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Rachel G

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 5, 2018
2
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Recently I went for a pool swim with my Apple Watch Series 2 - and during one of the laps knocked my wrist - aka my watch - on the lane rope. It wasn't a hard knock, but i did notice it. Shortly after the screen died and it hasn't worked since! At the time I thought the swim lock function must have failed but after sending it in to the Apple Repair Centre they advised me it had an (almost invisible to the naked eye) crack in one corner - I assume a result of it being knocked on the rope. I'm guessing that with the water damage and cracked screen it's probably not worth repairing. My question is - have there been any other reports of these watches being damaged in the same way? Given it's marketed as a sports (and swimming) watch I would have thought the Apple Watch was capable of withstanding a knock like this! Very disappointing!
 
Recently I went for a pool swim with my Apple Watch Series 2 - and during one of the laps knocked my wrist - aka my watch - on the lane rope. It wasn't a hard knock, but i did notice it. Shortly after the screen died and it hasn't worked since! At the time I thought the swim lock function must have failed but after sending it in to the Apple Repair Centre they advised me it had an (almost invisible to the naked eye) crack in one corner - I assume a result of it being knocked on the rope. I'm guessing that with the water damage and cracked screen it's probably not worth repairing. My question is - have there been any other reports of these watches being damaged in the same way? Given it's marketed as a sports (and swimming) watch I would have thought the Apple Watch was capable of withstanding a knock like this! Very disappointing!

I'm assuming this is the Sport model, which uses the Ion-X Glass. It is fairly durable, but given the nature of every impact is different, you never know what could specifically cause the break in the glass based on angle or where the impact occurred on the display. Which is likely what happened when the water penetrated the crack through the OLED display when it failed.
 
I'm assuming this is the Sport model, which uses the Ion-X Glass. It is fairly durable, but given the nature of every impact is different, you never know what could specifically cause the break in the glass based on angle or where the impact occurred on the display. Which is likely what happened when the water penetrated the crack through the OLED display when it failed.
Thanks Relentless Power. It was the aluminium case model (not sure if that's the same thing?). Regardless, it's not unusual to hit your wrist against the lane rope when swimming- particularly in a busy pool. I'll be warning all folk I know who swim with these watches not to as they're clearly not fit for purpose as a swim watch.
 
Thanks Relentless Power. It was the aluminium case model (not sure if that's the same thing?). Regardless, it's not unusual to hit your wrist against the lane rope when swimming- particularly in a busy pool. I'll be warning all folk I know who swim with these watches not to as they're clearly not fit for purpose as a swim watch.

It is a swim watch because of water resistance and the features that it provides to count laps, etc. It is NOT a swim watch because it can withstand trauma created by bad swimmers. :D

(Just kidding...just giving you a hard time.)
 
...I thought the swim lock function must have failed...
Water Lock only locks the screen from responding to touch capacitance inputs. Without Water Lock the most that can happen is the water (capacitance) may "butt dial' or end the Workout app. It should be called Screen Lock since many confuse it with somehow preventing water ingress.

Also when you turn the Crown to unlock the screen it playes a loud tone in the speaker and mic to help eject/clear any water.
 
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I believe the lane ropes are nylon (at least the ones I have seen are)and could not cause the screen to crack. You may have bumped your watch elsewhere and cracked the screen.
 
....I'll be warning all folk I know who swim with these watches not to as they're clearly not fit for purpose as a swim watch.
This would be like having a flat tire and warning people not to drive since tires are clearly not fit for all road conditions.o_O
 
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