H horseShuthanks for the correction, Al.
anyway, my point still stands. this negative press of the sapphire sandwich is uncalled for.
who are these people, Polywatch employees?
both versions are beautiful, and have their own place in the moonwatch lineup.
I think you are taking this a bit too personally. It's just people's taste.
If you like the sapphire, that's great. Personally my own Speedmaster is acrylic, and I wouldn't want the sapphire version. I have other watches with a mix of sapphire and acrylic crystals, so I am fine with both materials in general. Like it or not, most people don't like the milky ring, and I've been considering ways of getting rid of that effect on the watches that have them...
I know you saying even if people prefer sapphire they don’t like milky ring however I think people prefer milky ring over something so easy to scratch.
This is another bit of misinformation. Acrylic is certainly easier to scratch than sapphire, but it hardly scratches "so easy" as many people believe. I wear watches with acrylic crystals all the time, and scratches rarely appear on them. When they do 15 seconds with some polish and they look new again. People often make them out to be a huge burden, but they aren't.
Roscom is the Soviet NASA.
They still use Speedmasters externally on EVA and on launch and recovery suits.
I was wondering if anyone knew which version they used. Roscom for awhile used a sapphire Fortis externally.
Metal Delrin brake, eh? Interesting...but Delrin is a plastic. It doesn't come in metal. The brake is either plastic or steel.
A little off topic, sorry.
I'm curious to know exactly which movement has the metal brake versus the Delrin one?
Also, are there any pros and cons to either of these brakes?
Bottom line-
(6:47 minute mark, tried to start the video there but the embedding tool overrides it)
H horseShuWatchfinder probably has a lot of Hesalite in stock so they're hyping it up.
If ever they have a lot of Sapphire inventory, don't worry they'll release a video hyping up the Sapphire as well...
In my experience servicing hundreds of Speedmasters, the acrylic crystal version is much more common than the sapphire where a choice is offered.
H horseShuIt's sad that a lot of collectors are simply following the squeakiest wheels.
If you search any topic comparing the hesalite and sapphire, expect to see the words "milky", "ring" and "unsee".
It never fails, I kid you not. It's like computer software is writing posts in this forum.
Fortunately, I got to see both in person, and I brought home the sapphire. The sapphire crystal is so clear and distortion-free, it made reading the time and sub-dials easy. The so-called milky ring is not ugly and does not bother me. Well, not unless you've been brainwashed to think it's ugly.
And I love the movement. The 1863 has better finishing and looks more premium than the 1861. It also has a metal Delrin brake, which is plastic in the 1861.
With most Omega watches having open casebacks, I find it strange that I should pick the closed caseback model.
Lastly, it seems every argument to get the Hesalite is to mention the Sapphire in the negative. Can we please stop this? This is not a race. And they are both Moonwatches.
All 861's started with the metal brake, then they changed to the plastic brake a few years in - others have pinned down the time frame but I can't recall what it is. When the 1861 came along, it was equipped with the plastic brake. The 1863's used for the display back models use a steel brake, because the plastic would look cheap.
For the thousand dollar Canadian premium to buy the sapphire I’m very happy with what I consider a much more pleasing look on my Hesalite and a tube of polywatch. In a year of ownership I’ve only had to use the poly once.
