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Fenix 6X sapphire scratched glass on gravel

Ionut
over 3 years ago

Hi.

I know that are many threads here regarding this issue but now is time to post my watch problem and cause.

I fell a couple days ago in the woods from the MTB (easy fall) and the watch rubbed against some gravel with dirt.

The result: scratched screen.

I know that a large theory was made that Garmin's sapphire is not as sapphire as we the customers would think and the glass is not made by Garmin and the glass is not scratch proof and other silly stuff for 3 years kids.

These are kindergarten sleeping spells.


Sapphire is sapphire.

Colorless Synthetic Sapphire is used for the screen because it is the second hardest mineral behind Diamond. This is what we the customers should receive not silly fake glass.

It is only scratched by a diamond. This window was scratched by a simple small stone who is breaking if you hit it with asphalt and is not as tough as diamond.

So for a $ 1,000 watch (that's how much I paid when it appeared) this sapphire glass is a mess.

I have a $ 200 Seiko watch (also with sapphire glass) that I scratched off a corner of the stainless steel metal railing and as the sound rang I thought it was cut in half but it doesn't have the slightest trace and this glass in a watch worth a thousand dollars .....to scratch a pebble seems absolutely outrageous.
No matter what theories one might come up with to say I'm wrong, a sapphire crystal is not scratched unless you rub it with a diamond or a diamond hard stone, not with gravel in the woods or on the plains.
This watch is simply a scam.

https://ibb.co/sF51kQB
https://ibb.co/tDp019q

This is a actual picture taken before the crash on that road:

https://ibb.co/ctFbLbk

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  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to ericgottlieb

    So its possibly an un-scratchable sapphire with a scratchable coating :) and I would still say this is not how it is suppose to be. The benefit of AR coating if it gets scratched so easily is defeating the bigger purpose. AR is suppose to increase visibility while a scratched AR coating just does the opposite..

    Hence i am not seeing any fundamental merit in this logic.. which is also based on invalidated assumption (that there is an AR coating on sapphire)

    Lets make a watch with sapphire so it doesn't scratch and coat it with a coating that gets scratched.. counter intuitive

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 3811409
    3811409 said:

    So its possibly an un-scratchable sapphire with a scratchable coating :) and I would still say this is not how it is suppose to be. The benefit of AR coating if it gets scratched so easily is defeating the bigger purpose. AR is suppose to increase visibility while a scratched AR coating just does the opposite..

    Hence i am not seeing any fundamental merit in this logic.. which is also based on invalidated assumption (that there is an AR coating on sapphire)

    Lets make a watch with sapphire so it doesn't scratch and coat it with a coating that gets scratched.. counter intuitive

    You may find an AR coating on a Sapphire crystal counterintuitive, but it certainly is not unusual in the watch industry.

    Sorry for the small, old pics; but these are two pictures on my Omega X-33 Gen2 which has a Sapphire crystal with an AR coating on the outside. 

    The first pic shows the scratches in the AR coating:

    Although not bothersome under all lighting conditions, they were bugging me because, after all, a Sapphire crystal should NOT have scratches, right?

    So, I removed the external AR coating with a product called Polywatch (Polywatch Polish on Amazon):

    After removing the AR coating, I found the display brighter, clearer, and without an overall color cast caused by the coating.

    I have no idea whether the Garmin Sapphire crystals have an external AR coating, but I do know that I have returned a tactix Charlie and a tactix Delta in favor of my 6x Pro with Gorilla Glass because I found the Sapphire crystals on the tactix Charlie and tactix Delta less bright with lower contrast than the Gorilla Glass.

    Obviously, YMMV, but if you think your Sapphire crystal has an external AR coating which is subject to scratches, then you might try removing the AR coating with a product like Polywatch.  The Polywatch version I linked to is designed for polishing plastic crystals, but it is perfect for removing AR coating while doing no harm at all the the Sapphire crystal.

    HTH

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Ionut

    Softer material will scratch even a diamond.

    The secret is how pointed is the tip that is doing the scratching. The narrower and more pointed the easier it will scratch surfaces. This is not just a matter from hardness, but also from the pressure. The smaller the tip the greater the pressure.

    In usual conditions it is not easy to scratch a hard material, but if you are unlucky and meet the requirements... voila!

    So before moaning about sapphire quality, just learn the law of science.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to gaijin

    As I already told you. I have a 15 years old Seiko who have an indestructible sapphire glass. Not a single trace even it was scratched over very hard surfaces. I already know what a sapphire must do. I don't need someone to tell me that blue is in fact green. Blue must be blue. Let's not pretend other things that are not true. I am really disappointed by this glass on the 6X sapphire. This is my opinion.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to tess

    The damage that must not be taken in such an easy manner is the proof itself. I show my proof. If you enter the watch sellers a watch must cost a fortune, have a lot of features, but..... they are not guaranteed if an issue appears.... so always the customers is guilty and it must another watch who cost another fortune who always is not really what is advertised who's flaws are not always subject on warranty etc..... NO my friend. I want that is shown on the website to be true because I pay a lot of money on a 50 mm thing.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Feel your pain and it's really unfortunate that you got your watch scratched ...but stop being such a cry baby!

    You are wrong in your argument as well. Sapphire crystal glass is not an element per say as gold is so that comparison is not valid.
    And by the way there are many "grades" of gold as well in jewelry, as gold being so soft it's usually blended with other metals so in that context gold is not always gold.

    Sapphire crystal glass is a SYNTHETIC made crystal (crystalline form of aluminum oxide). It can have many different qualities and properties depending on the process used. Sapphire has an infinite number of grades. Grades are entirely arbitrary and are decided upon after inspection of each synthetic sapphire batch which has been grown. Some crystals are graded by its scatter or lattice distorsion and other for other properties.

    Sapphire can indeed by scratched by a number of other materials which are less harder than diamond. Many of these can be found in rocks and gravel or in abrasive compounds or grinding tools (or even dust from such tools and compounds). 

    Regarding what quality Garmin have in their crystals I have no Idea, but I do know they make it pretty clear that it is scratch RESISTANT, not proof.

    I have a G-Shock watch I have worn for 5 years without a singel scratch on the glass. It's been bashed and smashed so many times but not a trace of any scratches. I does not have a Sapphire glass, just an ordinary mineral glass. Does that mean that all other Sapphire watches are over priced junk? Nope, certainly not. It only means that I have been lucky and that the protective design of the G-Shock is good.

    I don't know if Garmin uses some sort of anti glare coating on top (it's usually on the under side) but it might be worth looking into. It might be the coating that is scratched.

    All this sounds like you thought you bought something indestructible and now you feel cheated when it got scratched.
    It's you that made the wrong assumption about Sapphire glass so stop cry about it.

    ...and no, I'm not a Garmin fan boy at all. I'm just stating the facts about sapphire crystals glass.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Testing with a gem tester on the Fenix 6x Sapphire,on YouTube, the crystal does indeed come out very positively Sapphire, not glass...

    Also certain stones contain hard materials that will scratch sapphire. 

    I also hope there isn't an ar coating that scratches on top of the sapphire, as I'm thinking about purchasing it, and don't want an easily scratched coating that defeats the purpose of the sapphire underneath. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Sam201176

    @Sam201176

    On YouTube....?

    Test-it in real life to see if he meet the standards.

    I was accused that I play drama. No. I say the things that I see as the experience I have with the products.

    I am very unhappy to buy a sapphire advertised watch to be told later that is not as sapphire as I expected...that is nothing guaranteed etc. Silly explains.

    Then charge me with 200 USD for the watch I have nothing to complain but when I pay 1K USD I have high expectations that is why I see that a trickery what is happening.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Ionut

    What standards?
    Please enlighten me on which standards you refer to?

    It is exactly as advertised. It's made of sapphire crystal and it's scratch resistant. Nothing more, nothing less.

    The youtube clip sam201176 refers to is this I think
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkq-HPNVIiM

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Ionut

    https://youtu.be/zkq-HPNVIiM

    Here is a YouTube link of the independent test.... Its not proof... You asked me to test it for myself in real life.... I suggest you buy yourself a gem tester and test it yourself, as I'm not worried about it like you, I'm positive it's Sapphire, I'm just worried that there might be a coating on top.