Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Wearing out the aluminum attachment point on Sport with other metal bands

N

nyc410

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 9, 2012
74
0
During my try on appointment, the guy that was helping me try on the SS models brought up an excellent point that I have not seen discussed on the forums yet. (Trust me, I've been reading these forums for every launch and very closely for this watch as I have ordered a SS w/ Blk Sport Band, 12:03 ~ 4/24-5/8)

The person next to me was trying on the sport watch with the milanese loop and the guy said that since the attachment for the loop is stainless steel, this and every other band with stainless steel or metal attachment, will eventually wear out the aluminum opening after you slide it on and off so many times.

This doesn't really affect me in any way since I ordered the SS, but if this is true, which it logically makes sense to me, this should be kept in mind for all those people using the click adapter, link bracelet, classic buckle, milanese loop, or modern buckle with their sport watches.
 
I doubt it, unless a person constantly messes with it over a very long period of time.
 
nyc410 said:
The person next to me was trying on the sport watch with the milanese loop and the guy said that since the attachment for the loop is stainless steel, this and every other band with stainless steel or metal attachment, will eventually wear out the aluminum opening after you slide it on and off so many times.
Click to expand...
No. You'd wear out the clicky-button lock mechanism long before that. Alu alloy is quite resistant to casual wear; there are no large forces involved here, so it will last essentially forever pretty much. Well, certainly much much much longer than the electronic components inside the watch itself anyway.

Of course, you'd scuff and eventually wear off the surface anodizing around the band attachment points (especially with store demonstration models, since people tend to be pretty careless with things they don't own themselves :rolleyes:), but not the metal itself. You probably want to be careful when exchanging bands on space grey models for this reason.
 
Lennyvalentin said:
No. You'd wear out the clicky-button lock mechanism long before that. Alu alloy is quite resistant to casual wear; there are no large forces involved here, so it will last essentially forever pretty much. Well, certainly much much much longer than the electronic components inside the watch itself anyway.

Of course, you'd scuff and eventually wear off the surface anodizing around the band attachment points (especially with store demonstration models, since people tend to be pretty careless with things they don't own themselves :rolleyes:), but not the metal itself. You probably want to be careful when exchanging bands on space grey models for this reason.
Click to expand...

I'm no expert but I also see the button mechanism failing before the aluminum body does. It sounds more like a sales rep trying to convence a potential buyer that they should purchase the SS version instead of the sports model.
 
Remember that the Aluminum is 7000 Series, which is stronger than the iPhone 6's aluminum, and the Ion-X glass is identical to the iPhone's glass as well.

I doubt it will wear out.
 
I agree with the other responses, this is not likely to be a problem.

For example, many bicycle chainrings are made of aluminum, while the chains are steel. They eventually wear out, but the watch connectors obviously see far less use.
 
Isn't aluminum harder than stainless steel? I think it would be the other way around, that the aluminum casing on the watch would wear out the steel first.

Not that I'd worry too much. It likely won't show appreciable wear for quite a long time, even if you changed the bands daily.
 
xPad said:
Isn't aluminum harder than stainless steel? I think it would be the other way around, that the aluminum casing on the watch would wear out the steel first.

Not that I'd worry too much. It likely won't show appreciable wear for quite a long time, even if you changed the bands daily.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure stainless steel is harder then aluminium.
 
Amazing. Do you really think that erosion (to a noticeable degree) will take place after changing the band on your watch 100-150 times? Sorry, but aluminum is stronger then that.
 
If you've been in and looked at the bands there are nylon inserts on the sliders so it's not metal to metal contact.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    33.1 KB · Views: 107
I think the rep may have been referring to galvanic corrosion in which the aluminium would corrode when in contact with the steel, but only if there's a passing electric charge. I've only done a few minutes research on this, so I may be missing some finer details.
 
Well yeah, it will EVENTUALLY wear out... that's a given.

Will it wear out in a short period time? no.

Will it wear out in a moderate period of time? no.

Unless you are constantly, 3-5 times a day every single day for the next year or 2 changing your bands, I don't see this being a significant issue.
 
BigMovieGeek said:
I think the rep may have been referring to galvanic corrosion in which the aluminium would corrode when in contact with the steel, but only if there's a passing electric charge. I've only done a few minutes research on this, so I may be missing some finer details.
Click to expand...

Someone shared this link on galvanic corrosion in another thread. I would think Apple would make sure their bands were compatible with any of their watch cases, but maybe not.
 
xPad said:
Isn't aluminum harder than stainless steel? I think it would be the other way around, that the aluminum casing on the watch would wear out the steel first.

Not that I'd worry too much. It likely won't show appreciable wear for quite a long time, even if you changed the bands daily.
Click to expand...

Steel is a lot harder than aluminum. Ever wonder why buildings are made of steel?
 
ilovemyibook said:
Steel is a lot harder than aluminum. Ever wonder why buildings are made of steel?
Click to expand...

Hardness has nothing to do with it. You don't worry about scratching a building. :rolleyes:

As far as stainless steel vs anodized aluminum, compare scratched iPods (stainless steel backs) vs scratched Macs, iPads, etc. (anodized aluminum).
 
xPad said:
Hardness has nothing to do with it. You don't worry about scratching a building. :rolleyes:

As far as stainless steel vs anodized aluminum, compare scratched iPods (stainless steel backs) vs scratched Macs, iPads, etc. (anodized aluminum).
Click to expand...

I'm not talking about their scratching abilities. Of course the back of an iPod would show scratches easily because it's a very shiny surface. Steel IS stronger than aluminum. There is no way that you can argue that aluminum is stronger.
 
ilovemyibook said:
I'm not talking about their scratching abilities. Of course the back of an iPod would show scratches easily because it's a very shiny surface. Steel IS stronger than aluminum. There is no way that you can argue that aluminum is stronger.
Click to expand...

I never said stronger, I said harder. And hardness is exactly what makes something scratch something else.

Harder materials scratch less hard materials. That's why diamonds scratch sapphire, and nothing scratches diamond. And almost nothing scratches sapphire.

And it's why, between stainless steel and anodized aluminum, only one of the two will scratch the other.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back