Hi All,

I have a broken crystal @ my Omega Speedmaster Broad Arrow Olympic 321.33.44.52.01.001. I looked up online and it's difficult to know the crystal size and where I can purchase one. Any suggestions?

 

Well, I doubt you are going to find one on the open market, but if you want to look this is the part number - 062SB5307. Since it's a domed sapphire I doubt you will find a generic by size.

Can you post a photo of the watch with the broken crystal? Typically if it's actually broken, the watch will need a full service to ensure that any shards of the crystal are not stuck in the movement. I think sending it to Omega will be your best bet for all the work, but it certainly won't be cheap, and the crystal alone is going to be around $600, with the cost of a service on top of that.

Cheers, Al

 

Ouch!

 

$600 for the crystal? Made from ground up diamonds??

 

No just plain old sapphire...

 

I know this will be considered heresy and I would certainly be careful but I read in another place that an aftermarket sapphire crystal for the 178.0022 case is available at around 20% of the price of the OEM one. Obviously if it doesn't In fact fit or buggers up the water resistance then it is false economy but the real thing is a mad mad price so in this situation I would look to alternatives.

I think it was suggested that Cousins had something that fitted but I can't offer any more detail as my memory is sketchy.

EDIT: Just realised that this is the 44mm Coax BA the OP has, I think it was the 42mm which was available aftermarket but it might not hurt to look.

 

Different case, different diameter crystal...keep in mind that these are made differently than just a regular (mostly) flat crystal. These require a lot of machining to provide a profile that is quite tall like an acrylic Speedmaster crystal is.

Having seen some aftermarket crystals in various Seamasters over the years, the quality isn't quite there when compared to an OEM crystal. Personally I would not want one on my watch.

Cheers, Al

 

I perhaps should have declared a vested interest, hence my retention of the info about aftermarket ones, though this is still an original Omega sapphire on here: