Hi guys, I recently purchased my first vintage Omega - a Constellation 168.004. Recently in the course of normal wear - I seem to have gotten a light / shallow scratch on the upper part of the watch crystal (pictures attached). I'm very keen to avoid replacing the crystal if I can. Therefore I was wondering if you could help me with a couple questions. 1. Firstly - does anyone know if the crystal on this watch is glass or plastic? It appears to be a hesalite crystal on my first inspection but not sure what the best way to tell might be? Would anyone know what is typical for this watch or provide guidance on how I could judge myself? 2. Secondly - would anyone have any suggestions for the best way to polish the crystal and (at least partially) remove the scratch marks from the watch? I have read some other posts in the forum and was thinking of trying https://www.polywatch.de (hence the questions re: glass vs. acrylic). Does anyone have any potential home remedies or alternative suggestions for what I could do? As always - thank you all for your advice and guidance.
If it's the original crystal, it's hesalite (plastic) and an OEM or aftermarket replacement would also likely be hesalite. You should be able to polish out the scratch yourself with Polywatch or Novus. Be sure to tape off the area around the crystal so that you don't inadvertently scratch the bezel, case, lugs, etc. If you are uncomfortable doing this yourself (it's not difficult), any full service jeweler can easily polish out the scratch for you in a few minutes for a nominal fee. Many will do it for free.
Hi, Nice watch. Many of us use Polywatch although there are other options, none of which I’ve tried, but sometimes suggested. I’d expect Polywatch to work on your crystal because it looks generally okay from your photos however, unless it’s a signed Omega crystal (with the Omega logo set in the centre of the crystal) a replacement generic crystal would probably cost about £10
I use this: https://www.amazon.de/Acryl-Plexiglas-Polierpaste-150-Tube/dp/B001056C4W/ref=sr_1_2?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=201Q9JBYT0D1R&dchild=1&keywords=rotweiss polierpaste&qid=1634290292&sprefix=rotweiss,aps,177&sr=8-2 combined with the "Rot-Weiss" sponge its very quick and all scratches are gone. No need to tape anything.