing on the watch. The benefit of Acrylic is that you can easily restore it which is not a case with any other material, many old gold watches have acrylic glass on them. Sapphire is the best, I have 2 watches with sapphire and never had any scratch issues with them.
I bought a Citizen CB5000-50L a year ago with a full sapphire crystal. Good to see I made the right choice 🙂
I almost stopped caring about tanything else once I saw those working cufflinks! I needs them!
All of my vintage watches have Acrylic crystals. A 4r39 open heart Seiko with a Hardlex Crystal.It got badly scratched within a week.
It was given to me by my family on my 70th birthday 😢
My current daily user is a 38mm Sea-gull 1963 with a domed Sapphire chrystal. No worries. 😊
Once I read somewhere that sapphire was more likely to crack all over from a har hit than mineral, saying mineral was maybe getting some deep chip (from a pointy surface hit maybe) so I was a little reluctant getting a sapphire watch since sometimes I bump pretty hardly against things at work. Got a Pro Trek with sapphire and I always take it off, have no scratches after some years but still wouldn't risk getting it slammed against a hard surface.
Excellent test, very relevant to us watch nerds.
Now we need an impact comparison test!!
As always, great content made with great skill.
I loved this test. Thank you for showing determination, curiosity and integrity and sharing the results with the community.
Yesss my new watch is sapphire screened, this video made me happy.
As a request: please test DLC (diamond-like-carbon) coated titanium watch case vs. other case materials.
Where would a finger nail rank in the picks used?
Does anyone know if there are different grades/qualities of sapphire crystal? I saw a video where sapphire watch crystals were tested with a diamond tester, and one of them (from a Hamilton Khaki I think) registered a reading that was a smidgeon below the expected range for sapphire.
Excellent video, Ben. I've always been curious about how scratch resistant Seiko's hardlex and sapphire coating actually is.
ben, are there different grades of sapphire?
Very informative video. Thanks, but my problem is that some manufacturers say it's saffire crystal, but I doubt that. Is there any device to know this for sure?
Benn your content is great bud but youtube killing all with so many adds
Absolutely great video idea !! I would love to see a similar test done with hardened coatings on watches
Could you follow up with a video on how to fix/buff out scratches on different glasses? I've recently gotten a minor scratch on my own Iron Annie
Mohs 8 is a pretty good outcome, I'd say. That means you can rub it around in gravel pretty hard, and it won't get scratched. Those quartz grains are what messes up watches.
i have seen impact tests sapphrie vs mineral and the sapphire performed many times better than the mineral so the shatter resistance is bullocks.
In one test the watches were being shot with air guns and in the other video a guy was hitting it with different size hammers, the sapphrie won both times.
Me? I don't much care about the crystal hardness - impact resistance is of far greater concern to me. But most importantly, should the crystal need replacement, can I take it to pretty much any watch repair place and have it replaced quickly and at a reasonable price? To wit, if a sapphire or sapphire-alike crystal requires specific tools and knowledge and cannot be as easily and cheaply replaced as a standard mineral crystal, it is of little use to me.
Brilliant work Ben. You’ve settled a thousand online debates. Thank you
I bought a Wenger nomad. Supposedly has a sapphire crystal coating? but I put a big gouge right in the center from bumping it against a steel corner.
I've been waiting for so long for a vid like this; good job mate!
Very nicely done!!! I came here to see if I should get a protector for my budget mineral casio watch. It looks like I don't have to worry since lvl 6 n 7 are basically like current phone screens lvl of resistance
Thanks for this informative video, Ben! You made very complex tests and giving answers the watchindustrie does not deliver . So, I own some Jacques Lemans watches; they call their glasses "Crystex". Ithink it´s comparable to your tested "Krysterna". I wear all my watches and from practical experience of daily use I can say that none of my watches have visible scratches. So, thank you and go on 👍
Very interesting video. A case material test would be neat :)