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Variation Between Apple Watch Displays

powerbook911

powerbook911

macrumors 601
Original poster
Mar 15, 2005
4,009
398
I used a Classic Buckle SS for most of the time since launch day as I purchased it for a family member, and I'm the tech guy, therefore I was given the opportunity to use it before passing it on, plus they got to check it out whenever they wanted.

Well, today my Apple Watch SS with BSB finally arrived. Terrific! Except, it was not the same watch...

The crown has no tactical feel like the buckle watch, the family button is mushy by comparison, the BSB had the surface wear away after only 8 hours of use, and there was scratches on the edges of the chrome where it meets the glass out of the box, not present on the classic watch after nearly two weeks.

However, MAYBE I could have gotten over all those differences, the big one:

The Screen! The screen simply pops on that initial classic buckle SS I opened. The colors are vibrant, blacks are so deep, it's bright, etc.

The new one, the colors looked slightly washed out, it is not as bright, and the blacks are not as black.

Has anyone else with a multiple watch household noticed this difference between screens? It's pretty dramatic on mine.

I might get a new order in for another BSB watch, but also keep this one a week to see if I happened to get use to all the differences, if I do send it back next week and wait on the next one, it says July!

It's a shame that the watch can have such high variance in its manufacturing.

Thanks for listening, and let me know if you have noticed the screen differences too!
 
We've got 4 of them here: two 42mm SS classic buckles and two 42mm Space Gray sports and they all are pretty much identical. The two SS models aren't distinguishable one way or another, but the crowns on our SS models are much more soft, tactile, and dampened compared to the Sport which feels much more loose and free-spinning. I haven't checked the second sport for this as it came in yesterday, but I'll check.

I'd maybe call or bring both into an Apple store.
 
fs454 said:
We've got 4 of them here: two 42mm SS classic buckles and two 42mm Space Gray sports and they all are pretty much identical. The two SS models aren't distinguishable one way or another, but the crowns on our SS models are much more soft, tactile, and dampened compared to the Sport which feels much more loose and free-spinning. I haven't checked the second sport for this as it came in yesterday, but I'll check.

I'd maybe call or bring both into an Apple store.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, the screens have a dramatic difference on these two. Maybe a new display supplier has come online with these latest deliveries.

I know Apple would swap it out if I wanted, but I don't want to get a "service" replacement that wouldn't match my original box, etc. I'd rather get a complete new retail watch.

Well, time to wait unless I get used to it. Thanks again and a nice watch collection your family has! Must be fun to communicate with each other on them! :)
 
powerbook911 said:
I used a Classic Buckle SS for most of the time since launch day as I purchased it for a family member, and I'm the tech guy, therefore I was given the opportunity to use it before passing it on, plus they got to check it out whenever they wanted.

Well, today my Apple Watch SS with BSB finally arrived. Terrific! Except, it was not the same watch...

The crown has no tactical feel like the buckle watch, the family button is mushy by comparison, the BSB had the surface wear away after only 8 hours of use, and there was scratches on the edges of the chrome where it meets the glass out of the box, not present on the classic watch after nearly two weeks.

However, MAYBE I could have gotten over all those differences, the big one:

The Screen! The screen simply pops on that initial classic buckle SS I opened. The colors are vibrant, blacks are so deep, it's bright, etc.

The new one, the colors looked slightly washed out, it is not as bright, and the blacks are not as black.

Has anyone else with a multiple watch household noticed this difference between screens? It's pretty dramatic on mine.

I might get a new order in for another BSB watch, but also keep this one a week to see if I happened to get use to all the differences, if I do send it back next week and wait on the next one, it says July!

It's a shame that the watch can have such high variance in its manufacturing.

Thanks for listening, and let me know if you have noticed the screen differences too!
Click to expand...

Hi I bought both SG Sports and SS BSB both 42mm. I have since sold the SS but I can confirm all your points as above I experienced on my SS. Biggest annoyance was the digital crown. Practically no tactile push motion and it would not spin freely.

Couldn't be happier with the SG Sports. Keeping that one. Experience has taught me it's a keeper. Very audible "click" when pushing the digital crown. Rotates effortlessly. Compared both screens side by side and the SG "popped" with colour and as you said deeper blacks too.

One thing I can tell you though is that the surface wear marks on the BSB can be washed away by using mild hand soap, water and a microfibre cloth.
 
Variation Between Apple Watch Displays

powerbook911 said:
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, the screens have a dramatic difference on these two. Maybe a new display supplier has come online with these latest deliveries.



I know Apple would swap it out if I wanted, but I don't want to get a "service" replacement that wouldn't match my original box, etc. I'd rather get a complete new retail watch.



Well, time to wait unless I get used to it. Thanks again and a nice watch collection your family has! Must be fun to communicate with each other on them! :)
Click to expand...


One of the most striking things is how good the. Display is, if my watch was even a touch inferior to those I have seen I would replace it immediately, I couldn't even bare to look at the watch knowing it has a worser screen than the rest.
 
powerbook911 said:
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, the screens have a dramatic difference on these two. Maybe a new display supplier has come online with these latest deliveries.



I know Apple would swap it out if I wanted, but I don't want to get a "service" replacement that wouldn't match my original box, etc. I'd rather get a complete new retail watch.



Well, time to wait unless I get used to it. Thanks again and a nice watch collection your family has! Must be fun to communicate with each other on them! :)
Click to expand...


Whoa, you think the new watches coming out because of the supplier are having inferior displays?

I just returned mine for a replacement, I might request a refund and wait it out because I would not want this to happen with me.
 
This happens with all of Apples products.

Because of the large volume of sales, Apple needs to have multiple suppliers of displays, and multiple locations of manufacture.

This is going to cause a wide variance in quality.

If you don't think yours is right, play the lottery and exchange.


My SGS's display is very bright on max, and the colours are very rich. The Crown also spins freely, maybe a little too freely.

Only real issue I've had is the Force touch can be hit and miss, but that's most likely software.
 
Is there anyway for the consumer to find out where their watch was manufactured? Maybe we can identify which plant has the better products. Seriously doubt it, but worth asking.
 
phirstube said:
Is there anyway for the consumer to find out where their watch was manufactured? Maybe we can identify which plant has the better products. Seriously doubt it, but worth asking.
Click to expand...

You can tell by the serial number usually, but this has been done and turned into a wild goose chase.

Each factory gets shipments daily from the same multiple parts suppliers.
 
Before jumping to conclusions, can we get some pics that show the alleged variations in screen quality?
 
I know for sure that my gf's sport screen is much better visually compared to my SS screen. But I believe that is just the difference between ion glass and sapphire.
 
I think if this was a real wide spread issue we would be seeing a lot more posts about it.
 
fs454 said:
We've got 4 of them here: two 42mm SS classic buckles and two 42mm Space Gray sports and they all are pretty much identical. The two SS models aren't distinguishable one way or another, but the crowns on our SS models are much more soft, tactile, and dampened compared to the Sport which feels much more loose and free-spinning. I haven't checked the second sport for this as it came in yesterday, but I'll check.

I'd maybe call or bring both into an Apple store.
Click to expand...

iFixit showed that the Sport and Watch have different distinguishable quality mechanisms for the digital crown, and other parts. Now, they may be higher quality on the SS, or they may just be parts from a different vendor, in which case, the mechanism could vary from watch to watch even of the same model ...
 
powerbook911 said:
The Screen! The screen simply pops on that initial classic buckle SS I opened. The colors are vibrant, blacks are so deep, it's bright, etc.

The new one, the colors looked slightly washed out, it is not as bright, and the blacks are not as black.
Click to expand...
Apple Watch uses an OLED display; blacks are 100% black, since there is no backlight illumination for black pixels. Therefore, it's physically impossible for one watch to have less black blacks than another. So I don't know what to tell you.
 
Cory Bauer said:
Apple Watch uses an OLED display; blacks are 100% black, since there is no backlight illumination for black pixels. Therefore, it's physically impossible for one watch to have less black blacks than another. So I don't know what to tell you.
Click to expand...

This is true - but blue colors will degrade faster and if left on continuously, you'll get image retention/burn in - and the screen will die faster, using bright white backgrounds - OLED is far from ideal.

I say this as a former gen one PSVita owner (moved to the slim)
 
Eightyone said:
This is true - but blue colors will degrade faster and if left on continuously, you'll get image retention/burn in - and the screen will die faster, using bright white backgrounds - OLED is far from ideal.

I say this as a former gen one PSVita owner (moved to the slim)
Click to expand...
Like any display technology, not all OLED's are created equal nor has the technology been standing still since the 1st generation PSVita. Regardless, the original poster can't possibly be experiencing less black blacks on one Apple Watch versus another.
 
Before everyone gets onto bashing the op, there's multiple things which could cause the blacks to be "less black".

Unclear sapphire, a reflective problems, a faulty oleophobic coating, etc, etc.

My guess is the coating. The sport screen will be nicer to look at than the SS, but there should be no real difference between two SSs
 
Would love to see some side by side comparisons at the same brightness level.

My wife got a sport, I got a SS. When I saw hers the other day, I was like "whoa, that's sharp and bright", but then found out she had her brightness turned all the way up.
 
agree with OP, got an applecare replacement today, blacks are the same, vibrancy and taptic vibrations are definitely weaker on the replacement. what a shame.
 
Brian Y said:
Before everyone gets onto bashing the op, there's multiple things which could cause the blacks to be "less black".

Unclear sapphire, a reflective problems, a faulty oleophobic coating, etc, etc.

My guess is the coating. The sport screen will be nicer to look at than the SS, but there should be no real difference between two SSs
Click to expand...

The OP is saying the SS he used had the better screen.
 
Interesting...I'm somewhat experiencing the same, however the watch models are flipped in my scenario.

I received my 38MM SS BCB today around 3pm EST, and right off the bat I did feel some type of sluggishness with the digital crown. So much so, that when I was trying to change the color on one of my watch faces, I'd lightly scroll up, and it would almost pull back down. It's a bit odd to explain, but you can even see the "rubber band" type of effect on the vertical scroll bar, pushing back down. I even decided to wash the digital crown, as earlier reports in the week described some sluggishness, however I got the same result. My coworker got a 38mm Black Sport on launch day, and I remember his digital crown being much smoother. I'm going to check his watch tomorrow, and compare the digital crowns.

I'll update the thread tomorrow.
 
Brian Y said:
Before everyone gets onto bashing the op, there's multiple things which could cause the blacks to be "less black".

Unclear sapphire, a reflective problems, a faulty oleophobic coating, etc, etc.

My guess is the coating. The sport screen will be nicer to look at than the SS, but there should be no real difference between two SSs
Click to expand...

You have it mixed up...the OP is saying the SS has a better screen.
 
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