Probably been pretty pissed, I would have been too.....but his didn’t look like that either. It popped off in one piece and he took it exactly to them like that. Is that the best quality MacRumors can get on the pic though? I feel like every time somebody whines (justified or not) about damage and an Apple product that they take the picture with a ****ing flip phone in a dark room that’s covered in finger grease.
Obviously I am not examining her watch in person so I can only guess from the terrible picture, but I am very experienced in computer repair but not specifically the watch....but in the picture it looks like either a scratch (or a crease) diagonal from the actual position of the battery. The battery can only expand really upwards in most devices applying a relatively even amount of force to the screen causing the glue and clips to give....a screen damaged with a crease is usually from a very specific impact or a directional force applied from a tool. Something that would not occur normally basically. The screen is also attached with several ribbon cables that would not allow the screen to fall off when it pops, therefore damage has not occurred from a drop. Even if the screen popped off, somehow the ribbon cables came loose and the screen did manage to shake free it does not have enough weight to crease when hitting the ground, let alone shatter. So, in conclusion, without examining the watch and based on a random woman’s word and the picture it seems that it is likely this watch was damaged prior to the attempted request for a free swap.
I am not saying this is what happened, or that I don’t believe her story. The picture simply does not support the “it just popped off” claim. Also, my dads watch and just about every person I know that uses apple products has got much better care with damage and replacement without Apple being difficult. That’s another reason for me to think there is more to this than “it popped off”.
Edit 1: I looked again, there is clearly an impact mark at the end of that scratch/crease in the screen. There is (again it is blurry) what looks like glass missing from that side. Something that would not have happened from the screen pop off and also would not happen from pressing it back on either.