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Why have a sapphire screen if the coating gets scratched?

gusping

gusping

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 12, 2012
2,031
2,368
I have a 42mm SS watch and in one of the corners there are a few 'scratches' which has taken off the coating on the screen. Surely this defeats the point of a sapphire screen as the coating will scratch easily anyway. I had only been wearing it around the house and had not had any hard knocks.
 
Why have a sapphire screen if the coating gets scratched?

gusping said:
I have a 42mm SS watch and in one of the corners there are a few 'scratches' which has taken off the coating on the screen. Surely this defeats the point of a sapphire screen as the coating will scratch easily anyway. I had only been wearing it around the house and had not had any hard knocks.
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This. I replaced it and then when I found out that the issue goes away on its own I felt bad about the fact I had it replaced. I then find out that the new watches that are being shipped have inferior screens and feel less robust because of the new suppliers - see forum post below this at time of posting. So now I have just requested a refund, I was stupid for getting one at launch.
 
shenfrey said:
This. I replaced it and then when I found out that the issue goes away on its own I felt bad about the fact I had it replaced. I then find out that the new watches that are being shipped have inferior screens and feel less robust because of the new suppliers - see forum post below this at time of posting. So now I have just requested a refund, I was stupid for getting one at launch.
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What do you mean when you say the issue goes away on its own? The coating 'spreads' to fill the scratch?
 
grenhall said:
No. The coating around the "scratch" gets worn out so it "flattens" out the "scratch".
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Oh ok, either way mine is going back. May get another in a few months but it will be the SG model most likely.
 
Maybe, instead of the traditional black microfiber cloth, Apple should include a piece of sandpaper (with Apple logo, of course) with sapphire screens, so that users can remove the oleofobic coating.
 
shenfrey said:
This. I replaced it and then when I found out that the issue goes away on its own I felt bad about the fact I had it replaced. I then find out that the new watches that are being shipped have inferior screens and feel less robust because of the new suppliers - see forum post below this at time of posting. So now I have just requested a refund, I was stupid for getting one at launch.
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Really?
 
samiznaetekto said:
Maybe, instead of the traditional black microfiber cloth, Apple should include a piece of sandpaper (with Apple logo, of course) with sapphire screens, so that users can remove the oleofobic coating.
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I'd rather that! The coating is 100% pointless and defeats the point of having a sapphire screen.
 
I've purposely demonstrated the scratch resistance of sapphire to a few friends, more then few times by rubbing my screen on a rough stucco wall at work. I did it very hard and rubbed it like the watch was sandpaper and the wall was what I was sanding. But I was careful not to hit the stainless. It performed flawlessly! Not a single blemish. If something was going to scratch, it would have without doubt scratched. If I did the same demonstration to an iPhone, the screen would be literally trashed. So I'm not sure why ur coatings are scratching, but it's not right.
 
Is there a correlation between manufacture week and these alleged inferior screens?

My SS is week 14 and I don't have a problem with screen blackness, brightness, digital crown clicking (definite click feeling) and turning (a little resistance)
 
OP are you using any form of cleaning liquid to clean the display of the watch?
 
MrGimper said:
Is there a correlation between manufacture week and these alleged inferior screens?

My SS is week 14 and I don't have a problem with screen blackness, brightness, digital crown clicking (definite click feeling) and turning (a little resistance)
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This is just some made up scenario by a forum member. The screens are the same.
 
i find all of these reports of scratched sapphire screens amazing.
i wear watches with sapphire crystals day in and day out, and they never scratch.
are people purposely banging their AW into things, or has the public just lost the ability to wear a watch?
 
rhsmd1 said:
i find all of these reports of scratched sapphire screens amazing.
i wear watches with sapphire crystals day in and day out, and they never scratch.
are people purposely banging their AW into things, or has the public just lost the ability to wear a watch?
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This is what I want to know. Baffles me completely. I've worn watches for decades and even as a kid can't remember scratching a watch face. I've destroyed many things, even cheap digital watches pressing buttons too hard too many times, dust getting in them, etc. But the glass looked brand new when it was time drop in the trash.
 
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rhsmd1 said:
i find all of these reports of scratched sapphire screens amazing.
i wear watches with sapphire crystals day in and day out, and they never scratch.
are people purposely banging their AW into things, or has the public just lost the ability to wear a watch?
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Because Apple are dumb enough to put a coating over the screen which makes using sapphire pointless. Has nothing to do with the ability to wear a watch.

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Mvatlarge said:
Traditional watches don't get touched all the time. Remember old iPhones without the coating? Smear city.
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I'd rather smear city than a scratched 'sapphire' screen.
 
gusping said:
Because Apple are dumb enough to put a coating over the screen which makes using sapphire pointless. Has nothing to do with the ability to wear a watch.

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I'd rather smear city than a scratched 'sapphire' screen.
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I agree, I'd rather have smears than a scratched screen.
 
I don't understand why people say it's wrong to include an olio phobic coating. Without it you'll need cleaning liquids to remove the oils that came from your fingers.

And for people that say they rather without an olio phobic coating it'll degrade overtime or you could even degrade it using some form of alcohol. So what's the problem?

And lastly aren't we just making assumptions that the olio phobic on the OPs watch is scratched. Which may or may not be true.
 
jabingla2810 said:
Please come back in read your statement here in 12 months.
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and* I will don't worry.

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lchlch said:
I don't understand why people say it's wrong to include an olio phobic coating. Without it you'll need cleaning liquids to remove the oils that came from your fingers.

And for people that say they rather without an olio phobic coating it'll degrade overtime or you could even degrade it using some form of alcohol. So what's the problem?

And lastly aren't we just making assumptions that the olio phobic on the OPs watch is scratched. Which may or may not be true.
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It is 100% the coating. Absolutely no depth or definition to the 'scratch' suggesting it would be the actual screen.
 
lchlch said:
I don't understand why people say it's wrong to include an olio phobic coating. Without it you'll need cleaning liquids to remove the oils that came from your fingers.

And for people that say they rather without an olio phobic coating it'll degrade overtime or you could even degrade it using some form of alcohol. So what's the problem?

And lastly aren't we just making assumptions that the olio phobic on the OPs watch is scratched. Which may or may not be true.
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Just curious then. Do other watches that have sapphire screens have this coating?
 
MasterRyu2011 said:
Just curious then. Do other watches that have sapphire screens have this coating?
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As far as I know no. They also usually don't have a touch screen so it's not needed. But imo I still don't think it's needed on the apple watch. All you need is a microfiber cloth or just a t shirt if you get smudges.
 
ZEEN0j said:
As far as I know no. They also usually don't have a touch screen so it's not needed. But imo I still don't think it's needed on the apple watch. All you need is a microfiber cloth or just a t shirt if you get smudges.
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Without a coating you'll just smudge the oil all over the screen.

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gusping said:
It is 100% the coating. Absolutely no depth or definition to the 'scratch' suggesting it would be the actual screen.
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Could we get a photo?
 
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