What are watch crystals? What is this part of watches made of?

Watch crystals are clear protective covers that shield watches' faces. Though crystal is a term that is also used to describe the little piece of quartz that functions in the internal mechanisms of quartz watches, the quartz crystal is completely different from the watch crystal. Watch crystals are usually made of either plexiglass, mineral glass, or synthetic sapphire. There are also watches that combine between two types of watch crystals – mineral glass and sapphire glass, for instance. Of course there's a downside and an upside for each of the materials that can be used to make watch crystals. Plexiglass is the most affordable material used for this purpose. Although plexiglass is the closest to shatter proof, it is the easiest material to scratch. Surprisingly, despite the fact that it has undergone a hardening process, mineral glass is more fragile than plexiglass. Nonetheless, watches that have mineral glass watch crystals are less likely to be scratched than plexiglass. Synthetic sapphire is the least likely watch crystal material to scratch, but it is also incredibly hard and as a result it is also easily broken, so it is easier to shatter than the other watch crystal materials. Many consumers look for their watches to be scratch resistant, which is why plenty of luxury watch brands use watch crystals that are made of sapphire crystals. However, sapphire crystals aren't the only watch crystals that are considered scratch resistant. There are hard coated mineral glass crystals that make for scratch resistant watches as well. Some watch crystals are anti-reflective too. These crystals are much like the ones used for anti-reflective glasses. Once the watch crystals are coated they give off the minimum amount of reflection, which makes reading the display on such watches more convenient and clear. These watch crystals are made of synthetic sapphire or mineral glass. Watch crystals are usually not too expensive to replace, ranging anywhere from twenty to one hundred dollars, depending on which type of material the watch crystal is made of. However, the pricier the watches are, the higher the cost of replacing their watch crystals.

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