The Duratect finish might be tough, but it's not infallable.>>

[rex]

Scratches are virtually impossible to escape on any kind of material other than sapphire or ceramics, IMO.

This is what the bottom of my bracelet looks like after approximately 6 months of wear on my Chronomaster. There are also a couple of blemishes on the bezel as well...Hopefully in 5 to 10 years from now, I can get Katsu at Higuchi to have Citizen refinish the watch.

By the way, can some tell me how to get my image to automatically open up?

http://www.fototime.com/{B1A9C268-F8E2-4120-A063-B880DC73FC7C}/picture.JPG
<img src=http://www.fototime.com/{B1A9C268-F8E2-4120-A063-B880DC73FC7C}/picture.JPG>

[baristaman]

Scratches are virtually impossible to escape on any kind of material other than sapphire or ceramics, IMO.And I would say that sapphire and ceramics are not immune to scratching, either. I have a Rado Sintra with a sapphire crystal, ceramic case, and ceramic bracelet. I'm guessing that it's about ten years old and the sapphire crystal has a good scratch in it (from before I got it) and several fine desk-diving type scratches on the bracelet. I wouldn't have noticed normally as it still looks pretty good, but when I added a brand new link to the bracelet, the difference is obvious. You can see a slight haze on the old links compared to the new one. It's still held up much better than any stainless ever would have, though.

Like many things in life, this is is a trade-off. The ceramic has held up much better, but is also much more difficult to refinish by the average user because it's so hard. Stainless and titanium are much softer and are easier to scratch, but can readily be refinished with Scotchbrite and Cape Cod cloth.

To be honest, I'm not sure about the 'refinishability' of our 'The Citizen's. The Duratect is a coating that would have to be removed to eliminate the scratching. Once removed, it's gone.. and you're back to regular, scratchable, stainless steel. At least you can put on a nice leather strap so you don't have to look at the scratches on the bracelet..