My son inherited a nice stainless steel Apple Watch. Then he broke the face. He doesn't want to take it in to Apple for repairs because he's afraid he'll just be handed a refurbished unit. Since the watch has sentimental value, he'd rather keep that particular watch. Is there anything Apple can do in a situation like this?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $25/year with no ads, private forums, and more!
Repair question
- Thread starter MEJHarrison
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Watch repairs get sent to the depot and from what I’ve seen the only time the original; watch gets send back is when no repairs have been made or the claim for repair is denied
If you bring the Apple Watch to the store, the only thing they can do is actually physically ship the watch to a repair depot, and then which they either decide to replace/repair the watch and then they mail another replacement watch back to your address or the Apple store. [Apple does not carry replacement watches in store.]
If he wants the display replaced, but wants to keep the original watch, then you can opt to have that completed, which you would have to have the Apple Store notate for the repair order, assuming this watch also doesn’t have AppleCare.
Last edited:
Are you saying Apple can return the same watch if you ask and they know about it?
Yes, just make it very clear that you want the watch back no matter what.
Another option is to take it to a third party repair center and see what they say.
I brought in an iPad Air 2 to get a $99 battery replacement a couple of weeks ago. They ran a diagnostic and stated the obvious. They the pulled out a brown box Air2 and just swapped it out.
I brought in an iPad Air 2 to get a $99 battery replacement a couple of weeks ago. They ran a diagnostic and stated the obvious. They the pulled out a brown box Air2 and just swapped it out.
Indeed. As I mentioned, you can have Apple notate the account that you want that specific watch repaired and returned back to you.
Also, I do have to put the caution note to be aware of third-party retailers with any type of parts they use. Specifically with the Apple Watch, those parts may not be as high as quality as Apple OEM, and they also don’t have access to Apple OEM parts.