New Omega Speedmaster CoAxial - quality issues and observations

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The reason the AR coating is on the outside is if it was only on the inside it wouldn't block, or diminish, the reflected light hitting the crystal. There would be no reason to just put it on the inside as it would do very little good. Most of the anti-reflective properties are done at the surface exposed to open air. Although the surface that is coated is exposed and susceptible to wear and tear during wearing there really is no alternative way of doing it.

Anyway, good to see the OP got his watch replaced. Sometimes stuff happens which is not easily explained.

I and countless manufacturers disagree with this. I have studied optics and you are wide of the mark here, single coating, whether internal or external works and works well. Yes double coating is marginally more effective but single coating removes the vast amount of reflections and glare without offering the outside world a relatively soft and scratchable layer on top of the super hard sapphire which will look like crap once it is marked. Luckily external anti glare can be polished off by the user pretty easily once damaged, with no major ill effects. Plenty of Omega watches have no external anti glare, you only really need it on perfectly flat glass crystals anyhow, glare is less of an issue on a curved crystal IMO as the reflections are not so severe or focussed. Now I seem to recall Al is a bigger fan of double coating than me, and it is usually a bad idea to disagree with him since he is so often right, but here I beg to differ!
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Now I seem to recall Al is a bigger fan of double coating than me, and it is usually a bad idea to disagree with him since he is so often right, but here I beg to differ!

It's not that I am a fan per se, but as you have pointed out it's so easy to remove that putting it on both sides makes the most sense to me. Those who want it on both sides are happy, and for those who don't, it's a simple job to remove it from the outside.
 
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Although British independent watchmaker Roger Smith has no association with Omega, this is, to say the least, a very interesting lecture on making mechanical watches:
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