• Graduate
    6 Aug 2015, 9:45 a.m.

    Hi all,

    I have an 8-10 year old Aquatimer and she is beautiful. I recently got a rather nasty scratch on the sapphire, which I managed to remove with a 1.0 grade diamond paste.

    The sapphire is now perfect but I suspect I may have removed the anti reflective coating on the front.

    My question is, does this matter? Will it in some way be damaging to my watch. It looks fantastic.

    Many Thanks,

    Paul

  • Master
    6 Aug 2015, 10:09 a.m.

    No, it does not matter !

    And your "problem" was the reason, why IWC didn“t use antireflective coatings in the past for diving watches.

    The OCEAN for example, has no coating.

    No coating, no problem with scratches, mostly :-)

    Regards

    HEBE

  • Graduate
    6 Aug 2015, 10:46 a.m.

    HEBE,

    Many Thanks for your response,

    Paul

  • Master
    6 Aug 2015, 3:28 p.m.

    Paul,removing the AR coating on the crystal as HEBE points out does not affect the watches functioning as a Dive watch, but it certainly does affect the aesthetics of the watch. AR coatings are applied to reduce reflection from the crystal and, more importantly IMHO, to allow more visible light to be transmitted to the dial allowing you to see the true colors and textures of the dial. It is important to have the coatings on both sides of the crystal for the maximum effect as described in the article below.

    Please refer to this old article I wrote about AR coatings on watches.

    P 1.

    i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/wbarker75/AR_coatings_explanation_version_4-1.jpg

    p 2.

    i95.photobucket.com/albums/l156/wbarker75/AR_coatings_explanationp2_version_4-1dragged.jpg