One day I looked at the watch on the wrist of a colleague of mine and I said "Nice, is it new?" It didn't have the slightest scratch and it looked shiny. “They gave it to me when I was 18”. She was 40 years old and the watch was a Rado.
Well, I think that most people when speaking about durability, they speak about scratch resistance; personally I have never broken any watch in my life, and in any case if I break any aluminium sports watch on my wrist probably my biggest concern would be that I haven't broken my body, given the force of the impact it needs (no need to mention steel or titanium!). Hammering an Apple Watch like in some videos it is stupid, unless you think to hammering your wrist.
However, I have scratched many watches and often a good reason to change one was that there were too many scratches.
My first criterion for choosing an Apple Watch (non Ultra) is therefore scratch resistance… and it is a more and more difficult choice.
The hardest material is ceramic (like Rado), but it was discontinued for Apple Watch. DLC coating is a solution too, but it has been discontinued too.
Stainless steel is harder than aluminium… in theory… but in practice with the mirror finish even a micrometer scratch is visibile, a lot more than aluminium version (and by the way anodization in aluminium make it harder).
The solution? The brushed stainless steel! By the way, I have an old iPhone 4, the stainless steel band looks newer (less visibile scratches) than my shiny iPhone 13…
But there is no brushed stainless steel option… there was brushed titanium one (by the way titanium is softer than stainless steel), but even this one has been discontinued by Apple.
So, what? Is it better to choose aluminium one? Well… it has more scratches prone glass instead of sapphire screen!
So Apple gives you two choices: do you prefers to scratch case? Get a steel Apple Watch! Do you prefers to scratch display? Buy an aluminium Apple Watch! But no option if you don’t want scratch neither case neither display, like some watches that I have, even at a fraction of Apple Watch cost but in brushed steel or brushed titanium and sapphire crystal.
Finally I chosen the silver steel one, because at least I can polish it. However, after only a week (of home/office use, not extreme sport one) I have already some really small scratches, barely visibile but it is only one week! It is really sad 😞
Well, I think that most people when speaking about durability, they speak about scratch resistance; personally I have never broken any watch in my life, and in any case if I break any aluminium sports watch on my wrist probably my biggest concern would be that I haven't broken my body, given the force of the impact it needs (no need to mention steel or titanium!). Hammering an Apple Watch like in some videos it is stupid, unless you think to hammering your wrist.
However, I have scratched many watches and often a good reason to change one was that there were too many scratches.
My first criterion for choosing an Apple Watch (non Ultra) is therefore scratch resistance… and it is a more and more difficult choice.
The hardest material is ceramic (like Rado), but it was discontinued for Apple Watch. DLC coating is a solution too, but it has been discontinued too.
Stainless steel is harder than aluminium… in theory… but in practice with the mirror finish even a micrometer scratch is visibile, a lot more than aluminium version (and by the way anodization in aluminium make it harder).
The solution? The brushed stainless steel! By the way, I have an old iPhone 4, the stainless steel band looks newer (less visibile scratches) than my shiny iPhone 13…
But there is no brushed stainless steel option… there was brushed titanium one (by the way titanium is softer than stainless steel), but even this one has been discontinued by Apple.
So, what? Is it better to choose aluminium one? Well… it has more scratches prone glass instead of sapphire screen!
So Apple gives you two choices: do you prefers to scratch case? Get a steel Apple Watch! Do you prefers to scratch display? Buy an aluminium Apple Watch! But no option if you don’t want scratch neither case neither display, like some watches that I have, even at a fraction of Apple Watch cost but in brushed steel or brushed titanium and sapphire crystal.
Finally I chosen the silver steel one, because at least I can polish it. However, after only a week (of home/office use, not extreme sport one) I have already some really small scratches, barely visibile but it is only one week! It is really sad 😞