I’ve had adhesive coming out from behind the back plate for a while, so I called Apple Support about the issue and mentioned I had heard about the internal repair program. It took a “Tier 2” rep a bit of time to track it down. I sent pictures and he thought it would be covered by the repair program. However he was unable to process the repair by mail, which is odd for them.
After months of trying to book an appointment and travel to an Apple Store, I did today. They sent the device away for repair, and offered to have it returned to my address. Pretty silly to have me drive in for that, but what can you do.
We’ll see what happens; the watch back was not noticeably loose, but the adhesive shouldn’t be visible or coming off the device in my opinion. The repair depot has final say on what is and isn’t covered.
I’ll post an update here for anyone interested in what they consider applicable for the extended repair program, and if it is, what model watch is used for replacement. For the record I live in Canada and purchased the original model Apple Watch 42mm in Space Black Stainless Steel.