Why K1
Crystal.

K1 is the right glass for this watch. Sapphire is the better spec, not the better fit.

Sapphire is harder, and it’s the line people like to see printed on a box. I’ll use it on the watch that calls for it. But a spec sheet doesn’t decide what a watch needs, and this one needed K1. The shape wants toughness over hardness, and K1 keeps its edges clean where sapphire’s stronger bend would distort a curve this deep.

There’s a practical side, too. K1 can take the hits.

The crystal sits proud, rising above the case edge instead of tucking inside it, so it’s the first thing to meet a table or a doorframe. Hard and tough aren’t the same thing: sheer hardness can crack or shatter under a sharp knock, while K1 takes that hit and shrugs it off. It’s the logic that kept a soft, shatter-resistant crystal on the first watch worn on the moon: Omega offered to upgrade it to sapphire, and NASA said no. When a crystal is this exposed, surviving the knock beats winning a scratch test.

It also shapes better.

K1 curves into a deep dome cleanly, with even thickness and tight distortion control. Its refractive index is low, about 1.52, so it bends light gently and the curve stays flat to read, edge to edge. Harder, more expensive glass sits near 1.77.
Reflection we handled head-on, with four layers of anti-reflective coating to keep glare off the glass.

That beautiful curved edge is simply easier to get right.

And the budget choice was deliberate, not a cut.

Spending less on the glass let me put more where the eye and the hand actually live: dial printing, lume, case finishing, hand machining and different dial finishes.

The money goes into what you see and feel.

The part I didn’t plan on.

What I didn’t know was that K1 is warm, soft, and more analog. It reads like a watchmaker’s tool, not a showroom object.

For a watch rooted in mid-century chronographs, that warmth isn’t a compromise. It’s the whole feeling I was after.