Horological Meandering

Hi All, We often take the crystals on our watches for granted. In fact to view the dials and movements on our beloved timepieces the more the lens disappears the better – we even apply antireflective coatings to optimise this. I realised that I knew very ...  

This sapphire boule reminds me of the silicon boule I used to see often as a child. In fact, the silicon boule shares a lot of similarities with the sapphire boule. They will both be sliced into round circular discs (for silicon, they're called silicon wa... 

Thanks Patrick, A similar process is used to make silicon boule’s that are central to the semiconductor industry. Various optical devices, including lasers and barcode scanners that we are all familiar with, are more common applications for artifici... 

Thanks for the interesting post Andrew. By far the most impressively made crystal I have seen at this price, and one of the best at any price, the domed sapphire of the Grand Seiko which is hard to capture in photos. - SJX...  

that the domed crystal is just captivating. Here's another pic Pat...  

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Fun post, Andrew! Do you know if any watch manufacturer has tried to create crystals out of lab grown diamond (10 on the Mohs scale, so even more scratch resistant than sapphire)? It seems like something an ultra high end, technology embracing manufacture... 

Hi Daos, Interesting suggestion. It would be a great marketing tool and little different from tantalum, titanium, hublonium or zenithium used for cases. However, I cannot find mention of any manufacturer trying this or indeed whether synthetic diamond can... 

Andrew, You and MW (for vids of indigenous Japanese music) win my prize for most interesting PPro post of the day. Really...there is a company that takes cremated remains and turns them into diamonds? So bizarre, but if it helps people cope then why not? ...