Opinions on the design of the Link Bracelet

[whtrbt7]

Anyone have opinions on the design of the Link Bracelet? Would love to hear thoughts and comparisons to other link bracelets out there. Of course since the watch is publicly released starting 4/24, it means that most of us won't have access to how it feels in hand and also how it is in use.

Right off the bat, my thoughts are that the link bracelet is designed to look like there are no screws, pins, or excessive lateral flex between the links. The buttons for the adjustment links look to be awesome and will save people from having to resize by going to a jeweler or one of those watch stands. The butterfly clasp looks decently slim but not completely flush against the wrist. For me, it looks a little too Casio Calculator watch-ish and I feel the brushed look goes against the design of the polished case.

 

[Kahalu'u Bob]

Apple seems very proud of the link band design, and the reporters that have seen it have also seemed impressed.

Which makes it all the more interesting to me that it appears Apple did not have any available for the release date -- the store seems to have shown 4 - 6 week delivery time from the opening of orders.

 

[KauaiBruce]

I really like it but decided to wait until I could try one on in Berlin in May (My first chance to be near an apple store). My wrist is exactly 205mm which is its biggest so I need to see if it is too tight.

 

[whtrbt7]

I tried the link bracelet during my try-on appointment on the 10th. So here are my first impressions:

1. The link bracelet is REALLY well made. The build quality is pretty solid.

2. The link buttons are really easy and the links attach to each other for storage. However, resizing doesn't normally happen that often so even though I really like the buttons, it seems like a step that just added to the whole design cost and manufacturing cost that won't make any sense for the consumer. The other thing I noticed was that there was not a half link adjustment if you fit between link sizes. This may be an issue for some people.

3. The butterfly clasp is really sexy. It's almost flush with the link bracelet and the mechanism tries to fit within the link bracelet design. The bad part of this was that since the design was so close to the link bracelet, my wrist got pinched a little when I was putting on the watch. It's not a great feeling to get pinched but a lot of those edges are kind of sharp which may take a while to "wear in".

4. The link bracelet is pretty light. I brought 3 other link bracelets with me for comparison in store and it comes in almost as light as my lowest quality link bracelet. The build quality is solid with not a lot of horizontal flex to the link bracelet but it just feels lighter that most other link bracelets.

5. The brushed look of the bracelet seems to clash a bit with the polished case. It would have been nice of Apple to polish the lugs that fit into the case so that there would be a little more consistency. The look is also "retro chic" as in it looks a lot like a calculator watch. While I'm sure a jeweler would be able to do a mirror polish on the link bracelet, it's just another added step to get a more consistent look.

Overall, it's a really nice 316L link bracelet. It's definitely better than anything $125 or lower but it may pale in comparison to some $400+ link bracelets. This is my opinion based on just design characteristics. For a "smart watch", this is definitely the nicest out of all of them but I would hesitate to say it's better than a 904L Rolex Oyster link bracelet. The design is definitely modern with some really cool elements such as the link buttons, screw-less and pin-less design, and the Apple Watch lugs which make it easy to remove from the watch. There is room for improvement but for a first link bracelet, it's better than most of the modern style link bracelets on the mid range market.