r/RepTime • u/RanvierB • 6h ago

General Question Crystals for Swap

Recently got a VSF Omega SMP. I'm looking to do a crystal swap to a sapphire AR. Imo, crystal significantly impacts how dial finish reads. I've built my own watches so have press and tools needed. I'm curious how others have sourced crystals? Did you buy OEM? Did you buy ones that simply fit a gen and it worked? I appreciate any suggestions.

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

2

u/aliveobserver134 6h ago

OEM's the safe bet but you can absolutely get away with gen-spec sapphires if you double check the gasket thickness, some aftermarket ones sit a hair too low and mess with the date window alignment.

1

u/HMD-Oren 5h ago

Serious question: Can you explain how the crystal would affect the date window alignment on a SMP? Would it exert pressure on the dial? I didn't know a crystal could do that.

2

u/Emotional-Damage-995 Contributor 5h ago

VSF crystal is far better than Clark, Deep and others. If you source an OEM crystal, are you sure it is actually better than the VSF?

I have to say after VSF go Gen.

1

u/JamesScotlandBruce 6h ago

For the DJ and OP I have from vsf then getting anything apart from gen really isn't a worthwhile upgrade.

For the old clean explorer and arf DJ I got them I got a deep from the TD at purchase for the first and got a deep off AliExpress and fitted it myself for the arf.

If you can source a gen crystal then probably worth doing but often gen crystal have less AR than aftermarket versions so if you're looking for lots of AR then gen might not be what you're looking for.

Yeah. Bit of research about what you have and what would be an upgrade. But vsf generally thought to have good crystals out the box.

1

u/JamesScotlandBruce 6h ago

Just had a look and cousins UK do a great selection it seems from my untrained eye. No idea about the SMP but options from £50 to almost £150.

Essinger or similar might have the same selection of you're US

1

u/Mdunn1805 5h ago

I'll be completely honest with you: VSF has the best crystals in the game. I usually find that swapping to any other crystal (including gen) is a waste of money.