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Discolouration of white sport band

M

magicMac

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
1,013
428
UK
Just wondering if there is something wrong with my one or if everyone is experiencing discolouration of the White sport band.

I haven't even taken the watch for a swim, only done about 4-5 workouts since I've had it and it's slowly turning blue.

Sweat and chemical resistant my ass.
 
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It's not the band itself...

Looks like something rubbed-off some color on it...Like a jeans jacket...
 
But that's the thing, I haven't put it in a jeans pocket or anything else blue and it doesn't wash off either. I think blue is the colour of the rubber under the white coating. I wear my watch on my left hand and it seems to have more discolouration on the bit which would face down on a table. I can only assume it's from alcohol on not the cleanest of bar tables.
 
No; I'm not near any official apple stores at the moment. Just trying to get a general idea of how widespread this is, if at all, before I'm back in the UK. Also, last I checked Apple stores in the UK don't currently stock any bands (I wanted to buy an extra blue one). On the plus side, if this keeps up I won't need to buy the blue one after all.
 
magicMac said:
But that's the thing, I haven't put it in a jeans pocket or anything else blue and it doesn't wash off either. I think blue is the colour of the rubber under the white coating. I wear my watch on my left hand and it seems to have more discolouration on the bit which would face down on a table. I can only assume it's from alcohol on not the cleanest of bar tables.
Click to expand...
That's how you can test it then. Get some alcohol, rub it on the band, see if it's the colour under the band or something else. With it looking like that, you might as well.
 
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Sure you're not wearing new jeans and it's rubbing off them while you're walking?

I'm struggling to believe the bands are not the same colour rubber all the way through.
 
I can assure you that band is white all the way through. I cut my spare m/l in half yesterday so I could try dying it and the cut ends were white. If your band is turning blue, it's a result of something blue coming into contact with the band. Do you wear bluejeans? I have a pair of jeans that turned a sweater a lovely shade of blue on the inside of the hem where it rubbed against the outside of the jeans. Those particular jeans even turned my legs a bit blue. I looked like a smurf.
 
I am a fountain pen enthusiast and there is one shade of intense blue ink which is famously high staining. Well, Guess what got on my white Apple Watch band? I was cleaning a pen and it wiped itself off on my band and I didn't find it for hours. Great, now my band is stained forever. Goodbye $50 USD.

BUT I tried one fix, in the US we have something called Mr. Clean White Eraser sponges. They get out just about anything. They are great for things like wine stains on porous white Formica counters and the like.

So I took off the band from the watch and went to work on it with the White Eraser. After about 15 minutes of scrubbing the stain was gone. The band is stain free but the finish is not quite as matte as it used to be. I suspect that the eraser has a bit of abrasive in it. However, it is almost impossible to see that unless you know what to look for and you look real hard.

I am sure that they have Mr. Clean White Erasers in the UK. They are like a fine grained man made sponge and other companies have copied the idea and put them out in our grocery stores. Here is a great run-down of how they work.
 
magicMac said:
But that's the thing, I haven't put it in a jeans pocket or anything else blue and it doesn't wash off either. I think blue is the colour of the rubber under the white coating. I wear my watch on my left hand and it seems to have more discolouration on the bit which would face down on a table. I can only assume it's from alcohol on not the cleanest of bar tables.
Click to expand...

It's denim or other dyed fabric. Do you ever rest your arm on your jeans? I had a pair of jeans that occasionally dyed things. Not always. They were strange.
 
Fabienne said:
I am a fountain pen enthusiast and there is one shade of intense blue ink which is famously high staining. Well, Guess what got on my white Apple Watch band? I was cleaning a pen and it wiped itself off on my band and I didn't find it for hours. Great, now my band is stained forever. Goodbye $50 USD.

BUT I tried one fix, in the US we have something called Mr. Clean White Eraser sponges. They get out just about anything. They are great for things like wine stains on porous white Formica counters and the like.

So I took off the band from the watch and went to work on it with the White Eraser. After about 15 minutes of scrubbing the stain was gone. The band is stain free but the finish is not quite as matte as it used to be. I suspect that the eraser has a bit of abrasive in it. However, it is almost impossible to see that unless you know what to look for and you look real hard.

I am sure that they have Mr. Clean White Erasers in the UK. They are like a fine grained man made sponge and other companies have copied the idea and put them out in our grocery stores. Here is a great run-down of how they work.
Click to expand...

Let me guess... Bay State Blue? :p

I'm sure I've seen a UK version of the Magic Eraser on the end of an aisle in Homebase with a loud JML video playing next to it, showing a man cleaning his bath then winking and smiling strangely at the camera. Anyway, I digress. They can be had on Amazon fairly cheaply: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mr-Clean-Ma...1867243&sr=8-1&keywords=mr+clean+magic+eraser
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Those a clearly rubbed on marks, you can tell because the area around the hole that had the pin sticking through is spared. A chemical reaction would have more even or randomly placed results.

However, if this were to turn out a reaction to chemicals in the pool I would not go back into that pool :eek:
 
I would have thought one look at any of our white Apple accessories would make people realize a white band is a pretty poor choice.
 
it's a watch band... all watch bands get stained, scuffed, and worn over time. rubber / silicone bands are at most a 12 - 18 month lifecycle item depending on your lifestyle and habits. get ready to switch them out periodically
 
GrimmsGirl said:
I can assure you that band is white all the way through. I cut my spare m/l in half yesterday so I could try dying it and the cut ends were white. If your band is turning blue, it's a result of something blue coming into contact with the band. Do you wear bluejeans? I have a pair of jeans that turned a sweater a lovely shade of blue on the inside of the hem where it rubbed against the outside of the jeans. Those particular jeans even turned my legs a bit blue. I looked like a smurf.
Click to expand...

Apple apologists really turn me blue.
It HAS TO BE somethign the user is doing right? Because white shiny things Apple has shipped in the past have never ever ever had issues with discoloration, RIGHT? [sarcasm...]

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2006/07/4508/
 
dotnet said:
I'm pretty sure some chlorine (hypochlorite) based household cleaner or mould remover will take care of this.
Click to expand...
Don't use any detergents on the band, the band will disintegrate. Only use warm water.
 
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