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Struggling again with watch size. Talk me through it!

ssledoux

ssledoux

macrumors 601
Original poster
Sep 16, 2006
4,413
4,245
Down south
Don't really need to upgrade from my S6, but I LOVE the Starlight color, and I have been on the fence about going to the larger watch the last couple years.

My oldest daughter is wanting an Apple Watch, and not really interested in buying new, so I am toying with upgrading and passing my 6 on to her.

How many small ladies have the bigger watch? I have tried one on before, and I love it, and the idea of readability, but it IS big on my wrist, and I would also have to replace all my bands, though I guess I really only have a couple of favorites.

Hoping for some input.
 
Maybe someone else could confirm but I would imagine the 41mm series 7 is probably comparable in screen size to the 44mm s6.
 
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Monkswhiskers said:
Maybe someone else could confirm but I would imagine the 41mm series 7 is probably comparable in screen size to the 44mm s6.
Click to expand...
It’s slightly smaller, the 41mm S7 is 352x430 pixels and the 44mm S6 is 368x448 pixels. It’s very close and with thinner bezels I’m pretty sure it gives a similar experience than the S6 44mm and that we can’t tell the screen size difference
6A9A1153-DF2C-4EDA-9350-AD1699EF57D2.jpeg
 
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fwmireault said:
It’s slightly smaller, the 41mm S7 is 352x430 pixels and the 44mm S6 is 368x448 pixels. It’s very close and with thinner bezels I’m pretty sure it gives a similar experience than the S6 44mm and that we can’t tell the screen size difference
View attachment 1872273
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Yeah the screen there does look really close to the same size! Now the bigger one would give you even more screen! Of course, I guess I need to consider how much screen I really need on my wrist. ;-p
 
Monkswhiskers said:
Maybe someone else could confirm but I would imagine the 41mm series 7 is probably comparable in screen size to the 44mm s6.
Click to expand...
Yes someone added a video to one of these threads showing how similar the pixel count and screen were.

…and there it was again in the next post. :)
 
Experience sharing time!

I have both 40 and 44, SS and Al, respectively—and turns out importantly. When they didn’t have silver aluminum, I thought maybe I just get the best of both worlds and 45 SS. It was awesome!!! Bigger screen, more importantly, bigger font. Just love it. But the weight hurt. Like woke me up in the night because my wrist hurt and would just annoy me in the day. It was hard to give up the screen, so I could have had the 45 in aluminum, that would have been a really good thing.

Since you’re going aluminum, think it could be perfect for you. And if you don’t like it and exchange it for the 41 Starlight, you’ll probably enjoy the bigger of that too.
 
Switching from 44 mm to 41 mm this year. Male with 195 mm wrist. The screen feels equivalent between 41 vs 44, but the watch itself is smaller, and the bezels are very thin, which makes the watch case more compact. I like the lightness of it for sports purposes. It is a more immersive look, as almost everything is filled with color.

On the fifth day I'm getting 24 hours of battery life. A typical drop seems to be 50% in 12 hours, with always-on screen enabled at full brightness. No cellular though.

I had a 45 mm for a day, but I didn't like the new display proportions. Unnecessarily large, in many watch faces the layout felt too spaced out. This is a matter of opinion, I'm sure many like the extra space. But both sizes are big enough for most people to use, IMO. For people without glasses, the choice is a matter of taste more than ever. And people with glasses can now can opt in for an even bigger screen.
 
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I want to see real life pictures of side by side. Looks like I have to go in to the apple store with my series 6.
 
n3sh said:
I want to see real life pictures of side by side. Looks like I have to go in to the apple store with my series 6.
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I've tried to take photos, but they tend to skew the proportions, emphasizing things differently than what I see in real life. Lens, zoom, distance, crop etc will all make the photo look different, none matching the stereo view in person. Indeed the best thing to do would be to take the old watch to a store and check the new sizes out with your own eyes.

The diagonal difference is bigger than the 41 vs. 45 mm height measurement makes it sound like. But big sunglasses are a style choice, why not an oversized watch too. And I'm a big guy who chose the 41 mm after initially buying the 45 mm version. This is a look and feel that I prefer. I don't even know what influencers recommend these days, if they do!

One thing to consider is that the first "large" iWatch was 42 mm in size. That's only 1 mm more than the "small" size of 2021, an almost unrecognizable difference in person, until the display is lit. Then it becomes clear.

All in all, the new 41 mm feels much like the original 42 mm Watch to wear, but with a display from last year's 44 mm. Hope that helps even a bit.
 
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I’m gonna gonna go against the grain. Get the 45mm.
Easier to read, better battery life, and most importantly, you will get used to it.
I’ve had the same with the lounge tv. I have a 65” screen in a relatively small lounge. Relatives were saying (or thinking) that it’s too large for the room.
Then they go and buy a big screen themselves.
Even a non pro max iPhone seems too small to me now.
Just my £0.02
 
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Yeah I would visit the store. I also want to see how the bands will fit in 41mm. I wonder if my 42mm band will fit the new 41mm case without protrusion
 
ssledoux said:
and I would also have to replace all my bands,
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The smaller size bands will fit on the larger watches. It might look a bit odd, though, and I have no idea if it affects comfort/wearability, but worth a try if you decide to go for the bigger size watch.
 
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I have had the 40mm S4 until now and prefered that size back then.
But somehow my taste has changed and looking at it today it felt very "delicate".

Which is why i ordererd both 41mm and 45mm this year and now that i have tried them both, i actually prefer the more modern look of a bigger watch. And having used the bigger screen, it is hard to choose the smaller screen afterwards. It does make a big difference for notifications etc.

A bit sad of course, that my old bands will be too small for this watch. Especially the milanaise that i never used because i'm too afraid to scratch the watch xD
But i'll be keeping the old watch for workouts, because it is lighter and a bit more comfortable. That way i also don't have to change the band just for a workout. Much easier to just switch the watch.
 
It is true that everything is bigger on the 45mm Series 7 so it’s easier to read. But if you already have good eyes, you can also turn the fonts sizes down. This allows you to see a lot more text than the previous 44mm watch. Which is nice because it’s much less scrolling than the series 6.
 
perezr10 said:
It is true that everything is bigger on the 45mm Series 7 so it’s easier to read. But if you already have good eyes, you can also turn the fonts sizes down. This allows you to see a lot more text than the previous 44mm watch. Which is nice because it’s much less scrolling than the series 6.
Click to expand...
Well good eyes are a thing of the past. I think that’s the first thing that goes when you turn 50.
 
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ssledoux said:
Don't really need to upgrade from my S6, but I LOVE the Starlight color, and I have been on the fence about going to the larger watch the last couple years.

My oldest daughter is wanting an Apple Watch, and not really interested in buying new, so I am toying with upgrading and passing my 6 on to her.

How many small ladies have the bigger watch? I have tried one on before, and I love it, and the idea of readability, but it IS big on my wrist, and I would also have to replace all my bands, though I guess I really only have a couple of favorites.

Hoping for some input.
Click to expand...
I have had the Apple watch since the first generation and I too have struggled with choosing a size. I have very small wrists as well, but I love the larger screen with the bigger watch. With my first watch I went with the larger size in stainless steel. I had never worn a watch before, so it ended up feeling too heavy. For the next couple of generations I went with the smaller size in aluminum to get the lightest watch possible. By the time the 5 came out, I was used to wearing a watch, so I went back to the larger size. I don't think it looks too big on my wrist and it's so much easier to see the screen with my old eyes. I'm back to the stainless steel in the 7 now and I'll never go back to the smaller size.

I love the idea of donating your watch to your daughter. I have justified many of my tech obsession purchases by passing the previous version on to friends and family. I do agree with others that trying them on in the store is the way to go though.

As far as the bands, I was just told by an apple store employee this week that you can use the smaller bands with the larger watch because they will still lock in place. The only difference is aesthetics. There will be a small gap on each side of the band where it connects to the watch, but it's not noticeable unless you're looking for it. It doesn't look too bad at all!
 
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spiritedcharm said:
I have had the Apple watch since the first generation and I too have struggled with choosing a size. I have very small wrists as well, but I love the larger screen with the bigger watch. With my first watch I went with the larger size in stainless steel. I had never worn a watch before, so it ended up feeling too heavy. For the next couple of generations I went with the smaller size in aluminum to get the lightest watch possible. By the time the 5 came out, I was used to wearing a watch, so I went back to the larger size. I don't think it looks too big on my wrist and it's so much easier to see the screen with my old eyes. I'm back to the stainless steel in the 7 now and I'll never go back to the smaller size.

I love the idea of donating your watch to your daughter. I have justified many of my tech obsession purchases by passing the previous version on to friends and family. I do agree with others that trying them on in the store is the way to go though.

As far as the bands, I was just told by an apple store employee this week that you can use the smaller bands with the larger watch because they will still lock in place. The only difference is aesthetics. There will be a small gap on each side of the band where it connects to the watch, but it's not noticeable unless you're looking for it. It doesn't look too bad at all!
Click to expand...

I can imagine the larger size in SS being pretty heavy. I had a SS once in the smaller size, and found it pretty heavy compared to the aluminum. I also usually have cellular, and that adds a little weight, although not much I don’t think. This time I am considering skipping the cellular, since I usually keep it turned off anyway (although I should probably use it more).
 
I'm a guy with small wrists and didn't even notice the physical size difference with the S7. My mom is wearing my 44 mm S6 and she loves it (especially for using larger text) and has smaller wrists than me. She tried on my S7 to see if she would like a sport loop and didn't complain about the size. And the sport loop was perfect for her because her old watch band was way too loose on her small wrists.
 
I've upgraded from 40mm to 45mm this year. I regretted for months not going big last year.
I tried the big one on last year and loved it but was too much of a coward to keep it.
Here's my 40mm series 6 next to my new 45mm series 7. Second picture is the 45mm series 7 on my 16,5cm wrist. I'm 5.2.IMG_6898.jpgIMG_6899.JPG
 
MayfairMissy said:
I've upgraded from 40mm to 45mm this year. I regretted for months not going big last year.
I tried the big one on last year and loved it but was too much of a coward to keep it.
Here's my 40mm series 6 next to my new 45mm series 7.


View attachment 1873442
Click to expand...

Dang! In that pic it looks like a big difference, although I know in real life it likely doesn’t seem like quite as much.
 
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