Mineral Glass - how does it fare in everyday use.

[gerrudd]

There are a few watches I've been interested in but 've been hesitant as they have mineral glass instead of sapphire. Then I got to thinking. I have a 17 year old Seiko Kinetic with a hardlex crystal. I wore is pretty regularly for the first 5 years I had it. I even tripped and fell while wearing it as I was out running. I remember skidding along with the watch face sliding on the ground - I used to wear it face down. I tore my knees and elbows and scratched the bezel but the crystal was fine. I looked at it with a loupe today and although the bezel is pretty scuffed the crystal is almost perfect.

So my questions. Is this an exception or does mineral glass hold up reasonably well in real life? Is hardlex better than other mineral glasses? What has your experience been?

[Peter franks]

I have a hardlex crystal in my skx007 , I wear this watch to work every day and it gets a hard life... it gets knocked, bumped dropped,covered in fuel/oil and all types of grinding dust...
The crystal has held up remarkably well considering the abuse it gets,I am about to replace it because I was cutting titanium and hot metal shards have embedded themselves in the crystal and it is now rough to touch!!! I'm going sapphire upgrade this time but I think for normal every day use a mineral/hardlex crystal should be fine...
Hope this helps

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[Wiggles]

Well, Hardlex is certainly harder than day to day mineral, but still softer than Sapphire. There are many grades of mineral, some good and some not so good. Before I got into watches I had a Timberland watch, which I wore day in day out for ten years doing a manual job. To my recollection there wasn't a scratch on it. Now I try and stick to sapphire, but only because it gleams, and these days you don't have to spend a fortune on a watch to get it, unless you buy a Seiko of course

[monogroover]

My mineral glass watches don't pick up scratches, but I don't wear them while doing DIY or similar.

[apm101]

It's my least favourite crystal. Plexi you can polish unless hte scratches are really deep, and sapphire hardly ever gets scratches.

A few of my minerals have picked up marks, notably my Black Monster (via messing around with an exhaust).

Might be because I am a bit clumsy...

[Lampoc]

Sapphire is always the first choice. I avoid any watch with mineral glass nowadays as it always gets scratched somehow. I honestly prefer acrylic as at least any marks can be easily removed in a few minutes.

[walkerwek1958]

I’ve no experience with hardlex, I don’t know how much harder it is than mineral glass, but I’ve seen plenty if scratched mineral glasses so I’m not a fan. When I fit replacements I prefer to fit sapphire if available, the extra cost is justified in my opinion. Provided a generic will fit, mineral glasses are cheap to replace, that’s the biggest advantage. Personally I prefer acrylic but I accept they need repolishing fairly frequently because they do mark easily.

[RobDad]

I would say I have an aversion to mineral glass - however the reality is that I own about 20 G shocks with mineral glass, including a couple I use as proper ‘beaters’ and I’ve never marked any of their crystals at all! - admittedly most have the crystal protected by the case shape, but this still surprises my. And I’ve come to the conclusion that Seiko Hardlex must be pretty good too as I’ve never marked any of the dozen or so I’ve owned over the years!
I have, however, scratched 2 sapphire crystals, one walking across a railway station in the summer time in short sleeves, I came into light contact with a lady who ran past me to catch a train and what must have been her diamond ring left a deep scratch across the crystal of my week old Seadweller! - almost the same thing happened with a datejust that was also virtually brand new as I was helping my wife change the sheets on our bed - her engagement ring left a deep scratch as it lightly brushed against my watch. I reckon luck has more effect than material!


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[Saxon007]

I've had a half dozen CWC divers with mineral glass and still own two of them. All the crystals were (and have stayed) pristine and perfect. I also have a newer MKII version with sapphire and the difference in appearance is dramatic. The sapphire has a tremendous amount of glare compared to the mineral glass.

The good news is if you do scratch mineral glass it is dirt cheap to replace.