The Breitling Watch Source Forums

About 6 months ago I bought two new pairs of glasses from a well-known UK optician. Got them made with thinner, lighter lenses and they came with 'free' anti-reflective coating applied. They are a nightmare to live with! It seems like just looking through them causes smears, which don't wipe off as easily as my old glasses clean up. Wipe 'em, they smear. Wipe 'em again, still smeared. Wipe 'em with a clean cloth....still smeared!! In fact, I hate them to the point where I almost won't wear them.

I went back to the opticians, who told me that the AR coating couldn't be removed but if I wanted new lenses, I'd have to pay £80 for both pairs and they can't do thinner lenses without the coating. This is tosh as I've spoken to another optician who says they CAN do them without coatings.

Rather than pay for new lenses, I'm thinking of giving them a go with a Cape Cod, given that plenty of people have fouled up their watches cleaning them with these cloths.

So my question is, how long would it take to remove the AR coating from a sapphire crystal on a watch (just to give me an idea how long to keep scrubbing!)?

Thanks in advance.....

I'm not sure of an exact time, but it'll be reasonably quick. Plus you'll know when it's coming off as the difference is quite marked.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Thanks Driver, I'll give it a go and see what happens.

I suggest laser eye surgery and bin the glasses

Better not to rush with a surgery.
Lasik eye surgery is not a piece of cake as greedy doctors tell you.

DON'T use a Cape Cod. Use Polywatch, Novus, 3M or another polishing compound for clear plastics. It sounds like you have polycarbonate lenses. Cape Cod is NOT a good choice for this. Where as Breitling uses a sapphire crystal, it's ok to remove with a metal polisher because it is hard as hell to scratch. That is NOT the same case with polycarbonate lenses, which scratch far easier than glass, let alone ultra-hard sapphire crystal.

Charmin' son, charmin'!



Thanks for the heads-up nickzac, but too late. I gave it a go and you're right...Cape Cod's DO scratch poly lenses. Fortunately, it was only small scratches near the top of the lens so it doesn't affect things when I'm wearing the specs. I only did one pair but I think I'm going to have new lenses fitted by another optician. I've found one who'll do me a good deal, so nothing lost.

Thanks for all the comments.....well, nearly all!

Yikes.

If you decide you want to remove the scratches, the best bet would be this
http://www.novuspolish.com/

if not, http://www.amazon.com/Polywatch-Plastic ... B0014R9V9O
or the 3M kits.

IMO the Novus is best but takes the longest to work in, which is why you'll find some people ranting about how much they love it and others ranting how much they think it doesn't work. It does, and on virtually all plastic types. The Polywatch is probably the simplest and will give almost as good results, as will the 3M compound for headlight restoration.

Thanks for the links nickzac. Think the Polywatch product might be the way for me to go. The scratches are small and appear shallow, so I'll give that a try. On the plus side, at least the Cape Cods have taken the AR coating off and they don't smear any where near as much as before. If the scratches don't polish out, it's a small price to pay...thanks again fella.

Better not to rush with a surgery.
Lasik eye surgery is not a piece of cake as greedy doctors tell you.[/quote]

I'm with you on the subject of messing with eyes, bnewbie. Knowing my luck, the doc would sneeze and burn the eyeballs out of my head! I'll stick with contact lenses and specs!

Anytime I understand the smudging. I wear contacts 99.9% of the time and I have glasses with an AR coating and they are always smeared a bit no matter how much I clean them. Let us know how the Polywatch goes. It's good stuff and believe it or not you will find many uses for it, whether it is pastic cookware or a foggy headlight lens, or a plastic screen on a laptop.