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Scratch magnet?!

antisomnic

antisomnic

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 6, 2012
342
409
Rochester, NY
So, I bought my mom's used Series 5 watch off of her for 100 bucks. 2 days of wearing it and it already has 2 surface scratches. I am super careful with it. I am coming from a Series 3 which has some pretty gnarly scratches and dings.

Are all Apple Watches scratch magnets or am I just careless and don't realize it? I have a bumper case on it and try to be careful.

Thinking about applying liquid screen protector to it to fill in the scratches.
 
I've been using Apple Watches since 2015 (launch day) and in that time I've owned four stainless steel models and one titanium. All of them were absolutely perfect after a year (sometimes two years) of daily wear, except for one. My series 3 had numerous scratches around the edges of the display, where the crystal is curved. Every other watch has been perfect, even under close inspection with a bright light. But that one watch looked awful after just one year of use. So it's possible you got a watch with a crystal from a softer batch of glass or sapphire, whichever one you bought.
 
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They may have been there before I purchased it from my mom and I didn't notice it. I thought I looked close. Oh well. It is what it is. Got a fair deal on it and it's used so ill try to be more careful in the future and have the bumper so hopefully that'll help.
 
The-Real-Deal82 said:
I would say OP you’re probably careless without realising it. None of the Apple watches scratch unless the user does something significant and my last 2 Apple watches have survived years without being scratched.
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We have to differentiate between scratches which you can feel and fine scratche in the coating which van be seen only with some bright led lights. I have those fine scratches after some days. Now im using a protector. If someone says he has no scratches then i think he still has some scratches in the coating by dragging his finger over the glas.
 
nill1234 said:
We have to differentiate between scratches which you can feel and fine scratche in the coating which van be seen only with some bright led lights. I have those fine scratches after some days. Now im using a protector. If someone says he has no scratches then i think he still has some scratches in the coating by dragging his finger over the glas.
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I was thinking the same. it's impossible not to have any scratches

thinking of doing liquid screen protector on it to fill in those very fine scratches and then whatever of it is left add a second coat to my phone
 
nill1234 said:
We have to differentiate between scratches which you can feel and fine scratche in the coating which van be seen only with some bright led lights. I have those fine scratches after some days. Now im using a protector. If someone says he has no scratches then i think he still has some scratches in the coating by dragging his finger over the glas.
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To be honest if I was holding my watch up to bright lights to try and see tiny hairline scratches that you cannot normally see, I’d have bigger problems than the scratches themselves. Thankfully those sorts of scratches are irrelevant in use.

These watches also have very short life spans and should be used and enjoyed. No point having a pristine Apple Watch to chuck in a drawer after a few years after spending its short life worrying about whether it’s got a few scratches or not IMO.
 
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I have had my AW S5 SS in polished gold finish and Milanese band since it came out, and I wear it every day and still do not have any scratches on it.
 
big difference between sapphire screen (stainless steel and titanium models) and Aluminum (Ion X)

there are many times i hit a door knob and freak out in horror as I assess the damage only to find nothing happend.

after 2+ years my watch is still flawless, my previous Aluminum model had a crazy amount of surface scratches on it.
 
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eclipse01 said:
big difference between sapphire screen (stainless steel and titanium models) and Aluminum (Ion X)

there are many times i hit a door knob and freak out in horror as I assess the damage only to find nothing happend.

after 2+ years my watch is still flawless, my previous Aluminum model had a crazy amount of surface scratches on it.
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Yeah I whack my aluminium watch so often and it just doesn’t show any scratches. The hysteria I’ve read on this forum over the ion x glass is bordering on absurd over the years. I think those who claim to have dozens of scratches on their watch are particularly careless and blame the product rather than taking responsibility for their own mistakes.
 
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The-Real-Deal82 said:
Yeah I whack my aluminium watch so often and it just doesn’t show any scratches. The hysteria I’ve read on this forum over the ion x glass is bordering on absurd over the years. I think those who claim to have dozens of scratches on their watch are particularly careless and blame the product rather than taking responsibility for their own mistakes.
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i'm guessing the glass has come a long way since I last tried it on my AW4, but I am always extremely careful with all my products, but somehow surface scratches would appear out of the blue.
 
Screen protector as soon as you open the box, or in your case receive it from your mom. I do it with all my devices and they're always dead mint when I sell or pass them along.
 
eclipse01 said:
i'm guessing the glass has come a long way since I last tried it on my AW4, but I am always extremely careful with all my products, but somehow surface scratches would appear out of the blue.
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No idea whether the glass has improved or not. Never scratched my Series 2 in three years of wearing it or my series 5 which is now two and a half years old. Surface scratches appear when the face is dragged over a rough surface and don’t just appear without the wearer doing something to cause them.
 
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I initially bought a series 3 aluminum launch day and within two weeks I had scratches on it. Took it back (best buy), paid the restock fee (I was clear that I was returning because I found it scratched too easily), and went with the stainless. I only just now sold that stainless watch, and it didn't have a single mark on the glass. I do everything with the watch on; cycle, run, mow, yard work, home improvements, dug a trench to redo our well system, etc.

Now, I am fully aware that scratches don't just happen and I do not mean to imply they do, however, if you are prone to bumping stuff, you are going to be a lot happier with the sapphire face. I wish they offered an in between price point for aluminum with sapphire, or even a stainless without GPS (though I am unsure I would go for that tbh lol), but alas, not an option.

Again, I fully understand that the scratches are my doing, but the take home point, for me, is that putting the stainless watch through the same hell I put the aluminum watch through left me with a good-as-mint screen almost four years later. That peace of mind is worth the price of admission to me.
 
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I honestly have 0 recollection of banging it into anything but I am sure it's something I did, or it came with them and I didn't notice them in the lighting I was in.

I only used it for a couple of days and then traded my Series 3 and 5 in for a Series 7. VERY satisfied!
 
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3 months into my AW SE, luckily still scratch-free.
I have noticed (after the fact) that I sometimes bang the watch into strike plates in doorways.
Very annoying. And very lucky so far for no damage. I need to be more careful to walk through centers of doorways only I guess.
 
I must have the worst luck then. My Series 3 had scratches and now my Series 7 have two deep scratches in the glass. I just ordered the liquid screen protector, so hopefully that will help some.
 
potentmf said:
I must have the worst luck then. My Series 3 had scratches and now my Series 7 have two deep scratches in the glass. I just ordered the liquid screen protector, so hopefully that will help some.
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Aluminium or SS? Would you mind sharing pics?
 
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