THE CRYSTAL

We’re clearly in the minority when it comes to the choice of crystal we use in our watches. While many prefer sapphire, we’ve opted for old-school Hesalite (or plexiglass, or simply acrylic).

So why do we do it?

We get the confusion. Brands will typically do modern reinterpretations with vintage aesthetics. Our goal has always been to be faithful to the spirit of vintage icons— make watches that feel like they came right out of a time machine. In this spirit, Hesalite has qualities other crystals simply can't replicate. It's more visually pleasing (clearer, warmer, less reflective), harder to shatter (more tool-ish), and more authentic to the ethos of a mid-century sports watch.  

Regardless, we do get a lot of inquiries, so read on for our responses to the most common questions we’ve gotten on the topic:

Why would I buy a watch with a plastic crystal, when I could get sapphire for the same price or less?

Believe it or not, it’s not about cost. It’s about recreating a certain magic that vintage watches had. As the very lens through which one views the dial and hands, the crystal is essential to this. The optical quality of Hesalite allows a watch to "pop" more, because it has much less glare than sapphire's cold, mirror-like finish. 

To even come close to re-creating the bubble-like look of Hesalite, sapphire would need antireflective coating on both the inside and outside surfaces of the crystal, which would defeat the purpose of its scratch resistance.

But isn’t sapphire an upgrade? I want something with vintage looks, but with tougher, modern materials.

We’ve always thought that Hesalite gets a bad rap on its toughness, and this may have to do with how we view watches. In today’s context, they’re mostly used as jewelry, so of course, the priority would be to keep them looking pristine.

But back then, they were used as tools, so the focus was different. For instance, look at these icons with plastic crystals.*

While sapphire is harder, it’s also more brittle. Plastic’s flexible nature makes it easier to scratch, but harder to break. If it does, it cracks rather than shatters, so there won’t be loose shards that could harm the dial and movement. Besides, if you do scratch plexi, it’s extremely easy to polish—it's the only material for a crystal where scratches don't have to be permanent. 

I feel like you’re just saying all this as a way to cut costs and maximize profit.

That’s OK! We've gotten this comment before, and even though Hesalite does cost us more, just stating that fact hasn't proven convincing to most people.

For one, if we were really driven by profit, we'd have used sapphire crystals from the very beginning. Just imagine how much bigger our market would be and how much more money we'd make!

At this point, our goal isn’t to convince you, but to explain why we do what we do as best we can. Not many of us have access to vintage sports watches, so it's always difficult to translate what makes them special. There’s a reason why Omega still makes the  Speedmaster, and Sinn their Flieger chronographs (103 and 356), with plastic crystals—and these are watches that cost much more.

With every manufacturer we went to, a flat sapphire cost less than a truly vintage-style dome plexi, especially in small-batch, specialized manufacturing (for instance, here’s an acrylic crystal that costs $250). Modern “double dome” sapphire crystals are affordable, but barely curved, as you can see in the comparison below:

We know some will actually prefer the more modern profile. In fact, the very first Neptune prototype had a similarly flat sapphire crystal, but we felt like it just didn’t capture the vintage magic we were going for.

The same goes for newer, more prominent sapphire domes. While they do a good enough job for many, the combination of shape and material creates a milkiness that to us feels artificial.

But you’d sell more if you used sapphire! I’d buy one!

While we do aim to be a profitable business, not everything is about money. It's important for us to be proud of what we're making, and we're quite passionate about this (if you couldn't tell already)!

I still like sapphire, couldn’t you just offer the option?

It’s easier said than done. In order to feature a high water resistance rating, the case mounting system needs to be different. Hesalite requires a steel tension ring to be mounted to the case, whereas sapphire and mineral glass will use a plastic gasket.  Our cases use the same construction as the "armored crystal" method found on vintage Omegas (here's a diagram). A sapphire crystal with identical dimensions would crack once installed due to the steel tension ring pushing up against it.

Basically, we would need to machine a different case entirely to accommodate a sapphire + gasket mounting system, and thus have to double case production to make a case for each crystal type. As a small, self-financed brand, this simply isn’t feasible, and our hearts wouldn't really be in it. Besides, sapphire is already the default option for the plethora of other brands (micro or otherwise) making fantastic watches.

In sum, we love Hesalite because it allows us to time travel a little bit. But it's not only for the sake of nostalgia, not just to call back to an era of watches as instruments. On its own, it still looks fantastic and is still extremely practical. It's just as good now as it was back then.

*Historical note: 

Rolex’s use of acrylic vs. sapphire is a good example of this. As they shifted from tool watches to the high luxury market in the 1970s and 80s, they transitioned to using sapphire instead of acrylic crystals. They still had stragglers though: their most toolish models, the no-date Submariner and the Rolex Explorer, had acrylic crystals until 1990.