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Showing 1 of 49 conversations about:
Rochambeaux
348
Feb 11, 2017
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I purchased one of these (not from MD) last year but returned it. Take a close look at the crystal. It sits slightly above the bezel, creating a small "plateau". At least for me that just screamed "snag/chip city". Otherwise it was a pretty nice watch.
Arker_1
71
Feb 12, 2017
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Rochambeauxumm...snag, maybe, but "chip"? It's sapphire glass...sapphire glass can't chip. Unless you go at it with a chainsaw, or some sort of heat laser or something, but I can't see anyone do something like that...
Arker_1
71
Feb 13, 2017
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Rochambeauxsapphire glass...it says in the description as well...
Sapphire glass is, obviously, a type of "glass" made out of, generally, artificial sapphire. It's, and I quote, "It's nearly twice as hard as standard glass, and nearly as hard as diamond. In practical terms, that means it's almost impossible to scratch, unless you happen to carry a bunch of diamonds in your pocket. It's not just hard, though, but strong, too: sapphire crystals have a compressive strength of 2,000 Mega Pascals, about ten times that of stainless steel." - Gizmodo
and diamond glass? what? impractical, and expensive, in all honesty. At least, compared to other options.
Arker_1
71
Feb 13, 2017
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Rochambeauxand, scratch resistant + sapphire glass basically means a very, VERY small amount of items can scratch this. I'm talking things you may possibly encounter during your work life. This includes heat lasers, and other such industrial cutters - which would obviously scratch this.
Mathariman
6
Feb 14, 2017
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RochambeauxSapphire is a 9.0 on the MOHS hardness scale with diamond at a 10.0. Not too many materials in the everday world are as hard as sapphire. I have had a Tissot T-Touch with a sapphire crystal for nearly 10 years, and you would be hard pressed to find a single scratch on it. It really is impressive.
Edit: The titanium bezel, on the other hand, is scratched to hell!
Edit: The titanium bezel, on the other hand, is scratched to hell!
Arker_1
71
Feb 14, 2017
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MatharimanNot sure that's titanium, looks like there's a little bit of stainless steel on the backplate, the majority of the rest of the case is carbon fiber reinforced polycarbonate, and the wristband itself is silicon. Most likely, the bezel is just more polycarbonate, or carbon fiber. Dunno, not ordering one of these watches myself, but this is what I gathered from the specs.
lobster
687
Feb 15, 2017
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RochambeauxInteresting, that the slightly raised crystal was the deal breaker. I was reading posts about the orient ray II USA version on a watch forum and the dealbreaker for those buyers was the sapphire crystal was recessed just below the level of the bezel. The concern was that the bezel would get scratched and they wished the crystal was raised so it could take the brunt of the scratches instead of the bezel.
lobster
687
Feb 15, 2017
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SkipPeyes it can chip and I have shattered a sapphire intentionally by throwing a case onto cement just to test it's durability relative to mineral crystal. but to knock this watch for having basically the same design as all other watches seems strange. It's not like this watch has a crystal that is significantly raised above the bezel. I have a domed and raised sapphire on the hamilton on my wrist right now. The crystal edge is one mm higher than the case. I've hit the crystal on marble and granite counters, windows, and walls. I've done more than just scratch up the case which sits below the crystal--there are gouges where metal has indented around the case, but the crystal still has not been chipped.
Arker_1
71
Feb 17, 2017
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SkipPeIf you mean natural sapphire, obviously, but there's a reason why synthetic sapphire is the generally preferred choice for screen protectors and screens on mobile devices. It doesn't chip easily, at all. I have a chipped protector...but after I bought it I dropped the package accidentally and it fell 3 stories xD
Also, of course you've seen it chip before. You seeing it shatter isn't the most unbelievable thing, either. Point is, in a watch its very unlikely to encounter situations where it will shatter, so that doesn't really matter. Chipping, well, it's hard to chip. VERY hard to chip. I've seen diamonds chip and shatter, as well as titanium. So it happens occasionally, but you wouldn't want to purposely expose this very nice and expensive watch to something that would easily chip it. Point being, it probably won't chip or shatter, if you are going about with your daily life, or doing some rougher activities, like diving or working in some sort of workshop. As long as you keep in mind the limitations of the watch, you should be fine. For me, that would be more than enough for me to buy the watch - except for the fact that I don't really want to spend 350$, the equivalent of a GTX 1070, for a watch. Not my style, really.
Arker_1
71
Feb 17, 2017
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SkipPeand in all honesty sapphire glass is one of the most affordable and widely produced options. Sure, gorilla glass would have been better, I mean the stuff can BEND without shattering, and I believe it can't really be chipped either, but...its really, REALLY frickin expensive. Also, just a experimental substance right now, tbh, so not many companies produce it in large quantities, and I don't think its as clear as sapphire glass. It's definitely more of a fingerprint magnet though.
Mathariman
6
Mar 20, 2017
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Arker_1The "titianum bezel" comment was in reference to the Tissot T-Touch I own.
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