Apple Watch Cosmetic Overhaul question

[Honey Badger]

After a year or so of use, the signs of use on my watches become apparent as I am sure will be the case with the Apple watch. Over the years, I have taken various scuffed up watches in for a cosmetic overhaul where they replace the band, casing, and the crystal for a small fee. It is a fraction of the cost of the watch and the watch always looks good as new when they are done. Does anybody know if this sort of service will be possible with the Apple Watch or are the internals attached to the casing and not possible?

If it is possible, does anybody know of any place that has set up shop for this kind of thing yet or heard whether Apple will offer this kind of service?

 

[8CoreWhore]

I read somewhere that jewelers won't want to polish the Apple Watch because they don't want to risk damaging the screen or electronics. Normally they'd take a watch apart and go at the case, then reassemble, but there's no way the AW is in their field, specially after seeing the difficulty iFixit had.

So, you'd have to do it yourself. The only model capable of accepting a traditional polish is the SS one, but not the black SS.

It remains to be seen how the silver Sport will handle a reconditioning considering that it has a kind of bead blast finish.

Space Gray and SS Black finishes are not repairable.

Doing it yourself you'd have to be very careful not to push polish into the crevices of the buttons.

 

[Honey Badger]

I read somewhere that jewelers won't want to polish the Apple Watch because they don't want to risk damaging the screen or electronics. Normally they'd take a watch apart and go at the case, then reassemble, but there's no way the AW is in their field, specially after seeing the difficulty iFixit had.

So, you'd have to do it yourself. The only model capable of accepting a traditional polish is the SS one, but not the black SS.

It remains to be seen how the silver Sport will handle a reconditioning considering that it has a kind of bead blast finish.

Space Gray and SS Black finishes are not repairable.

Doing it yourself you'd have to be very careful not to push polish into the crevices of the buttons.

Thanks for that thorough answer. I completely forgot about that iFixit video and the tiny screws...yeah, Im probably better off utilizing one of my Apple Care replacements if that is possible.

 

[lchlch]

Just to add, it's nearly impossible to scratch the coating on the black ss. As its hardness is similar to sapphire and is molecularly bonded to the stainless steel.