sapphire or synthetic

[paneristi]

I have recently discovered a very nice fiddy offered by trusty but am unsure if this is mineral glas, sapphire or a synthetic shappire (mineral with a hardened coating). anyone know if this watch is really sapphire

http://www.tt88time.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37_46&products_id=44

P.S. in the description it says that the case is a 1:1 construction which I assume the movement to pop out from the front like the legendary Eddy lee case.

sorry reagrding bad sppelling

[paneristi]

I just found out that the watch is using a synthic shappire. I only wonder if this is type of glas is prone to self destruction expeienced by earlier models. hope vsome veterans can help me answering this question.

[Pugwash]

See, that's the problem with lying about your crystals, like the cartel do.

Synthetic sapphire is sapphire everywhere in the world, apart from on Trusty and Josh's websites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire#Synthetic_sapphire

Is the crystal synthetic sapphire or is it mineral glass?

[jfreeman420]

There are 3 kinds of crystals in the watch world:

Mineral which is basically glass

Sapphire coated which is mineral sandwiched inbetween synthetic sapphire

Sapphire which is synthetic lab made corundum commonly known as sapphire. Genuine sapphire is mostly blue in nature, although white sapphire does exist, pieces large enough and flawless enough to make crystals from would be almost impossible to find.

Even the genuine watchmakers all use synthetic sapphire.

[Jkay]

Right ... all sapphire watch crystals are synthetic sapphire. It is created in rod form from a sapphire seed and cut/polished to perfection.

The problem is white lies and code words

[JohnG]

See, that's the problem with lying about your crystals, like the cartel do.

Synthetic sapphire is sapphire everywhere in the world, apart from on Trusty and Josh's websites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire#Synthetic_sapphire

Is the crystal synthetic sapphire or is it mineral glass?

+1

On Josh's and Andrew's sites "synthetic sapphire" is a code word for minteral crystal. If it says "sapphire" - then it IS synthetic sapphire (because there are no natural sapphire watch crystals), as stated by jfreeman.

Like when they say "Asian ETA" they mean 21j, NOT the Asian ETA clone. They LOVE to create false impressions. "Light AR"? WTF is THAT? Turns out, no AR at all!

I only buy from dealers who say what they mean and mean what they say.

[paneristi]

thx everone for your swift reply. I might rather buy a play watch from Jackson tse which are very good considering value for money wise. I especially like the nice flight strap on his mm13 which only cost like 78 usd. Davidsen is great but also pricey and sometimes your not sure if you will get a masterpiece or problem child. Maybe it is important to know if these fake sapphire will explode. Anyone else experienced this problem on the new generation of syntheic sapphires?

[offshore]

@paneristi,

All sapphire is synthetic, so there is not "fake" sapphire.

It is sapphire, or it is mineral, (or it is one of the composites, like "Saphlex" from Seiko.)

If there is ever a problem with sapphire "exploding", it is more likely due to incorrect selection of the correct size glass, than a flawed product. If the glass is not correctly specified for the case, then problems may occur.

Offshore

[paneristi]

I feel enlighted now. I can recall that someone coined another theory which has to do which temperature fluctuation. This was found on the search bar but yours seems much more sensible. thx

[JohnG]

I feel enlighted now. I can recall that someone coined another theory which has to do which temperature fluctuation. This was found on the search bar but yours seems much more sensible. thx

I am pretty sure the exploding cyrstal problem was with mineral not sapphire crystals - that is my recollection anyway from my reading. I could be wrong though.

+1 On Jackson Tse - I got a mini-Fiddy case from him for $35 shipped, am going to make a sterile homage with it (with dial/movement from other seller). He is fast, cheap, and courteous. Almost everyone seems VERY happy with the quality given the price.... my mini Fiddy case is very very nice.