Steel bands are not water resistant?

[jido]

Hello,

I expected all the Apple bands to be water resistant, but that does not seem to be the case.

http://www.apple.com/watch/compare/ - scroll all the way down

What is your experience?

Does the DLC coating on black versions give any additional resistance?

What are alternatives to Apple bands for a combination of steel and water resistant?

 

[Thai]

Hello,

I expected all the Apple bands to be water resistant, but that does not seem to be the case.

http://www.apple.com/watch/compare/ - scroll all the way down

What is your experience?

Does the DLC coating on black versions give any additional resistance?

What are alternatives to Apple bands for a combination of steel and water resistant?

That is pretty funny. Why? SS is made from 316L, which does not rust. Maybe they open easily with swimming?

 

[BarracksSi]

My best guess (and my only guess) is that Apple thinks water doesn't fully evaporate out of the Link bracelet's latching mechanisms (which I still feel are awfully small and thinly-constructed for a watch bracelet) and will cause them to corrode (316L can corrode a bit, but at a very small scale, I think).

What I want to do now is get myself the Link bracelet and treat it like my other watches' bracelets -- wear it for hot weather, rinse daily in the shower, things like that -- and see if it goes bad.

"Honey, I need the $500 bracelet, it's for research."

 

[BrettDS]

For what it's worth, I got my link band in June of 2015 and I've showered with it nearly every day since then. It's not showing any signs of having been damaged by the water and I was pretty surprised to see apple's statement. My series 2 watch comes tomorrow and I'm planning to move the link band to that watch and continue showering with it daily as well as swimming occasionally.