I've had SS, SBSS, SG Aluminum and now Starlight Aluminum. I think SS dresses up the nicest and works with essentially almost any band. SBSS is the dressiest "dark" color (although the new Graphite is nice). I think the old Space Gray aluminum did a very credible job of looking much like SBSS / graphite. You the wearer can tell of course, but I think people have to look VERY carefully to see if someone else wearing an AW is wearing a space gray aluminum vs. a SBSS, vs. a graphite, vs. a SBTi, or I assume the new midnight. Dark watches are... dark. They all sorta look the same to me. I'm wearing the Starlight this year and I like it very much, I wanted to move away from dark for a change of pace and I think Starlight looks so much less sterile and toy watch than the old silver. I think SS is still nicer, but Starlight is great, especially if you plan to wear this mostly with sports bands and solo loops.
I mostly miss sapphire, you do get micro scratches on the aluminum IonX glass, but I never had any scratches that were really that visible unless I was looking for them in reflected light with a mostly black watchface. For me buying aluminum is mainly about justifying my habit of buying a new AW every single year.
