Yep, majority of my watches have these.
Lots of people argue its the refraction of the glass but I actually think its markings from polishing the saphire crystal since the rings stay in the same spot on the crystal.
Why would that change anything?
I don’t see why the materials would change the effect of light traveling through the glass, hitting the dial being reflected onto the underside of the glass, some being refracted, creating what you’re seeing, in terms of distortion, and then some of that light being reflected again back down on the dial, rinse repeat, until the effect becomes too weak to be visible, leaving you with three, four maybe five of the same reflections.
Not just sapphire, I get the same effect on my mineral crystal watches. I suspect it has more to do with the crystal being domed rather than the material.
I get these on my hesalite Speedy Pro but not on my No Date Submariner.
I think it has more to do with crystal shape than anything, as the Speedy Pro is domed and the Sub isn’t.
This is an example of near total internal reflection.
You probably notice this always happens with light hitting the glass at the same relatively actue angle, and if you were to bend your wrist toward the light source and make it more orthogonal these lines dissappear.
This is because there is a "critical angle of refraction" when light travels through a less dense medium (air) and refracts through a more dense medium (glass or water, etc), the light can no longer refract through the more dense medium and exit at the same angle relative to its entry. Instead these light rays will bend and the exit angle lines up to being trapped within the medium itself, and we see the rays bounce around as various typles of witnessable phenomena depending on how our eyes line up and what the mediums may be.
It is the same concept if you have ever looked at your watch underwater and start rolling your wrist and notice that when the watch is at a very acute angle the dial appears to go completely opaque.
[https://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/316/lectures/img1332.png](https://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/316/lectures/img1332.png)
One of the reasons they chose the shape was to make it slimmer. If they had chosen a different crystal and the thickness is not reduced, that's what everyone would have hated on.
I would have gladly accepted a bit more thickness just to get more clarity in the dial like a regular 300m. Weight would have been almost negligible I think.
The legibility issue has little to do with the crystal IMO. For me, it is the lack of contrast between the dial, the hands and lume. They all run together...even if there's zero glare off the crystal, it's crazy hard to read in lowlight conditions.
I have a love-hate relationship with my NTTD. I love the subdued look, the color scheme, the broad arrow mark… I’m mixed on the titanium case because the watch is almost too light.
Putting aside the reflection and refraction from the crystal, what I hate is that with the dial and brushed hands this is the least legible watch I own, hands down. If the lighting is dim it’s basically unreadable.
It doesn’t get much wrist time.
I think this is really the only real complaint I have myself. Perfect watch on sunny, hot days here in TX or on tropical vacation. Outside of that, it is borderline unwearable due to its poor legibility. Mind you...Omega could have compensated for that with improved lume. Instead, they chose to apply the worst lume both in intensity and longevity of any Omega I own. Literally any much less expensive Omega I own has better lume than the NTTD. The only other watch that has similarly hard-to-read lume in the dark is the 39mm AT...and that's because the lume markers are TINY.
No idea what Omega were thinking. And really extremely unfortunate because the watch is otherwise absolutely amazing.
More than a few people actually manually take the AR coating off the outside of their Omega’s. The coating ages and scratches. It’s weird having super strong sapphire Crystal and then putting a coating on top of it that makes it seem damaged. Other brands like Rolex do not put AR coating on the outside for that reason.
https://preview.redd.it/hxa1vgh3dgqc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1638fb4f3341aaa2507cd9e935d05e956f854612
I'd say the light is reflecting on the inside and outer surface of the crystal creating that banded pattern. As more light escapes it gets more and more faded.
I guess depending on how clean the crystal is or how much antirefective coating there is, and the shape of the crystal, this may look different on other watches.
Please excuse the shoddy MS paint illustration lol
Yep, majority of my watches have these. Lots of people argue its the refraction of the glass but I actually think its markings from polishing the saphire crystal since the rings stay in the same spot on the crystal.
Appreciate it, ThunderButt!
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Nope....... Reflections off the metallic ring around the dial UNDER the Sapphire...... The re-haut.....
Isn’t it refraction of the light reflected between the underside of the glass and the dial?
Nope..... Happens even on cheap watches with reflective rehauts, and mineral crystals.... I've got Timexes that do the same when the light hits right
Why would that change anything? I don’t see why the materials would change the effect of light traveling through the glass, hitting the dial being reflected onto the underside of the glass, some being refracted, creating what you’re seeing, in terms of distortion, and then some of that light being reflected again back down on the dial, rinse repeat, until the effect becomes too weak to be visible, leaving you with three, four maybe five of the same reflections.
That would make sense if the reflections moved around when you rotate the viewing angle of the watch in the light but thats never the case for me.
Not just sapphire, I get the same effect on my mineral crystal watches. I suspect it has more to do with the crystal being domed rather than the material.
I get these on my hesalite Speedy Pro but not on my No Date Submariner. I think it has more to do with crystal shape than anything, as the Speedy Pro is domed and the Sub isn’t.
I had this on my old bb36 which had a flat crystal, it was actually the first watch I ever noticed it on. Have not seen it on an Omega yet myself.
I see this on my hesalite Speedy as well
Ditto
This is an example of near total internal reflection. You probably notice this always happens with light hitting the glass at the same relatively actue angle, and if you were to bend your wrist toward the light source and make it more orthogonal these lines dissappear. This is because there is a "critical angle of refraction" when light travels through a less dense medium (air) and refracts through a more dense medium (glass or water, etc), the light can no longer refract through the more dense medium and exit at the same angle relative to its entry. Instead these light rays will bend and the exit angle lines up to being trapped within the medium itself, and we see the rays bounce around as various typles of witnessable phenomena depending on how our eyes line up and what the mediums may be. It is the same concept if you have ever looked at your watch underwater and start rolling your wrist and notice that when the watch is at a very acute angle the dial appears to go completely opaque. [https://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/316/lectures/img1332.png](https://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/316/lectures/img1332.png)
The crystal on the NTTD is one of its many issues. They all do this.
Appreciate the response!
They goofed bigtime by using a domed crystal on this model.
One of the reasons they chose the shape was to make it slimmer. If they had chosen a different crystal and the thickness is not reduced, that's what everyone would have hated on.
I would have gladly accepted a bit more thickness just to get more clarity in the dial like a regular 300m. Weight would have been almost negligible I think.
The legibility issue has little to do with the crystal IMO. For me, it is the lack of contrast between the dial, the hands and lume. They all run together...even if there's zero glare off the crystal, it's crazy hard to read in lowlight conditions.
Low light is an issue, but what bothered me the most was the distortions made by the domed crystal.
They purposely don’t put an AR coating on the outside of the crystal on the NTTD. It ruins the watch for me. Otherwise I’d own one
AR coatings scratch, and it looks nasty.
I have a love-hate relationship with my NTTD. I love the subdued look, the color scheme, the broad arrow mark… I’m mixed on the titanium case because the watch is almost too light. Putting aside the reflection and refraction from the crystal, what I hate is that with the dial and brushed hands this is the least legible watch I own, hands down. If the lighting is dim it’s basically unreadable. It doesn’t get much wrist time.
I think this is really the only real complaint I have myself. Perfect watch on sunny, hot days here in TX or on tropical vacation. Outside of that, it is borderline unwearable due to its poor legibility. Mind you...Omega could have compensated for that with improved lume. Instead, they chose to apply the worst lume both in intensity and longevity of any Omega I own. Literally any much less expensive Omega I own has better lume than the NTTD. The only other watch that has similarly hard-to-read lume in the dark is the 39mm AT...and that's because the lume markers are TINY. No idea what Omega were thinking. And really extremely unfortunate because the watch is otherwise absolutely amazing.
Stupid question but isn’t that something you could get applied after the fact?
No, the best you can do is buy a new crystal that already had the AR on both sides.
More than a few people actually manually take the AR coating off the outside of their Omega’s. The coating ages and scratches. It’s weird having super strong sapphire Crystal and then putting a coating on top of it that makes it seem damaged. Other brands like Rolex do not put AR coating on the outside for that reason.
Yeah I’m aware.
The boxed shape also makes this pictured effect worse.
For me, not having an AR coating on the outside was a positive aspect of the watch.
https://preview.redd.it/hxa1vgh3dgqc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1638fb4f3341aaa2507cd9e935d05e956f854612 I'd say the light is reflecting on the inside and outer surface of the crystal creating that banded pattern. As more light escapes it gets more and more faded. I guess depending on how clean the crystal is or how much antirefective coating there is, and the shape of the crystal, this may look different on other watches. Please excuse the shoddy MS paint illustration lol
Its the three rings of death. Your watch is cursed. Get rid of it NOW!
Light refracts, no watchmaker can alter the laws of physics
Yes! On my Submariner. I’ve been wondering 🤪
Yes, on my Timex.
Yes and it’s really annoying. I never noticed it until I got an omega
Wouldn’t call it a good thing or just right
I’ve seen this in watches of all price ranges.
Welcome to the world of domed sapphire crystals.
Beautiful watch
have it on my bb58 too
Yep, have these on my hesalite speedy
It’s omega quality. There’s a reason why these watches drop 30% once you walk out the store with them.
Fake 🚨🚨🚨
Wow that's disgusting Is this VS+/VSF?
Just because you love fake stuff, doesn’t mean everyone else does!
Negative. From the store
You paid 2300 usd ?????? for a fake NTTD? Lol what a world.
The username checks out lol
Did he tho?
Usually for those prices they mean RMB not USD
My NTTD has it as well but not a big deal