Yeah I'm definitely in the "not a fan" camp. The old classic buckle was elegant, understated, and, well, classic! I don't own the new design (and never plan to), but the buckle is much larger. It looks very similar to the modern buckle bands Apple sells and I'm not sure why they didn't want more differentiation between the two. I've posted a pic of my old design saddle brown buckle compared to a pic of the new buckle I took from another thread on this forum.
View attachment 695939
View attachment 695938