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Thoughts on plexi crystal??

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alx007

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I found this watch a couple of weeks ago and I'm just infatuated with it:
When I read the specs, I saw the crystal was not mineral glass, or sapphire, as most modern watches nowadays. I found it quite an interesting setup.

That brought me back to my vintages, all of which have plexi crystals. When I first got a vintage watch, I thought a plexi crystal was a big turnoff - it scratched so deeply, and so easily. It was far from my other watches - at the time, a Tissot with a sapphire crystal, and a Citizen with a mineral crystal (got scratched in the first week, and I hated it for that).

As time goes by, I learned to appreciate plexi - polishing it off to make it look like new is very simple, cheap and offers incredible results. If it ever breaks, it's kinda cheap to replace. Above it all, it's not a fingerprint magnet. I became a fan. Then again, who am I to say anything? I'm a fervorous vintage advocate.

Going back to this junghans, for a lot of people, the plexi is a turn off. I find it very very interesting, not to say great (ok, I would love if they dropped the price a bit to match the material choice).

So, I want to hear you guys' two cents on plexi - yay? nay? why?
 
#2 · (Edited)
Love it, especially on that watch, definitely not a turn-off. The only thing that would beat it, for me, would be a domed sapphire with the same profile. But that's just being greedy, lazy, and unnecessary really. It's not difficult to polish an acrylic occasionally.

I generally feel that a domed crystal, whether acrylic or not, adds an extra visual dimension. For e.g. A flat sapphire instead of the domed acrylic on my Sinn would completely alter the visual aesthetics of the watch, and I wouldn't like it anywhere near as much:

 
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#3 ·
I'm a big fan of acrylic crystals. They add so much more charm than a featureless, flat crystal. I don't baby my watches, but I don't find that the crystals on mine get scratched very often. And it is an easy and quietly therapeutic fix to polish them out again.

A lot of people talk about plexi/ acrylic as though it is a big no-no. These always seem to be people who have never owned one. But it was the specific choice of the British Military for years.

A friend of mine dropped her Sapphire glass watch on its face recently. It cost her hundreds to have the bits removed from the movement. I dropped my CWC on its face 12 months ago. It got a small cosmetic crack, but remained water tight. When I replaced the crystal, it was ÂŁ8 fitted. (Maybe $12 or so?)

I much prefer plexi, and it is a big plus for me. I don't like the coolness of sapphire, or the cost to replace it, air how brittle it is in an impact, or how it looks purple in some light, because of the anti- reflective coating that you need on flat crystals. I know you can get double domed sapphire now. But it is still only 'almost' as nice as plexi. And costs a LOT more.

Nice Junghans, by the way.
 
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#4 ·
In general I would prefer sapphire but I can appreciate acrylic(hesalite/plexi)as well , there's a certain warmth to it and scratches are easily removed using polywatch and the likes. Given a choice, I would take plexi over mineral glass any day.
 
#5 ·
I have a few and love them. Easy to polish so when they get a few scratches, 5 minutes with Polywatch bring them back to new condition (unless it's super deep scratch). And they look so good IMO.
 
#9 ·
I prefer the largest surface area of a mechanical watch NOT be made from the cheapest material. If it isn't the cheapest material, probably not a watch I would buy.
 
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Discussion starter · #10 ·
GlennO said:
I generally feel that a domed crystal, whether acrylic or not, adds an extra visual dimension. For e.g. A flat sapphire instead of the domed acrylic on my Sinn would completely alter the visual aesthetics of the watch, and I wouldn't like it anywhere near as much:
Click to expand...
Yeah - I forgot to mention the nice visual dimension a domed crystal adds to the watch. I also like the warm feel when you touch a plexi crystal. But to me, the biggest factor is it's not nearly as prone to fingerprint smudges as sapphire crystals. I love how my plexi watches just stay clear.

Nice watch, btw.
 
#11 ·
westlake said:
I prefer the largest surface area of a mechanical watch NOT be made from the cheapest material. If it isn't the cheapest material, probably not a watch I would buy.
Click to expand...
Too many negatives for me to make sense of this. You prefer it not to be the cheapest? And if it's not the cheapest, you won't buy it? So you prefer not to buy it? And by largest surface area, so you mean the crystal? Or the case? My head hurts.
 
#12 ·
All of my watches have sapphire crystals which is about 10m thick on the divers. For the reasons outlined by many of the previous posters I would prefer to have an acrylic crystal to a mineral glass one.
 
#14 ·
Mr. Head Hurts, in spite of my poor drafting skills its pretty easy. I believe plexi to be an inferior and cheap material as a crystal in a mechanical watch. I would not purchase a plexi-crystal watch and would not recommend to others for purchase (regardless of price). That said, some companies use the material as a "tribute" to vintage mechanical watches (PAM 372 Luminor Historic 3 day comes to mind) which I guess works in terms of marketing, but it still diminishes the overall quality and usability of the watch. No matter the argument for using plexi, you don't see any of the "major" brands such as ALS, Patek, AP, JLC, Rolex, or others using it in their watch lines.
 
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#15 ·
Depends on the watch, It wouldn't be right (in my book) to call a watch a moonwatch without the hesalite crystal. Similar scenario on the PAM 372, it would loose his classic look. So each material has different characteristics and their benefits can be maximized or highlighted with the right watch. "To each is own":-!
 
#16 ·
I was contemplating that same watch basically but the plexi turned me off. I am not very delicate with my current watch and quite frankly I think it would end up scratched / cracked very very easily by me. I really wish they would use sapphire as it is a great looking watch.
 
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#17 ·
heuerolexomega said:
Depends on the watch, It wouldn't be right (in my book) to call a watch a moonwatch without the hesalite crystal. Similar scenario on the PAM 372, it would loose his classic look. So each material has different characteristics and their benefits can be maximized or highlighted with the right watch. "To each is own":-!
Click to expand...
Both the 3570.50.00 Speedy and PAM 372 are tribute watches (although not sure the PAM qualifies as much as the Speedy). Both use plexi as a historical reference to the best or most cost-effective material of that era for watch crystals and, yes, both would "feel" different using modern-era synthetic sapphire. However, that doesn't mean both watches aren't degraded to some degree for the material choice, but that's a marketing/presentation decision not an efficiency one. In a non-tribute watch, the use of Plexi is just a cost consideration.
 
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#18 ·
westlake said:
Both the 3570.50.00 Speedy and PAM 372 are tribute watches (although not sure the PAM qualifies as much as the Speedy). Both use plexi as a historical reference to the best or most cost-effective material of that era for watch crystals and, yes, both would "feel" different using modern-era synthetic sapphire. However, that doesn't mean both watches aren't degraded to some degree for the material choice, but that's a marketing/presentation decision not an efficiency one. In a non-tribute watch, the use of Plexi is just a cost consideration.
Click to expand...
So yes like I said to each is own, not sure is there are many other examples that would make it right. Now if I ever go to the moon I would take the plastic over the Saphire LOL
 
#19 ·
heuerolexomega said:
So yes like I said to each is own, not sure is there are many other examples that would make it right. Now if I ever go to the moon I would take the plastic over the Saphire LOL
Click to expand...
I think I am more outdated than the plexi as relates to moon travel...
 
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