[Skoghen]

Seen a lot of threads about hardlex and mineral vs sapphire. But not so much info about what's the difference between Seikos hardlex vs mineral? I know that hardlex is a mineral glass but is it something more to it compared to a "regular" mineral?

From own experience I never scratched any Seiko with hardlex but I have scratched Orients with "regular" mineral.

 

[lvt]

I have a watch with mineral crystal that I bought more than 20 years ago. So far there is no issue with the crystal after all those years.

Hardlex might be a little better but it shouldn't be the deciding factor of the purchase.

 

[Shrek2]

I’ve noticed this as well, although not as scratch resistant as sapphire the Hardlex on my Seikos hold up fantastically. It seems as though the hairline scratches on Hardlex are much less visible compared to mineral crystals from other brands (especially Citizen) when under direct lighting and at certain viewing angles.

 

[Skoghen]

Well it's a matter of luck ofc. as well if you scratch it or not. But I wonder what the difference is. It's not a decisive thing for me. I'm just wondering. I like to know stuff 🙂

 

[Tickstart]

Not sure anyone knows what Hardlex is. I dismiss everything I've heard about it as rumours until I've seen some actual documentation or figures.

 

[carbon_dragon]

I'm convinced my house is actually sentient and plans for banging my watch crystals as much as possible. I suppose it's possible I'm just clumsy. No mineral crystal, hardlex crystal, or any variety of mineral or plexiglass crystal survives without a scratch more more than a week. It's sapphire for me these days. AND little doorknob covers on my internal doors.

 

[Sergeant Major]

With Hardlex being a proprietary crystal I doubt we will find its true composition. Just looking at its name and characteristics it is a HARDened Mineral and pLEXiglass marriage.

There are 2 grades, the other I think is called Saphlex, want to guess what I think it is made of?

 

[Tickstart]

Some materials engineer with spare time and equipment wanting to do us a service and do some basic tests?

 

[dfwcowboy]

Seen a lot of threads about hardlex and mineral vs sapphire. But not so much info about what's the difference between Seikos hardlex vs mineral? I know that hardlex is a mineral glass but is it something more to it compared to a "regular" mineral?

From own experience I never scratched any Seiko with hardlex but I have scratched Orients with "regular" mineral.

It's definitely better. In terms of scratch resistance, Hardlex occupies the space between mineral glass and sapphire. Mineral glass is 100% silica(not accounting for impurities). Hardlex has added boron and proprietary heat treatment which makes it objectively harder than mineral glass.

https://www.watch-wiki.net/index.php?title=Mohs_scale_of_hardness

 

[Carl.1]

Yes, it is better. Next question........

 

[Sergeant Major]

It's definitely better. In terms of scratch resistance, Hardlex occupies the space between mineral glass and sapphire. Mineral glass is 100% silica(not accounting for impurities). Hardlex has added boron and proprietary heat treatment which makes it objectively harder than mineral glass.

https://www.watch-wiki.net/index.php?title=Mohs_scale_of_hardness

A!so, Hardlex has a shatterproof advantage. If you rough up a watch Hardlex seems a decent choice. I would not turn my nose up to it. Most of my Seiko s use sapphire. The one I have on right now does not, it is a JDM Nano limited field watch. It is a great fishing and hunting companion.

Shatter resistance.

 

[dfwcowboy]

Not sure anyone knows what Hardlex is. I dismiss everything I've heard about it as rumours until I've seen some actual documentation or figures.

In simplest terms Hardlex is simply a type of borosilicate glass. Seiko has their own no doubt patterned method of production, but the same is true for other types of borosilicate glass like Pyrex. I'm pretty sure Seiko also has different grades of Hardlex they use depending on the level of watch produced. I'm also pretty sure that involves adding scratch resistant coatings to improve performance.

 

[dfwcowboy]

A!so, Hardlex has a shatterproof advantage. If you rough up a watch Hardlex seems a decent choice. I would not turn my nose up to it. Most of my Seiko s use sapphire. The one I have on right now does not, it is a JDM Nano limited field watch. It is a great fishing and hunting companion.

Shatter resistance.

What matters more to me is reflective properties. A flat sapphire crystal that hasn't been AR coated is harder to read under many lighting conditions. For a watch that has a protruding bezel and a flat crystal, I'm perfectly fine with Hardlex because the chances of scratching it are greatly reduced and it's just going to be easier to read. However, I wouldn't want Hardlex on a dome crystal that's going to see hard use.

 

[sticky]

Hardlex is more scratch resistant than plain old mineral but with the exception of one really tiny mark on my BFK none of my watches has been put to the test.

 

[Skoghen]

Yes, it is better. Next question........

Why is the question.

 

[cubdog]

On the subject of Hardlex is there any kind of buffing compound that works to lessen some of the shallow scratches that accumulate over time?

 

[popatha]

if there is no AR coating, you can polish with Glass polishing compound

 

[M0hammed_Khaled]

Seen a lot of threads about hardlex and mineral vs sapphire. But not so much info about what's the difference between Seikos hardlex vs mineral? I know that hardlex is a mineral glass but is it something more to it compared to a "regular" mineral?

From own experience I never scratched any Seiko with hardlex but I have scratched Orients with "regular" mineral.

as for someone who used a seiko sumo as his daily everyday 24/7 for a year...
hardlex is just a fancy word for a mineral glass that's treated with something that prevents you from removing scratches once the dinged it.
i dinged it not even that hard while getting on a bus and it formed a deep scratch that i couldn't remove. i don't like hardlex

 

[Carl.1]

as for someone who used a seiko sumo as his daily everyday 24/7 for a year...
hardlex is just a fancy word for a mineral glass that's treated with something that prevents you from removing scratches once the dinged it.
i dinged it not even that hard while getting on a bus and it formed a deep scratch that i couldn't remove. i don't like hardlex

No, it is something different. You will still scratch it over time if you wear it a lot and bash it about but no where near as much as mineral. To avoid the scratches get a watch with sapphire.

 

[dfwcowboy]

No, it is something different. You will still scratch it over time if you wear it a lot and bash it about but no where near as much as mineral. To avoid the scratches get a watch with sapphire.

The difference is 100% silicone mineral glass can be very easily scratched by steel, Hardlex can't. This is actually a significant difference because most people are going to be coming into contact with steel quite regularly. Watches with true mineral glass crystals were horrible and much worse than Hardlex because they would scratch almost as easily as acrylic, but were very difficult to polish.