Teric Screen Protector S@cks......

[loosenit2]

@drainaps from shearwater: "You can remove the screen protector by placing tape over the screen to hold the glass together, and lifting up at the edge with a fingernail or using something somewhat soft like a wooden toothpick to help pry it up. Using metal [ie. razor] may lead to inadvertently scratching the outer bezel. "

 

[drainaps]

Do you have some pics to share?

 

[drainaps]

@drainaps from shearwater: "You can remove the screen protector by placing tape over the screen to hold the glass together, and lifting up at the edge with a fingernail or using something somewhat soft like a wooden toothpick to help pry it up. Using metal [ie. razor] may lead to inadvertently scratching the outer bezel. "

Thanks for this. Not sure how to apply these instructions to the mess I have above though ..... Thanks, seriously.

 

[hammet]

Thanks for your answer. It's a relief to see I'm not the only diver bumping into equipment, D-rings and tanks pre-during-post dive with my Teric. Would you please share how to remove the existing glass protector? There's going to be quite a few bits and pieces to scrape, and I'm aware that tiny shards of glass can scratch sapphire.

I wish Shearwater had gone the Petrel way with a dependable hard-plastic crystal. By the way, hard-plastic (Plexiglas) crystals were the way to go until the late 1980s / early 1990s for all self-respecting (Rolex, Seiko and all the others) dive watches until Rolex decided that the next thing they could charge premium money on was.... a sapphire crystal in a dive watch and the whole industry followed.

For whatever it's worth, sapphire is hard BUT brittle (this means difficult to scratch but breaks / chips easily on mechanical shock, which are 2 totally different properties of a material). Most likely Rolex's dive consultants were on leave that day, or the marketing guys staged a coup. In any case the move turned out wildly successful for their bottom line, and anyway, nobody dives with a Submariner / Sea Dweller these days (a few exceptions exist, though, I've seen a couple).

Screen protectors are usually made of Ceramic glass (kind of a transparent ceramic), that can be laminated thin, is somewhat flexible, and absorbs energy by breaking and therefore protecting the underlying sapphire glass screen. Like an airbag for your sapphire crystal (obviously no air involved, but energy dissipation anyway).

Your phone screen, as someone has rightly pointed out before, is NOT made of sapphire, but chemically-treated glass silicates (Aluminum, Silicon, and usually Lithium, Magnesium or Zinc)/ to (1) make them thin, (2) reasonably resistant to mechanical shock and scratches and (3) able to stand the printing of the capacitive grid that allows you to control your phone with your finger.

Bottom line, using sapphire for a dive watch is not the best of choices from a durability POV, but I guess Shearwater was either poorly informed or forced by the fact that Suunto uses sapphire in their upper echelon dive watches as well, so they had kind of set the "standard".

Safe dives all.

As someone who has worn the same rolex sub as a daily watch for for over 25 years, you dont know what you're talking about. And yes I dive with it but usually because I'm staying in a place that doesnt have a safe in the room.

 

[drainaps]

As someone who has worn the same rolex sub as a daily watch for for over 25 years, you dont know what you're talking about. And yes I dive with it but usually because I'm staying in a place that doesnt have a safe in the room.

You have a PM... And I think I know pretty well what I'm talking about. I'll take the discussion off-line for the sake of everyone else.

 

[Jay]

As someone who has worn the same rolex sub as a daily watch for for over 25 years, you dont know what you're talking about. And yes I dive with it but usually because I'm staying in a place that doesnt have a safe in the room.

You have a PM... And I think I know pretty well what I'm talking about. I'll take the discussion off-line for the sake of everyone else.

Well whichever it is, those are pretty impressive pics. IIRC some of the 3rd c/p protectors were tempered glass. I have no clue what my current protector glass type is, but I know what I'm ordering for it now!

 

[Joneill]

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Geez - with that kind of impact abuse, I think the bull bars previously suggested are your only solution! I'd be worried about cracking actual Teric screen if you are banging your's around that much. I've had phone screens crack while the glass screen portector did not - so I have always questioned how much a thin layer of glass can really protect a screen from inpact - deflection is deflection as the rigid screen protector offers no cushioning.

I put a glass screen protector on mine for extra scratch protection (early adopter - had one of the early units without a factory applied screen protector - got the screen protector from DRIS, I believe) and it is still pristine after ~100 dives.

 

[lexvil]

While I haven’t managed to get a scratch on my Teric let alone damage the screen cover, and I have been know to beat up the old style big brick computers, I would point out the the cover did the job if the underlying sapphire is undamaged. Old style acrylic crystals only have one good feature, cheap to replace and can even be polished a few times. If sherwater had used anything but sapphire on the Teric I would not have bought one.

 

[Sevenrider860]

As someone who has worn the same rolex sub as a daily watch for for over 25 years, you dont know what you're talking about. And yes I dive with it but usually because I'm staying in a place that doesnt have a safe in the room.

Rolex switch to a sapphire crystal on the submariner line around 1981. Prior to 1981 the submariner line did have an acrylic crystal. So for the last 38 years Rolex has had a sapphire crystal on the submariner line. Prior to that...acrylic. The poster does seem to have a good knowledge of Rolex crystal history.

 

[hammet]

Rolex switch to a sapphire crystal on the submariner line around 1981. Prior to 1981 the submariner line did have an acrylic crystal. So for the last 38 years Rolex has had a sapphire crystal on the submariner line. Prior to that...acrylic. The poster does seem to have a good knowledge of Rolex crystal history.

I was questioning the ability of sapphire crystals to be damaged like that unless significant pressure was put on it.