Beginner's Guide to Watch Glass: 5 Different Glass You Need To Know

For watch glasses, there are different types with different properties. Watch glass is an essential part to the beauty of the timepiece. It is what we peer through to see the intricate details and beautiful design. A poorly-made glass can easily scratch and blur the details on the watch while an excellent high-grade crystal will ensure you can still see the beauty of your watch after years and years of donning it. 

Some of the most widely used glasses are sapphire glass, crystal, mineral, normal and plastic glass.

Sapphire glass

The best, clearest and most durable piece of glass - the one and only sapphire crystal. Its superb toughness and extremely high resistance to scratches despite extensive wear and intensive use. However, the same hardness that gives the crystal its durability also poses the difficulty of working with it and polishing it to perfection. To identify a sapphire crystal, it has a light pink or milky white hue.

Despite so, we have chosen to work with Sapphire Crystal to provide the best timepiece for what you are paying. 

Tidal Moonphase Sapphire Crystal

Check out our Tidal Moonphase Collection here.

Crystal glass

This second best alternative to Sapphire Crystal is Crystal Glass. Crystal glass is three times as strong as regular glass and is still rather scratch resistant. 

Mineral glass

Most commonly used watch glass in the industry - Mineral glass is stronger than plastic glass, ranking 5 out of 10 on Mohs hardness scale. However, it is not scratch resistant and it is often strengthened with a coating that makes it twice as strong and this becomes hardened mineral glass. To identify a mineral glass, you can compare it with other glass and you will notice its blue hue.

Furthermore, even if mineral glass is scratched, it can be easily polished again.

Regular glass

As for regular glass, it’s one of the least desirable material for your watch glass. It scratches easily and with regular wear, your watch glass would be full of scratches within a few months.

Plastic or Acrylic Glass

Plastic glass is the softest material. Commonly known under a variety of names - ‘Hesalite’, ‘Perspex’ or ‘Plexiglass’, this glass is fundamentally plastic (polymethyl methacrylate).

Though it does not break or crack easily, its low resistance to scratches makes it undesirable to be used on watches.

When it comes to identifying whether the glass on your timepiece is ideal, you need to know what you are paying for. Will your $200 timepiece with a Mineral Glass do justice for the beautiful and intricate details on it? Otherwise, you need to opt for a timepiece with the best Sapphire Crystal, ten times as hard as Mineral glass and can only be scratched by diamond.