Removing Ar Coating On Gen Breitling?

[Rolexman]

After polishing the rider tabs on my Steelfish I saw that I damaged the AR coating. I also know most diver watches only have 1 sided AR (inside crystal) to prevent damaging. All gen Breitlings have 2 sided AR (god knows why?)

So here's my question:

Should I remove the outher AR coating or will this completely ruin the typpical blueish Breitling glare?

Will there still be a blueish glare if only the AR coating on the inside of the crystal remains?

Now it kinda looks if the crystal has yellow spots..... ( because the AR coating is gone on that spot).

Thanks

Mark

PS: What's the best way to remove the AR coating?

Edited October 20, 2006 by Rolexman

[Canuck88]

Why not just call breitling and see if they can re-do the AR?

[Rolexman]

Any other idea's?

[Devedander]

Why not just call breitling and see if they can re-do the AR?

That sure would test how good a rep it is...

[Guest chronomat123]

Hey mark,

Man, that sucks. Happened to my Chronomat when I let a moron at a watch stand in a mall polish up my Chronomat GT for free. The edges of the crystal around the bezel had zero AR when I got it back. Looked so stupid.

I ended it up selling the watch, because I couldn't stand to look at it anymore.

I'm thinking one of three things. 1. Just polish it all off. 2. Polish it all off and get it re-AR'd from an optician for Finepics. 3. Be sneaky and, if it's still under warranty, call Breitling USA and tell them it came that way from the jeweler you bought it from. Tell 'em you want it fixed.

Best of luck with that. Beautiful watch.

After polishing the rider tabs on my Steelfish I saw that I damaged the AR coating. I also know most diver watches only have 1 sided AR (inside crystal) to prevent damaging. All gen Breitlings have 2 sided AR (god knows why?)

So here's my question:

Should I remove the outher AR coating or will this completely ruin the typpical blueish Breitling glare?

Will there still be a blueish glare if only the AR coating on the inside of the crystal remains?

Now it kinda looks if the crystal has yellow spots..... ( because the AR coating is gone on that spot).

Thanks

Mark

PS: What's the best way to remove the AR coating?

[Rolexman]

That sure would test how good a rep it is...

It's a gen..gen from genuine??.. duh

Hey mark,

Man, that sucks. Happened to my Chronomat when I let a moron at a watch stand in a mall polish up my Chronomat GT for free. The edges of the crystal around the bezel had zero AR when I got it back. Looked so stupid.

I ended it up selling the watch, because I couldn't stand to look at it anymore.

I'm thinking one of three things. 1. Just polish it all off. 2. Polish it all off and get it re-AR'd from an optician for Finepics. 3. Be sneaky and, if it's still under warranty, call Breitling USA and tell them it came that way from the jeweler you bought it from. Tell 'em you want it fixed.

Best of luck with that. Beautiful watch.

Thanks man!! A family member of mine works at an optician and a good friend of mine works at an authorized Beitling dealer so I could go for both of your options.

But the same problem remains.... the outher AR scratches easily so why not polish it off?... will the blueish glare become less or will it completely dissapear when I polish it off (the inner AR remains so?.....)?

Edited October 21, 2006 by Rolexman

[Guest chronomat123]

Hey Mark,

I think if you polish it all of on the top side, although I couldn't say for sure, because I've never done it--there should definitely be some glare from the AR on the underside of the crystal. I doubt it'd the bluish tint would be enarly as strong, but it's still be there.

I would get ahold of that optician! That's a valuable resource.

Best,

Eric

[andreww]

My Navi rep is coated inside only and I can tell you the blue tint would definitely disappear. I can only explain it like this. When a light source is reflected on the crystal, there is actually two reflections. One on the outside and one on the inside. The inside reflection is always blue, but the outside reflection is white because it is on top. What you end up with is a white circle with a blue halo.

Try polishing with a lens cloth and breathing on the glass. I wear Vaurnet sunglasses wich are heavily coated. Any oils on them cause them to look discolored. Polishing them up makes them look like new again!

[Rolexman]

My Navi rep is coated inside only and I can tell you the blue tint would definitely disappear.

So removing the outher AR would make the blueish glare dissapear??

The inside reflection is always blue, but the outside reflection is white because it is on top.

But here you say the blueish glare comes from the inner AR....

I don't get it?

[bAdhAirdAy]

So removing the outher AR would make the blueish glare dissapear??

But here you say the blueish glare comes from the inner AR....

I don't get it?

Hey Mark, I am an Optometrist so I do know some about coatings...

Light is reflected at both interfaces of an AR coating. The two reflected wave trains of a certain wavelength can cancel each other out totally by interference if both the phase and amplitude requirements are met.

By the appropriate choice of layer thicknesses and layer types, the phase requirement can be met for the reference wavelength (wavelength for which the AR coating is optimized). Interference then leads to a minimization of residual reflection. To achieve this, the layer thickness (t) must total one quarter of the reference wavelength. The thickness is just a few microns (1/1000 of a mm.)

By appropriately selecting the refractive indices of the AR coating layers, interference leads to a minimization of residual reflections. A suitable combination of lens and AR coating materials is decisive if the AR coating is to have an optimum effect.

The AR coatings work at different degrees across the color spectrum. Hence the anti-reflectance effect is not the same for all colors, which results in a slight color change to the lens. This color change can be controlled so that you get a pleasing cosmetic tint, such as light green, blue or red; which improves the overall appearance of the lens or in this case watch crystal.

When you polish the front of the crystal, (some) of the coating will wear off like an abbrasion.

When you want to completely remove th front caoting you can try to polish it of, but

it will be difficult to get a nice evenely result.

When we want to remove a coating from e.g. spectacle lenses we dip them in a

sulphuric acid (zwavelzuur) solution for a few minutes and rinse them with water.

However this will take off both sides' coating (in and out) .

The most of the blueish bloom comes from the front face reflection, and a little from the back, so when you

take the outer of you will lose most of the blue reflection.

I assume it is cheaper to replace the crystal instead of having it re-coated.

René

[Watchmeister]

Unfortunately, if you have the dealer put in a new crystal they will charge hundreds of dollars.

[Rolexman]

Hey Mark, I am an Optometrist so I do know some about coatings...

Light is reflected at both interfaces of an AR coating. The two reflected wave trains of a certain wavelength can cancel each other out totally by interference if both the phase and amplitude requirements are met.

By the appropriate choice of layer thicknesses and layer types, the phase requirement can be met for the reference wavelength (wavelength for which the AR coating is optimized). Interference then leads to a minimization of residual reflection. To achieve this, the layer thickness (t) must total one quarter of the reference wavelength. The thickness is just a few microns (1/1000 of a mm.)

By appropriately selecting the refractive indices of the AR coating layers, interference leads to a minimization of residual reflections. A suitable combination of lens and AR coating materials is decisive if the AR coating is to have an optimum effect.

The AR coatings work at different degrees across the color spectrum. Hence the anti-reflectance effect is not the same for all colors, which results in a slight color change to the lens. This color change can be controlled so that you get a pleasing cosmetic tint, such as light green, blue or red; which improves the overall appearance of the lens or in this case watch crystal.

When you polish the front of the crystal, (some) of the coating will wear off like an abbrasion.

When you want to completely remove th front caoting you can try to polish it of, but

it will be difficult to get a nice evenely result.

When we want to remove a coating from e.g. spectacle lenses we dip them in a

sulphuric acid (zwavelzuur) solution for a few minutes and rinse them with water.

However this will take off both sides' coating (in and out) .

The most of the blueish bloom comes from the front face reflection, and a little from the back, so when you

take the outer of you will lose most of the blue reflection.

I assume it is cheaper to replace the crystal instead of having it re-coated.

René

Thanks for the info friend!!... really complicated stuff if your English isn't that good . I don't understand why Breitling puts that stupid AR on the outside knowing it will damage or scratch very easily. The crystal is scratch resistant but the AR is not. Where's the logic in that?

we dip them in a sulphuric acid (zwavelzuur)

You're also from Holland right?

BY THE WAY: Why are the spots where the AR is gone yellowish?... why not clear white or slightly blue from the inner AR?

Edited October 22, 2006 by Rolexman

[bAdhAirdAy]

Thanks for the info friend!!... really complicated stuff if your English isn't that good . (1) I don't understand why Breitling puts that stupid AR on the outside knowing it will damage or scratch very easily. The crystal is scratch resistant but the AR is not. Where's the logic in that? (2)

You're also from Holland right? (3)

BY THE WAY: Why are the spots where the AR is gone yellowish?... why not clear white or slightly blue from the inner AR? (4)

Hey Mark,

Here are some replies:

1 - And I even tried to put it in "sesamstraat" level

2 - The same problem happens with spectacle lenses, the lens itself does not scratch, but the coating does...

I assume Breitling amongst others does it for cosmetic purposes and takes the risk of 'wear and tear' for granted

3 - En ja, ik kom inderdaad uit Nederland (omgeving Den Haag)

4 - I assume they are yellowish because normally a coating consists of multiple layers, around 5 - 9, it might be not all of it is gone after the accidental polishing.

Regards,

René

Edited October 23, 2006 by bAdhAirdAy

[Rolexman]

Thanks Rene!!.... really appreciate it!

Ofwel bedankt

[vandal.tbh]

I know this is a really old thread, but i found it on a search for removing my AR coating and wanted to add what I think is some good input.

I purchased the 42mm Omega Planet Ocean. It's a beautiful watch, but the other day I must have had my watch up against something metal and scratched off some of the outer layer AR. You could barely see it, but when I noticed it, that's all I could see from then on. Eventually I think I'll get a new AR coating put on by chieftang. But reading his section, I gather he doesn't do runs very often. So I decided to remove the top coat of AR so it didn't look bad, did a search and found this thread.

I had three things that I used in doing this: 'Turtle Wax' brand rubbing compound, 'Kwik' brand scratch remover, and 'Neverdull' polishing cotton. The rubbing compound was the most abrasive, then the scratch remover, then the neverdull.

The first thing I did was tape off the whole watch, then using and exacto knife, I carefully cut around the edge of the bezel where it meets the crystal and pulled the tape off. I used a small squeegee to push the tape securely around the bezel. I then used a mix of the rubbing compound with the scratch remover. This did a pretty good job of getting off most of the AR, although it took a good 20-30 minutes of firm polishing with an old t-shirt. The neverdull did an outstanding job of getting the rest off and leaving the crystal with a nice brilliant shine.

The end result is really outstanding. There's definitely more glare off the crystal, but it doesn't look bad at all. And it looks a thousand times better than with the scratches. I'd love to get this AR'd, but now I can wait until chief does another run.

Hope this helps someone else!

[Rolexman]

I know this is a really old thread, but i found it on a search for removing my AR coating and wanted to add what I think is some good input.

Nice digging and thanks for sharing V!