Sapphire crystal screen.... scratched?

[Nothingfaced]

Rocking an early 2018 SS AW3.

Noticed a pretty nasty but small scratch at the top of my screen after a 3 day Boston trip. Could have scraped anything - Subway, something at airport, brickc ect. Nothing I can remember but what’s up?

I purposely got the expensive one to avoid this. I have AC+. Any ideas?

I love the product otherwise....

 

[44267547]

Rocking an early 2018 SS AW3.

Noticed a pretty nasty but small scratch at the top of my screen after a 3 day Boston trip. Could have scraped anything - Subway, something at airport, brickc ect. Nothing I can remember but what’s up?

I purposely got the expensive one to avoid this. I have AC+. Any ideas?

I love the product otherwise....

There isn’t anything you can do to physically repair the scratch. If it’s scratched through the Sapphire coating and it’s actually on the display, then it’s permanent. ATogether, you would have to have the display replaced if you don’t want to see the scratch anymore. That said, you mus have hit it on something rather hard, because Sapphire is very difficult to scratch, but that’s the nature of the watch in general.

 

[Chiguy12]

Rocking an early 2018 SS AW3.

Noticed a pretty nasty but small scratch at the top of my screen after a 3 day Boston trip. Could have scraped anything - Subway, something at airport, brickc ect. Nothing I can remember but what’s up?

I purposely got the expensive one to avoid this. I have AC+. Any ideas?

I love the product otherwise....

I have one too and I think it’s aw3 flaw. I’ve had aw1 for 3 years and not a single scratch. My brother also scratched his aw3 sapphire screen. Sending mine out so hopefully they replace it. Luckily I have Apple care but I would expect them to fix it since sapphire should scratch so easily. It’s not even the sapphire it’s the coating.

 

[44267547]

I have one too and I think it’s aw3 flaw. I’ve had aw1 for 3 years and not a single scratch. My brother also scratched his aw3 sapphire screen. Sending mine out so hopefully they replace it. Luckily I have Apple care but I would expect them to fix it since sapphire should scratch so easily. It’s not even the sapphire it’s the coating.

If the display _is_ scratched cosmetically on the Oleophobic coating, there is not anything Apple can repair with that. They either have to replace the display entirely or they send the watch back to you determining that it was scratched on the users behalf. Which of course you obviously have AppleCare.

 

[parseckadet]

Scratching the coating makes more sense. I've wearing watches with sapphire glass on them for 16 years now and I've never managed to scratch one. I've put my series 0 through some pretty punishing tasks too and it's been just fine.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Scratching the coating makes more sense. I've wearing watches with sapphire glass on them for 16 years now and I've never managed to scratch one. I've put my series 0 through some pretty punishing tasks too and it's been just fine.

No matter what Apple says their sapphire screen are not as scratch resistant as my Rolex sapphire screen. I have seen too many scratches on the Apple watches on this forum and never on any of my Rolex watches that I have worn for 30 years!

Looks like a sapphire screens are NOT equal. I have a friend who had a bit too much to drink and scratched the p|ss out of his new LTE AW when he fell into a brick/stucco wall. His arm was bleeding as we drug him into his condo!

 

[valenrandy]

On my original SS Apple Watch, the display did not have a scratch on it for all the years I had it. Between November of last year and this summer, I got a series 2 SS watch and a series 3 SS watch and both now have scratches on the display.
How can you tell if its just the display coating that has the scratch vs. the actual sapphire?

 

[44267547]

On my original SS Apple Watch, the display did not have a scratch on it for all the years I had it. Between November of last year and this summer, I got a series 2 SS watch and a series 3 SS watch and both now have scratches on the display.
How can you tell if its just the display coating that has the scratch vs. the actual sapphire?

If it’s the Oleophobic coating that is scratched, it should be minimally invasive on the display where it’s almost like a very fine hairline scratch, which actually can dissipate after time when the coating actually wears off during usage. If it’s a deeper scratch and you can feel with your fingernail, then it’s likely into the display, which can be very difficult to do with Sapphire.

 

[Zxxv]

There’s no coating on the sapphire display. What’s the point of putting a softer coating on, when that coating gets scratched it looks ****. Come on. Makes no sense cost wise to add further cost to Apple nor is it an intelligent thing to do.

 

[Newtons Apple]

There’s no coating on the sapphire display. What’s the point of putting a softer coating on, when that coating gets scratched it looks ****. Come on. Makes no sense cost wise to add further cost to Apple nor is it an intelligent thing to do.

The coating is to help prevent finger smudges. The scratches are so slight you have to have good lighting to see. If you can feel,the scratch with your finger nail, it is a scratch in the screen, itself.

 

[44267547]

There’s no coating on the sapphire display.

This is a patently false statement. There is indeed an oleophobic coating on the sapphire display for basic protection and smudging, as well as on the aluminum model and ceramic model displays. Its applied from factory and Any Apple Genius store tech will confirm this. The coating is organic and will dissipate with usage.

 

[Zxxv]

This is a patently false statement. There is indeed an oleophobic coating on the sapphire display for basic protection and smudging, as well as on the aluminum model and ceramic model displays. Its applied from factory and Any Apple Genius store tech will confirm this. The coating is organic and will dissipate with usage.

They say some mighty stretchable things at times so not 100% trustworthy.

 

[Vanilla35]

No matter what Apple says their sapphire screen are not as scratch resistant as my Rolex sapphire screen. I have seen too many scratches on the Apple watches on this forum and never on any of my Rolex watches that I have worn for 30 years!

Looks like a sapphire screens are NOT equal. I have a friend who had a bit too much to drink and scratched the p|ss out of his new LTE AW when he fell into a brick/stucco wall. His arm was bleeding as we drug him into his condo!

You’re 100% correct. For whatever reason the sapphire on other mechanical watches is pure sapphire but apple’s sapphire seems to be mixed or degraded in some way. Which is a pretty big deal for scratches. Watch the video below:

I was pretty annoyed at this when I first saw it. Basically it scratches at the same level as the normal iPhone display does.

 

[44267547]

You’re 100% correct. For whatever reason the sapphire on other mechanical watches is pure sapphire but apple’s sapphire seems to be mixed or degraded in some way. Which is a pretty big deal for scratches. Watch the video below:

I was pretty annoyed at this when I first saw it. Basically it scratches at the same level as the normal iPhone display does.

Someone else posted a video similar to this months back, and I never truly believe taking the razor blade to sapphire display on the Apple Watch is indicative of real world usage, at all. I could make the counter argument that over the multiple stainless steel Apple Watches that I have owned, none of them have scratched in anyway shape or form, and I have sold them in near perfect condition. There are countless threads on here with the sapphire display has held up perfectly for others in rugged environments, and I don’t think we need these outlandish YouTube videos where people take razor blades and hammers to test the durability the Sapphire display.

 

[parseckadet]

Someone else posted a video similar to this months back, and I never truly believe taking the razor blade to sapphire display on the Apple Watch is indicative of real world usage, at all. I could make the counter argument that over the multiple stainless steel Apple Watches that I have owned, none of them have scratched in anyway shape or form, and I have sold them in near perfect condition. There are countless threads on here with the sapphire display has held up perfectly for others in rugged environments, and I don’t think we need these outlandish YouTube videos where people take razor blades and hammers to test the durability the Sapphire display.

If you had watched the video you would know that it wasn’t about taking a razor blade to the screen. He used picks that conform with the standardized hardness scale and examined the glass of the Apple Watch under an electron microscope. His conclusion is that while Apple’s glass is sapphire, it has more impurities than the sapphire glass from other watch manufacturers. It’s so bad that the Apple glass scratched at level 6 on the hardness scale, which is where you would expect regular glass to scratch. Pure sapphire shouldn’t scratch until level 8, and that’s what he found on his Tissot watch. Pretty disappointing.

But the rest of your point is well taken, and I can corroborate that with my SS S0 I have been pretty tough on it and it hasn’t suffered a single scratch. Meanwhile my wife’s Alu S2 got a scratch less than a year in, and she’s not as hard on hers as I am on mine.

 

[44267547]

If you had watched the video you would know that it wasn’t about taking a razor blade to the screen. He used picks that conform with the standardized hardness scale and examined the glass of the Apple Watch under an electron microscope. His conclusion is that while Apple’s glass is sapphire, it has more impurities than the sapphire glass from other watch manufacturers. It’s so bad that the Apple glass scratched at level 6 on the hardness scale, which is where you would expect regular glass to scratch. Pure sapphire shouldn’t scratch until level 8, and that’s what he found on his Tissot watch. Pretty disappointing.

But the rest of your point is well taken, and I can corroborate that with my SS S0 I have been pretty tough on it and it hasn’t suffered a single scratch. Meanwhile my wife’s Alu S2 got a scratch less than a year in, and she’s not as hard on hers as I am on mine.

For Record, This video has been posted multiple times in Other threads, which I have viewed. As I already mentioned, There were other videos they were posted in *similar* context where you have these ‘Youtubers’ that intentionally damage the sapphire display with razor blades or hammers to test the hardness, point being, that’s not really indicative of what somebody might experience with every day usage with the Apple Watch on somebody’s wrist. I can’t say that the sapphire display will necessarily be on par with a higher grade of sapphire with an Omega or Rolex, but from my usage with the stainless model Apple Watches I did own, I never even had a slight scratch, and it negates using a screen protector as some resort to with the aluminum model.

 

[parseckadet]

For Record, This video has been posted multiple times in Other threads, which I have viewed. As I already mentioned, There were other videos they were posted in *similar* context where you have these ‘Youtubers’ that intentionally damage the sapphire display with razor blades or hammers to test the hardness, point being, that’s not really indicative of what somebody might experience with every day usage with the Apple Watch on somebody’s wrist. I can’t say that the sapphire display will necessarily be on par with a higher grade of sapphire with an Omega or Rolex, but from my usage with the stainless model Apple Watches I did own, I never even had a slight scratch, and it negates using a screen protector as some resort to with the aluminum model.

If you had watched the video you would know that he didn’t use the razor blade until it had already been scratched by the standardized tools, that no hammer was involved in any way, and that he compared the Apple Watch Edition to a $300 Tissot, not an Omega or a Rolex.

 

[44267547]

If you had watched the video you would know that he didn’t use the razor blade until it had already been scratched by the standardized tools, that no hammer was involved in any way, and that he compared the Apple Watch Edition to a $300 Tissot, not an Omega or a Rolex.

There is No need to re-hash something that was already indicated when I clearly posted there were similar videos in context where you tubers have performed similar tests, The part where I said ‘hammers’, was not referring to this video clearly, as that is more or less to other videos. The video wasn’t the purpose of my quote, its the actual tests performed that are not indicative of what someone may or may not experience with the Apple Watch.

Since you decided to reply to Something I already reiterated, I decided to re-post what I stated again, I repeat:

There were other videos they were posted in *similar* context where you have these ‘Youtubers’ that intentionally damage the sapphire dispay.

 

[Newtons Apple]

A solid sapphire screen would double or triple the cost of the Apple Watch.

 

[StellarVixen]

Sapphire can only be scratched by other sapphire/ruby (something of same hardness) or something harder (diamond).

Source: I almost never leave Etsy. Shiny gems are my hobby/expertise.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Sapphire can only be scratched by other sapphire/ruby (something of same hardness) or something harder (diamond).

Source: I almost never leave Etsy. Shiny gems are my hobby/expertise.

The “something” can be found on some as common as any brick or stucco wall. My drunk friend tripped and bashed his arm into a brick wall while falling and his sapphire AW screen suffered so deep scratches.

 

[StellarVixen]

Yep, there can be microscopic goodness hidden inside many things, such as common rocks.

 

[douglasf13]

If your partner wears a diamond ring, your watch is in constant threat of being scratched. It’s happened to me even with higher end Swiss watches, although not yet with my Apple Watches.

 

[Vanilla35]

Someone else posted a video similar to this months back, and I never truly believe taking the razor blade to sapphire display on the Apple Watch is indicative of real world usage, at all. I could make the counter argument that over the multiple stainless steel Apple Watches that I have owned, none of them have scratched in anyway shape or form, and I have sold them in near perfect condition. There are countless threads on here with the sapphire display has held up perfectly for others in rugged environments, and I don’t think we need these outlandish YouTube videos where people take razor blades and hammers to test the durability the Sapphire display.

I think your point is not informative. The point of the video IS a real test comparison between what is an actual sapphire screen, and apple's sapphire. Since a lot of people think that the apple watch cannot be harmed by anything less than a sapphire's hardness (which isn't true), it's important to know what is actually being provided in terms of scratch resistance.

This could very well be the difference between getting a few scratches on your screen over time which is annoying, vs. not getting any. Having a sapphire screen is to almost say you have an "invincible screen", that cannot be damaged by anything short of diamond. As you can see in the video, apple's watch display is not that. This is also evident of the plenty of forums on here where people do get a scratch on their sapphire screen and are confused as to how it happened (meaning it was not a significant event that caused it, just daily use). So there are certainly cases dissimilar to yours, where the opposite occurred. My job is not to tell you apple sucks, it's to spread information. I did originally myself think sapphire display meant 100% sapphire display, however in apple's case it doesn't, it's basically one step down from it, in terms of being scratch resistant.

On a day to day basis you may find similar scratches come in the from of any outside material, concrete, brick, cement, anything in my apartment garage comes to mind. While not everyone knocks into things all the time, having an actual sapphire display would help with these; however you're not necessarily safe from a big ole scratch just like that shown in this video.

 

[oeagleo]

I think your point is not informative. The point of the video IS a real test comparison between what is an actual sapphire screen, and apple's sapphire. Since a lot of people think that the apple watch cannot be harmed by anything less than a sapphire's hardness (which isn't true), it's important to know what is actually being provided in terms of scratch resistance.

This could very well be the difference between getting a few scratches on your screen over time which is annoying, vs. not getting any. Having a sapphire screen is to almost say you have an "invincible screen", that cannot be damaged by anything short of diamond. As you can see in the video, apple's watch display is not that. This is also evident of the plenty of forums on here where people do get a scratch on their sapphire screen and are confused as to how it happened (meaning it was not a significant event that caused it, just daily use). So there are certainly cases dissimilar to yours, where the opposite occurred. My job is not to tell you apple sucks, it's to spread information. I did originally myself think sapphire display meant 100% sapphire display, however in apple's case it doesn't, it's basically one step down from it, in terms of being scratch resistant.

On a day to day basis you may find similar scratches come in the from of any outside material, concrete, brick, cement, anything in my apartment garage comes to mind. While not everyone knocks into things all the time, having an actual sapphire display would help with these; however you're not necessarily safe from a big ole scratch just like that shown in this video.

I tend to wonder if the Apple Sapphire is by design, as when a "true" sapphire screen, ala Fenix 5, or Suunto SSU, get's damaged, they shatter, like the old Corning Ware dishes. Many, many very sharp shards. However, perhaps by "amalgamating" the sapphire with other materials, the "shatter" is only now a "crack", and not quite as bad. I've seen photo's of Fenix 5's, and 3's, that have had their screens shattered from seemingly relatively "light" blows, but have been hit just right so as to cause them to shatter. Just a thought, wonder if that's part of the reasoning.