Which is better (or what's the difference)?

[Anakin14]

I have a few crystals with Chieftang's AR on them and I must say they are top notch, awesome! My question is, how does his AR compare to the factory AR on a factory Omega crystal on a Seamaster? I'm asking because I just scratched the heck out of the crystal on Chieftang AR coated crystal. Now I'm faced with buying a generic crystal and sending it off to Chieftang to get coated which can have a turn-around of 3 - 5 months from today. Or, I can buy a genuine factory AR crystal from Ofrei which I will have installed in my watch in 1 - 2 weeks. What should I do???? I want to have my watch back in service ASAP but I want a top notch AR too.

[dluddy]

I've had both and Chief's is worth the wait

[vlydog]

Do both.

[ubiquitous]

Agree 100%; Chief's is absolutely worth the wait.

BTW, what were you doing to scratch the Chief AR? His coating is usually quite resilient, and can stand up to some severe punishment...

[Anakin14]

What did I do? Stupid, stupid stupid!!! I still can't believe I did this. I was in the garage and I reached behind a box that is up against a cement wall. As I reached behind the box, scraaaaaaaatch went my crystal along about a 6 inch section of very rough cement. Basically, it looks like I took 200 grit sand paper across the crystal. Nothing, not even Chieftang's coating can stand up to that. The sapphire crystal itself even has some fine hairline scratches in it. I don't know how I didn't damage the watch itself.

I've never done anything so absolutely stupid regarding one of my watches in my life. I always use my right hand when doing something like this or I take my watch off. I was in a rush (my wife was in the car yelling at me to hurry up - we were late for an event) and I was in a bad mood (it got a whole lot worse very quickly, let me tell you).

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I guess I'll get a generic crystal and have Chiefie work his magic on it.

[txcollector]

A few things:

- If you send the crystal directly to Chief the turn around would be a lot less than that. About 1 month for me.

- The Omega AR is NOT like Chiefs. Chief's AR makes the crystal invisible. The OEM is blueish and very hard to replicate.

- Price wise Chief is a lot better deal.

[Anakin14]

I've sent it directly to him in the past. Usually, it takes a few weeks for him to collect all the crystals for the shipment then they are off for a few weeks then it is a couple of weeks to send them back. Normally I'm not in too much of a hurry, but I want to get this watch back on my wrist.

Txcollector - I agree Chief's is a better deal. His AR is $50 or so and a generic crystal is $20 or less. The gen Omega crystal is about $140.

[txcollector]

curious: where do you get a thick crystal like that? I have looking for one for a Tag link but no luck.

[jmarin.72]

IMHO nothing beats CT's AR

Had my ex Breitling's crystal treated with CT AR...it makes the crystal invisible

Like D said, it worths the wait.

John