I Don't Like It...
: I've been considering adding a Planet Ocean to
: my collection, but one thing that has been
: holding me back is the AR coating on the
: outside of the sapphire crystal. I remember
: reading somewhere that the coating is
: susceptible to scratching, which would drive
: me absolutely nuts. Then again I've read
: that sapphire crystals are susceptible to
: shattering and it has never been a problem
: for me--even with some strong knocks against
: hard surfaces. I'm wondering just how easy
: it is to scratch the AR coating...has it
: actually happened to anyone in this forum?
I've seen some used PO's in the shops that have scratches to the AR coating. Since the outer coating is just a thin, baked on layer, once it's scratched you have to either live with it or remove the whole coating all-together. The same Polywatch compound that can be used to remove scratches from hesalite crystals will completely remove the AR coating from a PO crystal. I've read tons of posts about this, and a lot of people have gone ahead and removed the outer coating so they wouldn't have to worry about scratches.
Personally, I agree with you 100%. The small amount of extra glare reduction that the outer layer provides isn't worth the hassle of having to worry about scratching it. Its only real benefit is that it makes the crystal appear invisible in certain lighting, since the coating is the same on both sides of the crystal. Still, I much prefer watches with inner coatings only, like the Bond SMP. Just my opinion...
