My Speedmaster co-axial reflects double images from the crystal. Does anybody else see this on their watch, or is my watch the only one with a misshapen crystal that slipped through QC?

The group of pictures shows how the offset between the two images follows the watch rotation. (The images are reflections of a ceiling light.) It seems the inner and outer surface of the domed crystal are shifted relative to each other. I'm worried that besides the obvious optical issue, there could also be a mechanical problem: the crystal might be thinner on one side.

Has anybody seen anything like this?

 

My first thought with these pictures is that it's the double AR coating creating this visual on the crystal. However, that's just a guess.

Are you able to see any lack in uniformity with how the crystal is sitting on the case?

 

The AR coatings on both surfaces seem to be working fine, and I can't see a difference in crystal height along the circumference. I haven't tried to measure it. For a double domed crystal I do expect to see two superimposed images, maybe at slightly different brightnesses and demagnifications, and maybe at an offset depending on the view angle, but not this large (1.2mm) constant fixed direction offset. This is not a small effect; it's obvious to the naked eye. Any reflection in the crystal shows up as a double image. If one looks closely, one can see that the offset between the two images does depend slightly in angle and magnitude on the viewing angle, but this is maybe a 10% variation on this large constant offset, which I assume to be a manufacturing defect of the crystal.

Initially I thought this might be due to birefringence of sapphire, but that effect is much smaller (the difference in refractive index is 0.008 for an index of 1.77), and would show up as a viewing angle dependent offset. And, of course, a sapphire watch crystal showing a large birefringence effect would have to be cut along the wrong plane.

 

This would cause my OCD to flare up as well if I noticed it, so don't take this the wrong way. But I'd love to see you take that watch to your Omega boutique and try explaining to them exactly everything you've said in here. Get someone to take a video of the employees' reactions and post it here asap LOL

 

Actually, I already showed it to somebody working at the Chicago Omega boutique, and he agreed it looked odd. I didn't try to get into the optics of it.