The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello, I have a Chrono Avenger. The Anti reflective coating has minor scratches on it and I have only had it for a few weeks. Is there any way to have the AR coating removed? Is this a common problem with these watches? Thanks.

I wouldn't try to remove it... if its only a few months old, go back to your AD to see if they can do anything about it. It should be fairly durable.

When wiping it try to use a micro fiber cloth.

I've heard that, for some weird reason, some people hate the AR coating on the outer surface of the crystal. Yes it is less durable than the sapphire itself, but it's still pretty tough.

I agree with roadcarver that going back to your AD would be the best start, but if you really, REALLY wanted to remove it, I hear you can use something called OMI AR Stripper which is apparently used to remove the AR coating from optical lenses.

Also polywatch and plenty of polishing will apparently do the trick, and I have even heard that Cape Cod cloths will do it if you work at it long enough...

By the way I'm not personally advocating removing the AR myself and I have no personal experience of it, but I hear these methods are meant to be pretty good. I like the coating myself, but if you decide to try to remove it, go very careful!

Yep driver8, love the AR coating on the Breitling. There's a point when you angle the watch and the glass appear to disappear.

Yeah I totally agree. And I really notice the difference when I wear my Rolex which is only AR coated on the inside. I'd never get the coating removed : if it got badly scratched I'd have to get a new crystal fitted or the coating re-applied.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

I've removed the coating before on an old Breitling... its not hard. They can't re-coat it for you without replacing the crystal so it is not a cheap thing to do. If the scratches drive you nuts, you can buff it out easily with a dremel and some super-fine rouge on the buffing wheel, you can do it by hand too but its much faster with a buffer.

If you shop around you can find optical coating companies that could do the coating. It's usually a coating of Magnesium Flouride and there are speciial harder coatings that usually are used on the outer surface of a watch crystal. I shudder to think how much a replacement crystal would cost but maybe they could be done on an exchange basis?

Anyone ever watch how they fire those crystals on Breitling's web site?

The whole process of making the watch is amazing!

~Brian

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Breitling Super Avenger
Fortis Flieger Chronograph
Rolex Submariner Date

I've asked the local eyeglass store about the cost of re-coating a watch crystal, they looked at me funny, and I said well what would the cost of redoing a lense be? and they said about $50, but that they don't typically do it with watches, so they couldn't be sure if it was possible. When a buddy of mine replaced the crystal on his Chronomat several years ago the cost was under $100... not sure about it now. Breitling didn't offer re-coating of crystals at the time.

Rather than your local Specsavers you need to source an optical coating company. I was sourcing these coatings here in the UK but it was not cheap to have done especially. What I ended up with was a longish wait for the company to fit my crystal in with other orders for the same coatings. That way my coating cost me about $50 instead of a small fortune!!

Did they do a good job of the coating? Just wondering how it compares to a factory Breitling Coating

Yes they did a great job of doing a single coat of Mag Flouride and they did offer me the option of a hard exterior coat but the watch I was doing at the time only had an inner coat so I can't answer for sure.

Most opticians only do the green colour coating which is why I went to a specialist company that offer the blue or purple coatings.

Reviving this thread.

How long do you think an AR coating will last? My Chrono Avenger only has some blue tinge left at different angles mainly when I tilt it on an angle and I only see it along with white light, at the edge of the white light reflection.

I called Watchrepairscanada, the authorized service center for Breitling and the cost to replace the crystal is $400. I didn't realize the crystal was that expensive! Like admin has mentioned, Breitling does not offer re-coating.

Wathcrepaircanada mentioned that if you are just going to replace the crystal, might as well wait until servicing is required. They'll do the sandblasting of the Ti case/bracelet, movement service and new crystal.

Right now the CA is running dead on based on the the atomic clock that I referenced.

I notice that the underside AR is still there, this could be the bluish tint that I get on certain angles, but not as predominant from my other previously owned Lings.

AR coating wear depends on how rough you are with the watch. I find the coating to be fairly durable but I'm sure if it contacts things like concrete wall corners it will scratch. I have a nearly 10 year old B-1 with the outer AR coating still in excellent shape.

The cost of the watch crystal will vary between watches. It depends on the curvature, if any, and the thickness of the sapphire. On the Chrono Avenger the crystal has a nice dome shape (or cambered sapphire as Breitling likes to call it) and costs more to manufacture than flat crystals like on the B-1. And so that's probably why it costs $400. Just a guess but I would think the crystal on the Seawolf would cost the most because it might be thicker to withstand the 300bar pressure (and it's cambered). There was this writeup on why sapphire version of the Sinn 103 costs so much more than the acrylic version. I can't find the link. Perhaps if I run across it again I'll repost here.