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ajm222

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 19, 2012
968
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I think I've decided on the milanese because I figured I'd get it eventually (would love the link but can't stomach spending several hundred on a bracelet when I've spent so much already), and buying it with the watch seems to be a $50 savings. I imagine I will also get a sport band before long for working out, so I guess this makes the most sense. Just wondering if anyone has or had the milanese and hated it or can think of any other reason to get the sport band with the watch instead.
 
Buy a Link Bracelet second hand (check eBay)

Scored a brand new Apple Watch with Link Bracelet on eBay (still with plastic seal and Apple cardboard shipping box for online purchases) for $350 (even had watchOS 1 on it!) less than a month ago

Look for the more personal post on eBay, I stay clear of ones that use stock photos or giving a rating out of 10, and those that have a huge HTML page about the product, those are usually commercial sellers
 
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Wow. Thanks all. It's amazing how inexpensively they can manufacture these stainless steel bracelets.
 
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Buy a Link Bracelet second hand (check eBay)

Scored a brand new Apple Watch with Link Bracelet on eBay (still with plastic seal and Apple shipping box) for $350 (even had watchOS 1 on it!)
Yup, plenty of second hand link bracelets out there for half or less than retail if you feel new prices are too high
 
Yup, plenty of second hand link bracelets out there for half or less than retail if you feel new prices are too high
New prices are insane, especially since the Link Bracelet scratches so easy, it's a beautiful band, but scratches like crazy for $550
 
New prices are insane, especially since the Link Bracelet scratches so easy, it's a beautiful band, but scratches like crazy for $550
Show me a stainless bracelet of any kind that doesn't scratch. Even, say, from Rolex.
 
Show me a stainless bracelet of any kind that doesn't scratch. Even, say, from Rolex.

good thing i guess about milanese is that there's really no way to see the scratches because of the surface area.

I think i've decided to save the money for now and go with sport band. i'm an idiot and for some reason thought i was getting a deal by buying the bracelet with the watch instead of after because it was only $100 more to get the bracelet versus the strap, while the bracelet is $150 on it's own. but that's because you're also not getting the strap. the watch itself in other words is $550 on it's own either way. not sure what i was thinking.
 
I originally bought a stainless steel Apple watch with the Milanese loop when the Apple watch was first announced. I only had it for a couple weeks before returning it because I couldn't stomach the price, but the watch and the milanese loop were both very shiny and beautiful. The watch felt nice and heavy, although I did notice that I would periodically readjust the loop to make it tighter around my wrist throughout the day.

I ended up purchasing a pre-owned gen 1 Apple Watch sport a couple months ago. The watch came with the original sport band as well as with a third party milanese loop. The milanese loop was a dull gold color to match the Apple Watch. The milanese loop felt very similar to the Apple one, although with a different finish. I did notice though that the finish or color had come off of the band, so it looks somewhat dull, so I'm not sure if a 3rd party "stainless" Milanese loop would suffer from something similar. The price is so cheap though that you could always just replace it.

The watch came with an antique white band from Apple. I ended up getting a knockoff sport band from Amazon for $10. The knockoff band is a little bit more stiff since it is rubber as opposed to fluoroelastomer, but it looks the same to me so I didn't care. I really like the sport band though since it's very comfortable and light, so I wear it all the time.

I've seen people review 3rd party bands on YouTube, so I would look into that as well. I believe I saw someone review a 3rd party link bracelet that was purchased for under $90. That could be a good alternative.
 
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If you have a corporate EPP, I found buying the steel watch with sport band and a steel band separately to be significantly cheaper than buying steel watch with steel band plus sport band separately.

It's because buying a band separately turns it into an accessory which I've found to be around 10% off depending on your EPP.

Buying the watch band combo only gives a very nominal discount.
 
I think I've decided on the milanese because I figured I'd get it eventually (would love the link but can't stomach spending several hundred on a bracelet when I've spent so much already), and buying it with the watch seems to be a $50 savings. I imagine I will also get a sport band before long for working out, so I guess this makes the most sense. Just wondering if anyone has or had the milanese and hated it or can think of any other reason to get the sport band with the watch instead.

If you ever decide to get the Milanese loop band, it is a nice looking. The only complaint I have read is that he constantly needs to be readjusted. This is the one band I never purchased from Apple. But I agree there are plenty of third-party options that are similar to the look of the band.
 
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If you ever decide to get the Milanese loop band, it is a nice looking. The only complaint I have read is that he constantly needs to be readjusted. This is the one band I never purchased from Apple. But I agree there are plenty of third-party options that are similar to the look of the band.

I have an OEM Milanese loop. While I do have to tighten it occasionally, it's probably never more than 2-3x daily, and frequently less.
 
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