How often do you check your watch over, for dings/scratches or damage?

[The Cockney Rebel]

My OCD is ferocious today.

I’m checking everything, including my Apple Watch, for imperfections, and it’s got to the point where I feel nauseous.

Do you check your watch often?

I usually give it a once over each morning, when I change watch straps, but today my OCD is out of control.

You?

 

[Pug72]

When unboxing from new and when I knock/bang it on something.
A couple of years back the gen 1 Ultra came with a big scratch at the bottom from Apple. Thankfully I had another ordered elsewhere too.


I'm pretty careful though and cover with a sweatband when weight training/gardening/DIY as a precaution.

 

[russell_314]

My OCD is ferocious today.

I’m checking everything, including my Apple Watch, for imperfections, and it’s got to the point where I feel nauseous.

Do you check your watch often?

I usually give it a once over each morning, when I change watch straps, but today my OCD is out of control.

You?

I’m not a professional counselor so take any advice I have with a huge block of salt.

The way I would look at it is it’s an affordable high-tech watch. Don’t think of it like some expensive watch while relatively it may be compared to how much money you make. It’s a tool to improve your health. Perhaps work on getting the fitness rings closed if that’s possible. This will give you something to focus your energy on. They are adjustable so you can scale them back or up to your fitness level.

I’m currently wearing a Grand Seiko snowflake that’s full of scratches. The way I look at it is I bought it to enjoy. If I have to stress about the scratches, then I can’t enjoy it. Really work hard to enjoy your Apple Watch. It should bring you joy not stress.

Another way to think about this is your Apple Watch was not perfect when you bought it new. If you put anything under a microscope, you will find imperfections. Just like everything man-made it has imperfections. The scratches give it character.

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

I’m not a professional counselor so take any advice I have with a huge block of salt.

The way I would look at it is it’s an affordable high-tech watch. Don’t think of it like some expensive watch while relatively it may be compared to how much money you make. It’s a tool to improve your health. Perhaps work on getting the fitness rings closed if that’s possible. This will give you something to focus your energy on. They are adjustable so you can scale them back or up to your fitness level.

I’m currently wearing a Grand Seiko snowflake that’s full of scratches. The way I look at it is I bought it to enjoy. If I have to stress about the scratches, then I can’t enjoy it. Really work hard to enjoy your Apple Watch. It should bring you joy not stress.

Another way to think about this is your Apple Watch was not perfect when you bought it new. If you put anything under a microscope, you will find imperfections. Just like everything man-made it has imperfections. The scratches give it character.

Thank you.

 

[S.B.G]

I never do. If I bang it on something by accident, I'll have a look. Otherwise, I don't worry about it. I'm generally quite careful by nature and rarely get scratches or dings in my stuff.

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

When unboxing from new and when I knock/bang it on something.
A couple of years back the gen 1 Ultra came with a big scratch at the bottom from Apple. Thankfully I had another ordered elsewhere too.


I'm pretty careful though and cover with a sweatband when weight training/gardening/DIY as a precaution.

Thanks, Pug.

Ironically, I clipped it on something earlier, and that set off the checking.

It’s such a horrible sensation.

You’ve mentioned before about your sweatband method, which is good for certain occasions, but of course it’s when you’re not wearing it that you sometimes catch it on something.

Wishing you well, mate.

 

[MisterSavage]

Never. If I don't notice it from day to day usage I don't care about any minor damage.

 

[cookiemonster89]

I can feel your OCD. I check my watch after I hit against something. What helped me a lot was getting the mindset in my head that I cannot turn back time. When I sit there for hours checking the product it makes you only go down the rabbit hole, but a possible scratch will not go away from this. Yes it drives me nuts if something is damaged but other than buying a new one there is nothing you can really do about it.

 

[Bichon]

Pretty much never. I bought a watch with the sapphire crystal since visible scratches on the display would bother me, but minor damage elsewhere on the watch I'd hopefully just chalk up to patina. It hasn't been an issue, the watch is in pristine shape, and looks the same as the day I took it out of the box.

Of course if I want to suffer from Apple Watch related agita, I'll check the battery health, which after holding at 100% for my first year of ownership, now seems to drop another percent every time I check it. Which I just did, and sure enough, it dropped from 90 to 89%. Why did you make me do that?

 

[russell_314]

I can feel your OCD. I check my watch after I hit against something. What helped me a lot was getting the mindset in my head that I cannot turn back time. When I sit there for hours checking the product it makes you only go down the rabbit hole, but a possible scratch will not go away from this. Yes it drives me nuts if something is damaged but other than buying a new one there is nothing you can really do about it.

Yeah, there’s no way around items you use getting damaged. It’s part of the wear and tear of the item. Imagine buying a $60k+ car and two weeks later someone dings it in a parking lot. You just have to sigh and move on.

 

[Tevosn]

My ultra, never, not before now lol. It have no scratches that I can see on the display, and minor ones on the steel/alu or whatever material the body is made out of, but that is just patina that gives it a bit of personality.
I check my phone, but usually only in the beginning till it gets the
inevitable scratches.

 

[oasantos1]

Never, unless I hit something with it, but I don't pay much attention to it.

 

[3Rock]

Absolutely never.

 

[HouseLannister]

Stainless steel S9. It is supposed to look scratched. It actually looks weird when it is new and gets to a point where I consider it "seasoned."

 

[Night Spring]

I put a cover on my watch. My iPhone and iPad also have covers on them. I find this a good way to keep my peace of mind.

 

[NonAppleHater]

The Ultra with titanium and sapphire is quite durable. I check it every once in a while out of curiosity, but it’s almost flawless still after 18 months.

But for anything you wear or bring with you daily, you just have to accept that it will take damage over time. Why stress out about it? What do you plan to do if you find damage? Go back in time and clean that grain of sand off your couch?

I’ve just come to embrace imperfection as a part of life. The only way to not experience imperfection is to be dead. Enjoy life’s imperfections while you can.

 

[CMoore515]

When I unbox it. Otherwise, I don't. These things are resilient, especially the higher end material ones.

 

[Disher]

It’s a watch for crying out loud.

 

[avheatherim]

Micro-scratches on mine were starting to get to me recently, but I put a screen protector on there and it helped. I think I am going to buy SS next time around.

 

[fatTribble]

Never have I ever checked my Watch for imperfections. I can be really uptight about some things, but to constantly be worried about my watch would be too much for me. It’s built to be worn and enjoyed.

 

[spartan1967]

Used to all the time when I got my S7 new & banged it into something. Now, never because thing is still like new with no scratches. It sure can take a beating.

 

[redcarian]

I never check my Apple watches for damage or wear unless I’ve inflicted an egregious wallop on it.

It’s a tool. It will accumulate wear. There is nothing anyone can do to prevent this; all the cases in the world won’t prevent that scratch from a tiny fragment of grit that works its way inside; no screen protector can prevent all damage. Sure, you can mitigate some of the minor stuff, but at what cost?

You don’t get owt for nowt in this world. If you put a case on your Apple Watch it looks like cheap plastic cack, and if you put a screen protector on it, the touch screen and brightness are compromised, if only to a slight degree.

I have a “fancy” watch, brand Omega, value somewhere between 5 and 7 times what an Ultra will set you back*. It does not have a screen protector. It does not have a bloody case. It does have a few scratches and marks, but they’re all part of the wabi-sabi. I know a few people with watches worth many times this; whether they wear them daily or on high days and holidays, without exception, not one would besmirch their watch with a case or screen protector.

OP, I recommend you read this short article and also the Wikipedia page on Wabi-sabi. They may give you an alternative viewpoint.

*It’s also nearly 20 years old and is precisely as functional as the day I bought it, and will be thus (given a service) in another 20. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 on my wrist will be e-waste in about 5 years or so. Perhaps a decade at the outside.

 

[Howard2k]

Pretty much never. It's the Ultra, it's unlikely to take any real damage, and if it does I'm not that worried about it anyway. Barring a smashed screen or something like that.

 

[redcarian]

Micro-scratches on mine were starting to get to me recently, but I put a screen protector on there and it helped. I think I am going to buy SS next time around.

View attachment 2504714

Setting aside the debate about whether to use a screen protector or not, that single-use plastic applicator makes me sad. Used once, straight to landfill, just because humans can’t be trusted to apply a 50mm sticky rectangle to a 50mm glass rectangle.

 

[SYCAMOREGRAD]

I babied my Series 3 aluminum. I got Series 4 in stainless and the sapphire front glass stayed really nice. My Series 6 aluminum looked like it had gone into a blender. I swore off Ion-X glass and got the Series 10 in titanium. It still looks brand new.