Lee's Watch Thread for MM'ers of Impeccable Taste

[WRXtranceformed]

Per the recommendation of my local watchmaker to seek out a Seiko specialist, I tracked down one of the top in the world who happens to be in Cary just a few hours north of here.  Jack @ International Watch Works is super comfortable with addressing all of the things I want taken care of during a service, the only downside is that the turnaround is currently 16 weeks.  That's better than the 11 months that the other top shop is currently at though!  

Anyway, I made a note about figuring out how to address the scratched crystal in my email chain and he assured me that swapping out the OEM hardlex crystal to a NOS OEM or high quality aftermarket Hardlex or sapphire really doesn't affect the value of the watch at all.  I would just hold on to the stock crystal for the future.  Since that is the case, I had a few options:

1. NOS OEM Hardlex:  Super hard to find but when you find it it's absurdly expensive (like almost what I paid for the watch itself) since Seiko doesn't support parts for old models
   
2. Aftermarket mineral crystal:  Super cheap, made in Thailand or China, fit is questionable though and not worth the headache
   
3. High quality aftermarket Hardlex:  There's one company that sells these, and it's the one that has the 11 month lead time for service work.  Delivery time to actually buy one of these is reasonable and so is the price, and the fit and style is supposedly absolutely dead on compared to OEM
   
4. Sapphire:  I'm familiar with this route and the good companies out there doing this, and there are several styles to choose from that are made for the 6309
   

 Joey doesn't mind it but I am not a fan of Hardlex.  I am much easier on watches than most and I still managed to pick up some dings and scratches on the Hardlex on my SKX before the sapphire swap.  Sapphire is much more scratch resistant than Hardlex (Sapphire is a 9 on the Mohs scale and the absolute best high end Hardlex is a 7).  The price difference is nominal, so I opted to own a third sapphire-swapped watch (5 in total I would own now)

Now the shape.  Here are the options from my top two vendors:

• Bubble boy (Yobokies) - Very high domed
  

• High domed (Dagaz) - Heavy inner dome, flat top, chamfered edge.  This gives it a very raised edge effect similar to the first generation of Seiko divers
  

• Flat (Yobokies) 
  

Yobokies got my money again.  Although the high domed and domed sapphires have an interesting effect and definitely have their place, I wanted this to look as authentic as possible while having the added strength and inner anti-reflective coating benefits of a sapphire.  I decided on option 3 and it's on the way by slow boat from HK.  This is not a bad thing though, it gives me a few weeks to enjoy it before it goes off to go under the knife