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Replacing Hesalite crystal for Sapphire

23K views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  shastert 
#1 ·
I've recently "acquired" a few "nice" scratches on the Hesalite crystal of my Speedy reduced (being a daily worn watch, it has been expected). I've read that buffing some minor scratches out isn't a big deal and very do-able.

How much of a hassle would it be to just have an Omega AD change out the Hesalite crystal for a sapphire one? The reason I got the Hesalite one in the first place is because I didn't like the face on the reduced model that comes with the sapphire crystal.
 
#2 ·
How much of a hassle would it be to just have an Omega AD change out the Hesalite crystal for a sapphire one? The reason I got the Hesalite one in the first place is because I didn't like the face on the reduced model that comes with the sapphire crystal.
This isn't feasible. Just get some Polywatch and the scratches in the Hesalite are easily polished out to like-new condition. Polywatch can easily be found on the internet.
 
#5 ·
hello, no need to be scared of hesalite.
Even if scratches are really deep you can get them out easily
Use waterresistant sand paper wet with grade 400, 800, 3200 and finally 8000. When u polished with the 8000 it is almost like polywatch already. When u finish with polywatch the crytal will be like new :-!
The whole proceedure takes no longer than 10 minutes.

Gunnar
 
#7 ·
Actually, it appears that it is possible to replace the hesalite crystal with sapphire, but it isn't cheap. Otto Frei offers such a replacement crystal here. Their description sums it up pretty well.

Omega Sapphire Special Domed Glass​
Okay, This one is for all you guys who have the original Moon watch and you are upset that your plastic crystal needs to be polished or replaced for material cost of $25.00 plus labor. Some might be upset since I might have told them that if was not possible to make such a crystal in Sapphire. Well, once again it has been proven that for a price you can get what you what.
Tim Jantzen (likes to embed a .jpg of brown paper in his emails) asked Omega in Switzerland and in the USA and came away thinking that the sapphire crystal in case 145.0811 would work in all Moon Watch cases. Now he did said they didn't exactly say it would work, but they didn't say it would not work plus the Omega folks supplied the 145.0811 case number. He was sure it that the sapphire cystal in this case would fit in and that he really wanted sapphire. I told him that I did not think it was possible. I changed my mind the second I saw the price and so did Tim. However if you have to have it, we can provide it for a price.

OME-SKYHIGH-MOON-SAPPHIRE
$560.00​
Just for reference, a replacement hesalite crystal is about $30. A local watchmaker would probably charge about $50 to replace it.

eric
 
#10 ·
Actually, it appears that it is possible to replace the hesalite crystal with sapphire, but it isn't cheap. Otto Frei offers such a replacement crystal here. Their description sums it up pretty well.

Omega Sapphire Special Domed Glass​
Okay, This one is for all you guys who have the original Moon watch and you are upset that your plastic crystal needs to be polished or replaced for material cost of $25.00 plus labor. Some might be upset since I might have told them that if was not possible to make such a crystal in Sapphire. Well, once again it has been proven that for a price you can get what you what.
Tim Jantzen (likes to embed a .jpg of brown paper in his emails) asked Omega in Switzerland and in the USA and came away thinking that the sapphire crystal in case 145.0811 would work in all Moon Watch cases. Now he did said they didn't exactly say it would work, but they didn't say it would not work plus the Omega folks supplied the 145.0811 case number. He was sure it that the sapphire cystal in this case would fit in and that he really wanted sapphire. I told him that I did not think it was possible. I changed my mind the second I saw the price and so did Tim. However if you have to have it, we can provide it for a price.

OME-SKYHIGH-MOON-SAPPHIRE
$560.00​

Just for reference, a replacement hesalite crystal is about $30. A local watchmaker would probably charge about $50 to replace it.

eric
Holy sh*t. Thats totally new information to me. Whoppin 560bucks...But it IS possible...
 
#9 ·
Wow! I kinda expected a replacement Hesalite to be more expensive than that. Good news!

It isn't bad enough to warrant replacement yet. I'll buff it new again and rest well knowing that if worst comes to worst I can replace it in the future. This is a daily watch for me, so that's good!

Is there anywhere I should start looking for good How-to's on buffing the crystal? I remember seeing someone say that you should be careful to mask off the rest of the watch so as not to scratch it with the sandpaper. I really don't want to fix the crystal and screw the rest of the watch up! ha

On a different note.... (maybe more appropriately a different thread even).
Can I get the face changed on this 3510.50 for a 3539.50 face? I like the more SMP looking face with out the numbers around the outside of the main dial.

Thanks again for all the great info and help!
 
#11 · (Edited)
The sapphire seems to go now with new name "OME-062SL5005" just in case someone is wondering.

I noticed that it does not fit to all professionals, so I guess vintage Speedmaster Pros are out? I wonder why is that, I allways thought the size of the hesalite crystal is allways the same no matter whats the model??

Omega Sapphire Special Domed Glass

Case numbers most are gold case, however a few are steel cases: 145.0058, 178.0024, 178.0020, 178.0022, 178.0023, 178.0025, 178.0029, 147.1957, 145.0055, 145.0057, 145.0811, 178.0015, 178.0017, 178.0019, 178.0031, 178.0030, 145.0301, 178.0028, 178.0201, 178.0202

Okay, This one is for all you guys who have the original Moon watch and you are upset that your plastic crystal needs to be polished or replaced for material cost of $30.00 plus labor. Some might be upset since I might have told them that if was not possible to make such a crystal in Sapphire. Well, once again it has been proven that for a price you can get what you what.
Tim Jantzen (likes to embed a .jpg of brown paper in his emails) asked Omega in Switzerland and in the USA and came away thinking that the sapphire crystal in case 145.0811 would work in all Moon Watch cases. Now he did said they didn't exactly say it would work, but they didn't say it would not work plus the Omega folks supplied the 145.0811 case number. He was sure it that the sapphire cystal in this case would fit in and that he really wanted sapphire. I told him that I did not think it was possible. I changed my mind the second I saw the price and so did Tim. However if you have to have it, we can provide it for a price.

OME-062SL5005
$560.00
Also that bold line is somewhat missleading, do they sell whole cases or just the sapphire crystal, or whats up with the above line, cant really make sense out of that with my english skills.

Crystals (including sapphire) are here : http://www.ofrei.com/page_168.html
 
#13 ·
I'm a little late to this discussion but I've replaced the Hesalite plastic with Omega Sapphire crystal. The Hesalite and Sapphire crystals have a similar diameter but that's not the whole story. The Hesalite has a friction fit into the case but the Sapphire crystal requires a gasket. Therefore, to fit the Sapphire crystal, the case needs to be machined/modified. I've done this for a couple of friends that wanted the Sapphire crystal. Two points need to be made here: 1) this mod obviously voids any Omega warranty and 2) special workholding and know-how is required. I made an internal gripping collet chuck for my watchmaker lathe to hold the case; without leaving any marks. The machining of the case should be done with fairly hard tool to prevent work-hardening of the case. If interested, let me know and I'll give you some details on the workholding as well as the correct diameter to machine the case.

Basically, this mod changes the case from 145.0022 to 3573.50.

Regarding the cost, it's not cheap. The cost for the Omega sapphire crystal and gasket is about $550. In both cases, the mod turned out great and passed press test.

I hope this is helpful.
 
#14 ·
I'm a little late to this discussion but I've replaced the Hesalite plastic with Omega Sapphire crystal. The Hesalite and Sapphire crystals have a similar diameter but that's not the whole story. The Hesalite has a friction fit into the case but the Sapphire crystal requires a gasket. Therefore, to fit the Sapphire crystal, the case needs to be machined/modified. I've done this for a couple of friends that wanted the Sapphire crystal. Two points need to be made here: 1) this mod obviously voids any Omega warranty and 2) special workholding and know-how is required. I made an internal gripping collet chuck for my watchmaker lathe to hold the case; without leaving any marks. The machining of the case should be done with fairly hard tool to prevent work-hardening of the case. If interested, let me know and I'll give you some details on the workholding as well as the correct diameter to machine the case.

Basically, this mod changes the case from 145.0022 to 3573.50.

Regarding the cost, it's not cheap. The cost for the Omega sapphire crystal and gasket is about $550. In both cases, the mod turned out great and passed press test.

I hope this is helpful.
A little late? This thread is seven years old!
 
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