2 years with a Rolex Deepsea

cchu518 said:
In the old days my dad would just go and get a new plexi popped in. But regular perpetuals for example were also just a $500 watch before the 80s took hold.

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Yup, and the dealers couldn't give away a 6263. My how times have changed.
 
davidswdan said:
The subs started sapphire around 1980-1981 and included the 16800 and 16808. It is true that sapphire will not scratch very easily (its a 9 on the Moh's hardness scale), however it will chip and crack. Plexi Crystals scratch quite a bit but can be remedied using PolyWatch for the most part. Many people believe that sapphire scratches easily because they own watches that have an anti reflective coating on the outside. This "film" scratches easily and IMO doesn't offer any clear advantage over a non AR coated crystal. Rolex does not use AR coating however they do use AR on the cyclops date magnifier.
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If you have a 9 Moh screen protector on your smartphone, you have a good "test case" for durability of a Sapphire Crystal watch face. I carried my cellphone everywhere daily on the farms in an open holster with a one of those screen protectors on my smart phone/phablet. The upper part below the edge was marked when I looked at it at an angle in the sunshine but, I never saw it in actual use.

I carried this phone cutting firewood, working the "garden", working cattle, etc. My phone had a hard life and the screen protector came through it all unfazed. I suspect I would be more apt to nick the bezel than damage the Sapphire Crystal watch face.
 
Sid Post said:
If you have a 9 Moh screen protector on your smartphone, you have a good "test case" for durability of a Sapphire Crystal watch face. I carried my cellphone everywhere daily on the farms in an open holster with a one of those screen protectors on my smart phone/phablet. The upper part below the edge was marked when I looked at it at an angle in the sunshine but, I never saw it in actual use.

I carried this phone cutting firewood, working the "garden", working cattle, etc. My phone had a hard life and the screen protector came through it all unfazed. I suspect I would be more apt to nick the bezel than damage the Sapphire Crystal watch face.
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Nowadays it would be better to crack the crystal than to crack the ceramic bezel.
 
Dddrees said:
Nowadays it would be better to crack the crystal than to crack the ceramic bezel.
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Exactly, New crystal about $200. New bezel insert (which now requires new bezel) $500-$1000. Don't even get me started on some of the Ceramic cases, you damage that...you just bought a new case.
 
Charlie Mike said:
A quality sapphire crystal won't scratch.
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I wore the sub in my photo for 10 years. This was before I became a watch enthusiast and I didn't baby the watch, I wore it while working on cars or whatever. I don't believe I have any significant scratches in the sapphire, maybe none at all.

I can't be sure off the top of my head but mine might have been an early 16800.

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love the deepsea and glad to see you are getting your money worth. I have been wearing the planet ocean chrono, everyday no matter what, for a little bit over a year and i'm happy that somebody else is out there wearing a high end timepiece and not afraid to get it dirty or scuffed!!
 
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