Devedander Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 So I when passing by lense shops I have stopped in to a few and asked about AR coating a watch crystal, some of them simply say no but I have had a few who might be able to help me out. One of them quoted me $80 for 1 or $120 for 2 crystals, double sided high quality AR coating, choice of tint including scratch resistant coating (pretty much a waste on sapphire but they aren't offering prices without) Another offered me $30 but the guy couldn't tell me how many sides, what tints I could choose from or what not... and said I need to talk to his manager to find out details and if they will even accept the job for non eyeglasses (due to possible insurnace issues out there). In both cases it was recomended from the lab that I send in my crystals for them to evaluate whether the AR would take as apparently some materials can develop a nasty cloud from AR coating... Anyhow, it's interesting to find this stuff out... and see what kinds of watches Lense shop workers wear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfreeman420 Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 I had the prescription lenses in my cartier frames AR coated and within a year they got clouded and scratched. They also developed spots that looked as though the coating was wearing off. I recently had new lenses made and the manager told me that AR coating is soft and scratches easily. I bought a new pair of sunglasses and got polarized lenses instead of AR. No more AR on my glasses. Maybe it is better to just get the coating on the inside of the crystal so it is not exposed to the elements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest avitt Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 I had the prescription lenses in my cartier frames AR coated and within a year they got clouded and scratched. They also developed spots that looked as though the coating was wearing off. I recently had new lenses made and the manager told me that AR coating is soft and scratches easily. I bought a new pair of sunglasses and got polarized lenses instead of AR. No more AR on my glasses. Maybe it is better to just get the coating on the inside of the crystal so it is not exposed to the elements. ...Exactly why I question why anyone would AR coat the outside of a watch crystal...It is bound to scratch with daily wear, and will subsequently look crappy. I know that some genuine watches, like Breitling, have AR coating on both sides of the crystal...But I can guarantee you that these manufacturers are using products and techniques that will not be available at the local Lenscrafters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted December 11, 2006 Report Share Posted December 11, 2006 ...Exactly why I question why anyone would AR coat the outside of a watch crystal...It is bound to scratch with daily wear, and will subsequently look crappy. I know that some genuine watches, like Breitling, have AR coating on both sides of the crystal...But I can guarantee you that these manufacturers are using products and techniques that will not be available at the local Lenscrafters. Yes, this is true. Industrial AR coating, such as that applied by the company I'm working with, is superior to Lenscrafters. And even so, they are very up front about the durability... While they consider quite appropriate for the exterior of a watch crystal, they say it simply will not withstand the "screwdriver test" that uncoated sapphire will withstand. However, much UNLIKE Lenscrafter coatings they say it can be cleaned with "spit and a T-shirt." Lenscrafter coatings require extreme care when cleaning. They require special cloth, etc. The industrial AR coat meets the military spec Mil-C-675 and is used on very expensive glass sunglasses. Lenscrafters coatings do not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devedander Posted December 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2006 Yes, I am persuing the single sided coating thing, but I think with most eyeglasses it's customary to coat both sides so it's a weird request for them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archibald Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Have we firmly extablished that all of our usual suspect watches--PAMs, PO's, Brietlings, etc-- have some sort of AR coat on the topside of the crystals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest avitt Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Have we firmly extablished that all of our usual suspect watches--PAMs, PO's, Brietlings, etc-- have some sort of AR coat on the topside of the crystals? No, most are coated only on the back side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devedander Posted December 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 As far as I can recall only a few breitlings are coated on both sides... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Have we firmly extablished that all of our usual suspect watches--PAMs, PO's, Brietlings, etc-- have some sort of AR coat on the topside of the crystals? PAMs and Breitlings on underside only. POs have AR on both sides. I've got a guy that'll do single or double sided AR that meets military specs for durability in the sought-after bluish tint. This coating far surpasses the typical optician type of coating and pricing is just as good as the non-durable coating prices I've previously posted. I need to post an update to the AR in USA thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archibald Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 chieftang, did you discuss other color(s) w/ the MIL spec guy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 chieftang, did you discuss other color(s) w/ the MIL spec guy? No. What other colors are desireable and for which watches? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chronomat123 Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 All sapphire Breitlings are double-sided AR. Only exception is the old Montbrillant, which had a mineral crystal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archibald Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 No. What other colors are desireable and for which watches? The gen of a muller franken I'm working on uses a purpleish color on both the inside and out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 All sapphire Breitlings are double-sided AR. Only exception is the old Montbrillant, which had a mineral crystal. I just inspected a Seawolf Avenger at an AD and strongly felt it was single sided. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 The gen of a muller franken I'm working on uses a purpleish color on both the inside and out. OK. I'm not sure I can really detect the difference between purplish and bluish when the hue of the AR is so subtle to begin with. Then again, I'm color blind too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted December 14, 2006 Report Share Posted December 14, 2006 EDIT: OK my AR guy (love this guy and his amazing responsiveness) says that from run to run this type of AR will undergo slight color shifts anyhow. He says it'll be very subtle and you'll need to be looking very hard to spot it. He also says that the color temperature of your ambient light will make the coating look slightly different as well. So it might not look quite the same under, say, shaded sunlight as under indoor incandescent lighting. And he is almost certain that this is going to be the case on big ticket gen watches as well, because he thinks they're undoubtedly using the same type of AR - especially on any crystals coated on both sides. There is one other possibility but he says that type of coating is much more costly, is greenish, and only provides ~0.5% better reflectance properties on sapphire substrate. So, highly unlikely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chronomat123 Posted December 15, 2006 Report Share Posted December 15, 2006 I just inspected a Seawolf Avenger at an AD and strongly felt it was single sided. Yo Chieftang, I can't say about the Seawolf, so you might be right on that, but I've owned gen Navitimer/Crosswind/Avenger/Chronomat/Headwind/Emergency/Aerospace... basically every model, and I'm 99% sure they were all 2x sided. As for inside/outside coating: I can guarantee the Chronomat and Navi are coated at least on the outside of the crystal, as I've owned used examples where a careless jeweler had polished off some of the AR coating while polishing up the bezels. By the way, thanks and big ups to you for arranging all this! I tried several months ago but gave up after hitting several dead ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millwright Posted December 15, 2006 Report Share Posted December 15, 2006 All three of my Gen Breitlings (Super Avenger, Flying B, Navitimer) are DOUBLE AR coated. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted December 15, 2006 Report Share Posted December 15, 2006 Well I will concede that the Seawolf is probably double sided too. I just didn't feel as though it was noticeably more glare resistant than the single sided samples I received from my AR guy last week.... I guess that's a good thing though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.