Any difference between Sapphire glass and Sport glass?

[Steve686]

Initially they will look nearly identical. Look a few years later and one will probably have scratches and the other will not.

I'm going to go on a limb and say that most people that frequent the boards here aren't going to have the same Apple Watch even after one year if a newer model is released to see how the screen holds up against scratches that far down the road.

AC Plus seems like a steal for the price and a $69 service fee to replace a Sport, which I am getting.

 

[Mac 128]

I read in a MacWorld post and other articles that the Sport is actually stronger than the Edition. The sport is marketed more to sports enthusiast and the Edition is to be more of a special occasion watch. The sapphire is more prone to cracking than the Gorilla Glass.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2605084/faq-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-apple-watch.html

That's all relative. No watch is especially prone to cracking, so it's a concern that doesn't apply, but every watch is subject to getting scratched. The Sport uses the gorilla glass most likely because it is less expensive than the Sapphire crystal, and they didn't have enough yield to supply the sheer volume of the most popular model as well as the others. To do so would likely constrain the supply of available Sport watches.

For what it's worth, I've never seen a $350+ watch that did not have a sapphire crystal, sport or otherwise. This strikes me strictly as an economic move.

 

[magbarn]

That's all relative. No watch is especially prone to cracking, so it's a concern that doesn't apply, but every watch is subject to getting scratched. The Sport uses the gorilla glass most likely because it is less expensive than the Sapphire crystal, and they didn't have enough yield to supply the sheer volume of the most popular model as well as the others. To do so would likely constrain the supply of available Sport watches.

For what it's worth, I've never seen a $350+ watch that did not have a sapphire crystal, sport or otherwise. This strikes me strictly as an economic move.

Agreed, I have a couple of Seiko diver watches in my collection that have Seiko 'Hardlex' glass which is basically mineral hardened glass and they all have scratches now that are visible on close inspection. OTOH my 5 year old Omega PO watch with sapphire has no visible scratches despite getting banged around the same as the Seiko's. Seiko also uses the 'we use mineral glass in our $2000 diver watch as it's more shatter resistant' BS line, but I think it's all a cost saving measure instead.

 

[parallax33]

Does not take a diamond to scratch it. Rub it in a rock and find out.

Someone already did. It doesn't scratch.

 

[robaroo]

apple watch sport scratch problem solved. You get a six pack and it costs a fraction of the 200 price bump for the sapphire glass.

 

[scrapple]

cowboom will at least not have to worry about typing "Scratched Screen" on the sapphire watches..

 

[sulpfiction]

Another thing people don't realize is that there are substances other than diamond that are harder than sapphire

Well I don't plan on bumping my wrist into any of them.