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The Doctor11

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 15, 2013
6,031
1,519
New York
I got a thin long scratch on my Apple Watch Sport :(. It's hard to see sometimes but in well lite area's is very obvious. I think a steel thing on a school lab table probably did it when I decided to take a good passing time power nap and lay down on the table.... I'll have a picture of this steel thing tomorrow. If anyone knows how to "fix" it or something let me know. I've heard people have used toothpaste but I would love to hear someone who has tried it on how it went. Just wanted to share my sad story :(

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That's
I got a thin long scratch on my Apple Watch Sport :(. It's hard to see sometimes but in well lite area's is very obvious. I think a steel thing on a school lab table probably did it when I decided to take a good passing time power nap and lay down on the table.... I'll have a picture of this steel thing tomorrow. If anyone knows how to "fix" it or something let me know. I've heard people have used toothpaste but I would love to hear someone who has tried it on how it went. Just wanted to share my sad story :(

xnrbjLg.jpg


tmUoQIg.jpg


That's to bad. Sorry to hear. For sure post a pic of the culpurate. Power naps do have their risks...
 
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Aww, sorry to hear that. It's a shame the Sport doesn't have the sapphire screen, but who knows. That steel thing could have scratched the coating on the sapphire anyway. I guess it depends on one's personality but for me the first scratch was always the hardest one to bear, but after it inevitably would happen, I'd relax and enjoy my watches and never really notice the scratch too much anymore. And I wouldn't end up getting that many, if any, more. Lol, sleep more at night and less in class! o_O
 
That still doesn't make sense. Steel has a hardness of 4-4.5, and regular glass has a hardness of 4.5-6.5. I'm guessing whatever metal it was had some impurities probably with quartz mixed in -- it's in everything -- and that would scratch the glass. If something scratched my sapphire face, I would open an FBI case on it to figure out what the heck was near me that's that hard. Sorry, the geology nerding ends now.

I don't really think there's a way to fix a scratch unless there's some way of kind of polishing it out. That's how Macworld UK recommends fixing some scratches on the stainless steel body. But a glass scratch is pretty much a scratch. You should probably contact Apple to see if they have suggestions or whatnot. I dropped my iPhone a few weeks ago and the face went kaboom. That only cost $109 to fix, but I think I've heard the Apple Watch will cost more.
 
That still doesn't make sense. Steel has a hardness of 4-4.5, and regular glass has a hardness of 4.5-6.5. I'm guessing whatever metal it was had some impurities probably with quartz mixed in -- it's in everything -- and that would scratch the glass. If something scratched my sapphire face, I would open an FBI case on it to figure out what the heck was near me that's that hard. Sorry, the geology nerding ends now.

I don't really think there's a way to fix a scratch unless there's some way of kind of polishing it out. That's how Macworld UK recommends fixing some scratches on the stainless steel body. But a glass scratch is pretty much a scratch. You should probably contact Apple to see if they have suggestions or whatnot. I dropped my iPhone a few weeks ago and the face went kaboom. That only cost $109 to fix, but I think I've heard the Apple Watch will cost more.
These are the little mofos that did it lol.

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Well, I believe I have scienced out a reasoning. I'm just going on what I've learned in my three upper-level classes and a little research, but I believe it scratched because that's a fairly sharp surface and chromium is a prominent element used in stainless steel. It has an 8.5 hardness on the Mohs scale, which means it's closing in on the 9 rating of sapphire (a form of corundum). As I mentioned before glass is going to be no more than maybe 6.5.

Honestly it's a case of bad luck. I mean objects made of stuff that hard with edges sharpened to any degree aren't really found in most places. You'd pretty much find thing in scientific areas or workshops with nails, drills and other stuff like that. I really wish I knew how to help reduce or get rid of it, if there is a way. I just killed my iPhone screen so I know how that feels. But if you want a silver lining, it makes me feel better to know I got the Watch version since I'm sure stuff like that will be around me as I take these classes and find a job in the field. I have been clanking my watch on my seat belt buckle about every day, so I'm definitely glad I went for the stronger watch since I have obvious clumsiness issues.

If you have a teacher who is knowledgable about minerals and geology, you oughta run that hypothesis by him or her. I'm curious to know if I'm right. Maybe I should email the Mythbusters on that one.
 
I have some how manage to mark my sapphire screen. I'm not sure it is that resilient to scratches...

Consumer Reports couldn't scratch it with the hardest bit they have to test such things. It's VERY scratch-resistant. But you hit the right material with the right amount of force and it'll scratch.
 
It's tough to see that happen to your watch. I agree that your watch looks great though! I think you made a great choice.
 
This was shot two inches from my screen. At typical watch viewing distance and angles you can't tell

The thumbnails are probably the best indicator. $6 for 6 protectors on Amazon. I installed it last night and grazed my wall today. Paint came off to the watch face which then wiped right off.

I agree the sgs is the best looking but I also know the ion x isn't exact,y the hardest thing ever.

The images appear to show a great deal of Orange peel, I can assure you it's an illusion of close up. Additionally it had only cured for nine hours or so in the pictures

I've insjred my watch with home insurance but j wouldn't want to claim for a few scratches, nor do I want to lay a grand or more for a first gen watch

Anyway this is what I settled on. Let me know if you want to know the product I used.

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