Creeping up on 6 months and still looking/working good

[DynaFXD]

I got our watches for my wife's birthday. Let's see, that was -counts on fingers- coming up on six months since the AW hit the ground. Since then I have worn it every day, never babied it, never washed it off after workouts, mowed the lawn with it, changed oil with it, hit the gym about three times a week. And I must say, my 42 SS looks just about as good as the day it arrived. The sapphire is spotless/scratchless and the stainless is amazingly free of micro abrasions. But of course, some are there. In my whopping sample size of two, I must conclude that this thing is about as tough and resilient as Apple must have wanted it to be. YMMV.

Except for these recent battery oddities that have hit some of us (me once) and growing pains in WatchOS, I have never been disappointed in its functionality. Probably because I use the watch mostly to (hold on to your hats) - GET THE TIME! I have completely changed my time tracking habits from pulling the phone out to just checking my watch. The next most used function is notifications of messages, alerts, and emails. Which, I can conveniently notice when I check the time if I happened to miss the taptic notice. You may not realize how cool that functionality is unless you have had it. With WatchOS2 the night stand mode has become a go-to feature whether at home or on the road. After that ... whatever. Third party apps don't really interest me a whole lot, although Dark Sky and workout/running apps are notable exceptions.

So, after six months, the watch has lived up to what I thought it would be. I have no intention of selling or babying it. At some point it will be a foot note in the history of wearables. If it hasn't moved on to a friend or kid or gotten smashed during a tragic blimp accident it will probably be sitting in the back of my drawer as I have moved on to version 5, 6, or 7.

To my fellow version 1 guinea pigs, I hope your half year anniversary is equally pleasant and memorable.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Still loving mine. Have a few marks around the body on my space grey sport. I have an armor suit screen protector on it. Change it about once a month after it starts peeling. I work at a restaurant with a lot of brick walls and I tend to hit it on that. Screen protector has saved my screen more than once.

 

[Gav2k]

I'm a +1 to the op's comments!

 

[wchigo]

I vehemently concur. While I may not be involved in as many activities as you are, I have not noticed any real wear and tear on the device other than fingerprints. I wear it for basically all my waking hours and I've banged it around on desks and chairs and doors and even use it while working out with free weights in the gym and through all that it's come out looking like a champ, even without a screen protector or case.

The only thing that has given out is the Black Sports Band that came with my 42mm SS, so I had to invest in a Blue Sports Band to use in the gym as I am using a Leather Loop as my daily driver. I do wish that some apps loaded faster as I notice I still use my phone an awful lot to reply to WeChat, but the activity rings in themselves make the cost worth it to me as I've become much more conscious of my health and well-being since purchasing the watch.

 

[DynaFXD]

...The only thing that has given out is the Black Sports Band that came with my 42mm SS, so I had to invest in a Blue Sports Band to use in the gym as I am using a Leather Loop as my daily driver....

That's about where we are. Our bands haven't given out, but now that Apple is selling the lugs to other band makers, we are starting to look hard at new bands and stands for Christmas gifts. The original bands did their job, and the sports band will always be around for grimy needs such as the gym. But a nice fashion band from a local artist somewhere will be a cool daily driver. -Cheers

 

[wchigo]

That's about where we are. Our bands haven't given out, but now that Apple is selling the lugs to other band makers, we are starting to look hard at new bands and stands for Christmas gifts. The original bands did their job, and the sports band will always be around for grimy needs such as the gym. But a nice fashion band from a local artist somewhere will be a cool daily driver. -Cheers

Ah, yeah, I saw the lug thing and that seems neat. I currently have two different coloured Leather Loops so I likely won't be in the market for any more bands for a while.

I kinda wish I didn't have to spring for another sports band but unfortunately the large sized piece got to the point where it wouldn't lock in; it slid out as easily as it slid in. It's hard to see in a photo but looking at it in real life, the centre "locking" piece has deformed and now sits at an angle instead of being flat. The small piece works fine but both it and the piece with the pin are peeling like crazy and look really bad. I did check with the gf first though, and she gave me the go ahead to buy another sports band so I feel less guilty about that, haha.

 

[redman042]

I'm also approaching six months and my thoughts pretty much echo the OP's. My 42mm SS is holding up very well. I'm not quite as hard on it as the OP but I've definitely hit it against things and it is like new except for some micro scratches on the SS (the crystal is flawless).

Like the OP, telling time and fielding notifications/alerts are my two biggest uses. I have a busy life, with lots of reminders and notifications hitting me throughout the day, and having the watch has made those MUCH more tolerable than dealing with a buzzing/ringing phone in my pocket or at the other end of the house. That's really the main reason I got the watch.

I use Siri on it heavily for setting cooking timers, making reminders, and sending quick texts to my wife. I have occasionally taken a call on it when I was too busy or hands too full to pull my phone out.

I find third party apps to be marginally worthwhile. Even native apps in WatchOS 2 are too slow to load for my taste. I'm hoping future OS releases and better app coding will improve this further, but for now I'm sticking mostly to built-in functions. Which is fine for what I need to do.

As for straps, I use a Black Leather Loop 80% of the time, and a Black Sport Band the other 20%. Both look like new and are working great. I've been jonesing for an SS Link Bracelet since Day 1, and just might treat myself this Xmas.

 

[convergent]

This is all great to hear. I am just jumping into the Apple Watch for the first time, and my use seems to be mirroring what the OP said. I bought the cheapest one at the Apple Store to see if I liked it, and have now bought a 42 SS lightly used with AC on EBay and am happy to hear I don't need to baby it. I do want to be able to mow the grass and do yard work, and of course workouts and runs. I did all of those this weekend and things were fine.

One question for the OP... what band do you have? The one I'm moving to has the leather classic buckle, but thinking of getting a black sports band for when I'm going to be more sweaty.