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Franken Milgauss


Triplock

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IMG_7993_zpsl6ssn4el.jpgIMG_7986_zpsa6yryihg.jpg

 

Recently completed Milgauss with genuine crystal and Swiss ETA 2836-2. 

The rep crystal is pretty nice with its AR coating, but it can't compare to the gen crystal. Rolex has this to say about its green sapphire:

"Green sapphire crystal - A unique watch crystal in green sapphire developed in 2007 by Rolex. Scratchproof, fade-proof and available exclusively on the Milgauss. Its light green shade, tinted throughout the entire crystal, turns nearly luminescent at the bevelled edges. The result of a secret process that required years of development to master and takes weeks to produce. Not patented, as it is so difficult to make that no one else would even venture to try."

So that's the reason the replica makers have not released a green sapphire crystal. 

What's interesting about the genuine crystal is that green only appears at certain angles and in certain lighting. The photos might make it look like you're walking around with a luminescent green circle on your wrist, but that's not the case. It looks quite normal until the light catches it just right and you get a brief and brilliant flash of color. Fascinating!

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Very nice. My dad's gen milgauss is so nice to look at, I love the green crystal.

 

I'm not sure how difficult the process truly is. I'm assuming it has to do with doping the sapphire crystal with some contaminant, and it changes the coloring in that way. To get full transparency with just a green tint, it's probably on the order of parts per million or something like that. Semiconductor industry has been doing that for a long time with silicon, germanium, and other materials. Maybe they just want to make it sound fancy ;) 

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31 minutes ago, Revere said:

Very nice. My dad's gen milgauss is so nice to look at, I love the green crystal.

 

I'm not sure how difficult the process truly is. I'm assuming it has to do with doping the sapphire crystal with some contaminant, and it changes the coloring in that way. To get full transparency with just a green tint, it's probably on the order of parts per million or something like that. Semiconductor industry has been doing that for a long time with silicon, germanium, and other materials. Maybe they just want to make it sound fancy ;) 

Glad you like :D

Yes, it could be they're making sound more difficult than it really is, but has any other watch company made anything similar?
There's some interesting info on the subject on TRF. Rumor has it that Rolex uses the "hydrothermal method".

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