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Graphite SS scratched

Tzuten said:
Apples margin gains in the guise of being environmentally friendly is clever marketing. Almost making the consumer feel guilty if they feel cheated. What?? You don’t care about the environment!? Then doubling down on it and charging 20 bucks for the power adapter.

Foxconn reports of environmental impact have been less than stellar, so there’s that too.

But to your point yes probably Johnny and others who left Apple likely did have a stronger emphasis on consumer experience.
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For Apple it‘s simply a win-win. They save a little money and the environmental impact is smaller. You can call it “marketing“, but the fact of the matter is that 95% (or so) of all consumers that buy a new iPhone in 2020 just don‘t need another USB charger. Let alone a humongous plastic box for their new Watch. Another fact is that Apple is doing more and more (and more than most) to become environmentally friendly, something that just was not as much of a widely recognized problem/task when Jobs and Ive called the shots. To me personally, it considerably adds to the „consumer experience“ when I unpack a new product and feel like the packaging is as minimal as possible.
 
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the future said:
For Apple it‘s simply a win-win. They save a little money and the environmental impact is smaller. You can call it “marketing“, but the fact of the matter is that 95% (or so) of all consumers that buy a new iPhone in 2020 just don‘t need another USB charger. Let alone a humongous plastic box for their new Watch. Another fact is that Apple is doing more and more (and more than most) to become environmentally friendly, something that just was not as much of a widely recognized problem/task when Jobs and Ive called the shots. To me personally, it considerably adds to the „consumer experience“ when I unpack a new product and feel like the packaging is as minimal as possible.
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You may be different. Personally if I were to upgrade to a S6 I would need to either swap the adapter with my phone and the watch. Any new upgrade I do, I sell or hand my device down. I don’t have a boneyard of old Apple products.

I guess I could use a USB port on my PC but doesn’t help when I’m traveling with my iPad.

So Apple could reduce their margin for folks in my situation on the adapter alone on a new purchase, but nah.
 
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Also, the packaging is lighter which reduces shipping cost, which must be significant for Apple, even if they get massive volume discounts.

Moreover, the cost of the watch, for each type, has remained fairly stable. Anything that reduces overall cost will help that to continue.
 
jaybar said:
Also, the packaging is lighter which reduces shipping cost, which must be significant for Apple, even if they get massive volume discounts.

Moreover, the cost of the watch, for each type, has remained fairly stable. Anything that reduces overall cost will help that to continue.
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Yes and true. However the price of tech has reduced substantially overall Y2Y and has not been impacted by inflation. You could say a lot of factors can be attributed to this and apples packaging has always been spartan and minimalistic. Btw sorry to hijack the thread.
 
edhchoe said:
That’s like the twisted pleasures of bdsm asking to see the scratches on someone’s watch.
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It’s more out of curiosity to see if they exist. I find it slightly hard to believe that dlc coating is scratching in less than a month.
 
johnyyz said:
This thread really changed courses. I’m more interested in seeing these so called scratches on the graphite SS.
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My graphite ss got some scratches as well, however only visible during close inspection and under certain lighting. Not dramatic but i wonder as well how these scratches got into the dlc coating..
 
They say not to use the Milanese loop with the SS or Titanium. It will scratch them easily. It may look better, but it’s not worth the scratches. I’m still waiting on my watch with the Black Leather Link.
 
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Retroglide08 said:
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From my experience, those types of scratches in that area are caused by the Milanese loop. It has happened to me in the passed.

I guess there is DLC on the Milanese loop to scratch the graphite.

My silver stainless steel Milanese still scratched my silver stainless steel Apple Watch body and it looked like those.

That’s why I only use Milanese on special occasions and avoid having the band loosen to where the chain in the loop touches the virgin body of my Apple Watch
 
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daviedave said:
I can only imagine the watch came with the scratches from the factory. However as i mentioned they are very very hard to see. Strange..
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I would’ve thought it probably was scratched at the factory. DLC gives steel a nearly indestructible, almost scratch proof “force field” as carbon (AKA graphite is one of the hardest, least scratchable materials in the world.
 
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the future said:
And Jony Ive probably cared more about posh packaging (and that weird vanity project of his that were the solid gold S0 watches) than about the environment. Times change.
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True, although I think Apples packaging has always been unique in the sense of how they strategize the materials and layout of the product, and even how you unfold the product is different from every other manufacturer. It should be interesting to see the changes in the future now that he’s no longer in control of design, I suspect his DNA will always run fairly strong in that specific area.
 
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Bazooka-joe said:
That’s worrying as that shouldn’t really happen with the DLC coating
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It shouldn't and those photos are concerning, I'm a bit skeptical that happened, they just didn't just show up. There must have been some sort of friction or impact. My wife dropped her Graphite onto pavement from about 3.5 or so feet. It bounced around on the case with no discernible damage. I wonder if there is a batch of bad DLC coating?
 
Bazooka-joe said:
I would’ve thought it probably was scratched at the factory. DLC gives steel a nearly indestructible, almost scratch proof “force field” as carbon (AKA graphite is one of the hardest, least scratchable materials in the world.
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So could a finger nail scratch the coating? I'm thinking mine was scratched as I pushed out the watch from that tight arsed cardboard case. It is however a very faint mark which can only be seen under bright lighting and at a certain angle, in fact most would probably struggle to see it.
 
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shah1 said:
So could a finger nail scratch the coating? I'm thinking mine was scratched as I pushed out the watch from that tight arsed cardboard case. It is however a very faint mark which can only be seen under bright lighting and at a certain angle, in fact most would probably struggle to see it.
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I can’t imagine a fingernail could scratch a watch. The fingernail would have to be harder than the DLC coating
 
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shah1 said:
So could a finger nail scratch the coating?
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By itself, no. The fingernail is made of keratin. Keratin is not stronger than stainless steel and the DLC coating. If the nail had unknown foreign object(s) on it, it is possible to scratch the watch that way.

OT fact you didn’t ask or think of: A rhinos horn is also made of keratin.
 
In that case, the watch must have been scratched from factory.
 
I had a SS S4 that I decided to upgrade.

My first Graphite S6 was with the black sport band and was available for pickup. I used it for several days, but didn't like the band so went back to the apple store and requested a band swap. This was denied as the band and watch were a pre-configured product. So I had to return the entire thing.

This is extremely anecdotal, but the finish on the watch didn't feel smooth compared to the SS S4. Running my finger along the casing, it felt like it had some type of thin film creating very slight friction. Since it was my first SS watch with DLC, I thought it was just part of it.

About a week later, I was able to configure another Graphite S6 with a charcoal sport loop and picked it up at the apple store. This one felt normal. The casing was smoother. After several days, I changed the band to a Product Red sport loop since this was a configured watch and not pre-configured.

With all this all being said, it could be purely anecdotal. It could be my mind playing tricks on me. I can't say. However, I felt the coating on the first Graphite S6 felt weird compared to the one I have now. I don't have any scratches I can see right now, but if they do form, I'm ok. I just hope it ages gracefully.

P.S. I originally ordered one online to be delivered, but wait times are terrible. I hate waiting, so every day I would configure certain configurations of apple watch and check to see if store pick up was available. The retail stores get shipments everyday. I lucked out.
 
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I think a lot of materials softer than metal can affect polished stainless steel, especially if you hit it with force
 
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