Fixing the Scratched Crystal on My Omega PO (Daily Beater Rehab)

[dovo1695]

Below is a pic of my scratched up POrikka, that I bought back in 2010 when Narikka was the first to get the v4 Omega PO's. This watch has been my daily beater for 4 years and it shows. The worst injury is the badly scratched crystal.

 

On the one hand, I'm thinking of just buying a LMPO to replace it, but I'm unfortunately a sentimental kind of guy. It still keeps perfect time, and I'd like to fix it if I can. One obvious solution is to get a new crystal, and maybe swap out the dial while I'm at it. That seems like it could be a few weeks of frustration finding a crystal that fits correctly. I want to be able to swim with this watch when I'm done messing with it.

 

One thing that I was wondering about was whether I could polish the scratches away by putting it in a watch vice and using some 3000 grit on a small buffing wheel.

 

Any thoughts on how I can rehab this old dog?

 

[gran]

Myself! I used a surgical blade to remove the old surface AR... and yes its true that sapphire is tough stuff

[fraggle42]

I agree with gran, it looks like it's just the AR that's marked. Send it off to Sunnydale for couple months and come back good as new!

I don't know which version of PO I have but the gen crystal fitted just fine.

[Rolexman]

Just polish of the coating with some brasso and elbow grease or any other metal polish. It will look great.

[dovo1695]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm guessing that you gents are right; 80% of the visible damage is just AR scratches. Seems like if your going to do single AR on sapphire, it should be on the inside for that reason.

I'm going to give it a try tomorrow.

Thanks gentlemen!

[dovo1695]

@gran: I saw the pics of your beat down PO in the wristcheck thread. Looks like you've put it through its paces!

I noticed that the lume is really white. How old is it and what version is it? The lume on my POrikka has always been yellowish, and it's always annoyed the heck out of me.

[AlanW3010]

Always strikes me as a really odd thing to do to a watch.... build in a sapphire crystal and the cover it in something that reacts very badly to wear and tear and/or chemicals. Is this how it happens on Gens?

 

Kinda reminds me of my Oakley Blades. Lenses tough enough to deflect a shotgun blast but with a plutonite coating that scratches if you just look at it too suddenly or too hard.

[Resistor]

I've completely removed AR with red Scotchbrite and a little elbow grease. Comes right off without damaging the sapphire.

[Resistor]

Always strikes me as a really odd thing to do to a watch.... build in a sapphire crystal and the cover it in something that reacts very badly to wear and tear and/or chemicals. Is this how it happens on Gens?

Kinda reminds me of my Oakley Blades. Lenses tough enough to deflect a shotgun blast but with a plutonite coating that scratches if you just look at it too suddenly or too hard.

Sometimes. Breitlings seem to be sensitive to this, both because they use double AR on most of their watches and because their AR seems a bit soft. There are many types of AR coatings with different hues and varying hardness.

I had an old Blackbird re-coated and the replacement AR was clear, with a faint greenish tint vs the typical Breitling purple, and it seems harder in the sense that it doesn't scratch nearly as easily.