Comment by eganist
4 years ago
> one scratch on window from some tungsten carbide.
Checks out. Tungsten Carbide and Corundum (sapphire watch crystals, the hardest watch crystal in use) have the same Mohs hardness of 9 and will scratch each other.
And I'd guess that a $300 watch probably doesn't use Corundum but rather mineral glass.
Lot of microbrands offer sapphire glass and very decent Miyota or Seiko automatic movements for $300-$500. Prices have crept up the last few years.
Orient has a few automatic models (Kamasu, etc) that can be had for under $300 with sapphire.
County comm mid pilot watch, it's advertised as Sapphire. Comparing with colleagues at the time, it was a far sight tougher than their watches.