Not the first time someone experienced this on a black sport band in these forums.
Literally had mine less than a day and it's started happening to mine.
I don't know how to explain this in words, but it seems like my apple watch sport band is loosing a layer of it's plastic or film...Here's a picture it's hard to explain. I got Apple Care+ and such, so it should be covered under it right? Since it came with the watch right? The otherside of the band that you tuck the excess band in it is perfectly fine. It's just the band with the holes.
Literally had mine less than a day and it's started happening to mine.
Same issue here with owning it for less than 3 weeks. Contacted Apple waiting for an advisor to get back to me later today.
There are two issues with the black bands, as you'll see if you read back in the forum a bit. It gets shiny in places where it rubs up against itself. This happens with all the sport bands, but for whatever reason is MUCH more obvious on the black color. However, I'm inclined to say this is normal wear and tear.
The second issue is that the band literally starts to peel away. This is not normal. It's difficult to tell which issue the OP is suffering from, just from the pictures, but if it's the peeling then it will get progressively worse and should be replaced by Apple.
I ended up getting mine replaced, I have to send my old bands back to Apple Engineering though. They are just sending me a whole new band, hopefully it arrives this week, it says preparing for shipping already.
You guys are ridiculous! You're asking for new bands when the new band you receive will do the same thing in a week!!
My girlfriend's 38mm is 2 weeks old, my 42mm is 3 weeks old. After about the first week I had the "peeling", she has yet to have any "peeling" or discoloration. Her watch build week is 2 weeks later than mine. I believe I got a defective band.
What color is her band? The wear and tear is harder to see on the lighter colors. I have black and white, they both have the "peeling" in the areas where the bands rub together.
Well at least i know now how to get some extra band colors for free.
I did have to send the AppleCare rep a picture of my band to show the wear. I don't think they would have just done it without seeing it.
You guys are ridiculous! You're asking for new bands when the new band you receive will do the same thing in a week!!