Omega

Hesalite is a plexiglass material, made from a form of acrylic. Hesalite came about in the 1940s and has been used widely in a number of different areas. The benefit that hesalite brings is that, since it is relatively soft, it can be shaped into the required form quite easily. Unlike many other plastics, hesalite has very good clarity, which of course is crucial if it is used as the glass for a watch. And remember, that, during this time, watch brands did not use sapphire to a large extent. The primary reason was that sapphire crystal is so incredibly hard, which makes it extremely difficult to work with and shape into the necessary form. The tools and techniques needed to do this well and efficiently simply didn’t exist. Rolex, for example, first used sapphire crystal in the 1970s. So what did watch manufacturers choose? Acrylic of course. Or some variants of it. To fully understand the story of Omega’s hesalite crystal, we need to go back to the Speedmaster again. The hesalite crystal has one major and crucial trait that can be life-changing in space. This is the fact that a hesalite crystal does not shatter the way glass or sapphire crystal does. Instead, hesalite crac In space, shattered glass can damage equipment onboard and have life-threatening consequences. With that said, choosing a hesalite crystal for the Speedmaster was no question.