Accidents happen! Cracking or smashing your watch glass can be very annoying. Or maybe you’ve scuffed the glass on your watch and you’re unsure if this can be polished out or if you will require a replacement glass. Here is what to do if you crack, smash or scratch your watch glass, and how to replace watch glass. 

Why do watch glasses break?

Wrist watch glasses are strong by nature. They have to be as they are worn around your wrist and face up to your daily battles. However, like anything, wrist watch glass does have its breaking point and if it suffers impact at a particular point, this will unfortunately shatter. 

Scratching your watch glass is easily done too. These scratches can obscure the glass and make it very difficult to read the time. Surface scratches on the glass of your watch can be easily polished out too, without the need to replace the glass on your wristwatch. 

A scratched and damaged wrist watch glass is not only unsightly, but it can also lead to potential problems and further damage down the line if left untreated. These scratches can become cracks which will make the watch glass vulnerable to breakage. 

Fine cracks and chips on watch glasses can be easy to ignore at first – but you really shouldn’t! These fine cracks and chips make a watch glass more vulnerable to smashing, which can be easily avoided by having the chip or crack repaired early on. Allowing these chips and minor cracks to reach the point in which they shatter can cause considerable damage to your watch.

What should you do if you break your watch glass?

In the unfortunate event that your watch glass breaks completely, the only option is to have the watch serviced and booked in for a watch glass replacement. It is very important to act quickly. When the glass breaks, it is of paramount importance to prevent the hands from moving. You must do this by pulling out the watch crown immediately.

The watch crown is the dial to the side of the wrist watch face that allows you to change the time or date. By preventing the hands from moving, you are limiting the amount of damage that can be caused. The tiny shards of glass caused by the broken watch glass could get caught in the hands as they tick around the dial. This can then leave marks across the watch face or bend the hands as they become stuck on a stray piece of glass. 

When you break the glass on a watch, these pieces of glass are microscopic and can cause untold amounts of damage if left to their own devices. 

It is then recommended to get it booked in for a watch glass replacement as soon as possible, but before this, you should put the watch in a protective box or bag to ensure that no further damage occurs. 

How to replace watch glass in a broken watch

If you have a scratched watch glass, or if you have cracked or smashed your watch crystal, the team at The Watch Lab are experts in watch glass replacement. We can offer high-quality watch glass replacements fitted by trained technicians. 

For some brands, we may be able to offer a brand-new like-for-like watch glass replacement straight from the manufacturer. However, for some older and more classic models of wristwatch, we may be unable to get genuine new parts. However, we can offer a variety of wrist watch glass replacement options including high-quality sapphire, mineral, and acrylic watch glass replacements in a range of thickness and sizes. 

Get your wrist watch glass replaced at one of our 20 labs across the UK. Here at The Watch Lab, we are passionate about correct watch care and maintenance. This is why we offer an excellent wrist watch glass replacement service. Our trained watch technicians use the very latest equipment from Switzerland and Germany when undertaking a wrist watch glass replacement. This ensures that your watch leaves the lab with the best possible parts fitted whilst ensuring that your watch is able to stand up to water damage, dirt, and dust contamination. 

If we are able to order the replacement watch glass into your local lab, we should be able to complete your watch glass replacement within 2 weeks. For higher-end watches or specific styles of watch, these may have to go to one of our main service centres for the correct glass to be ordered and fitted. In these circumstances, your watch glass replacement can take up to 8 weeks. 

Contact the experts at The Watch Lab to find out more about our wrist watch glass replacement service. Or book in for an in-depth assessment of your watch for a no-obligation quote.