Scratched watch face

Yes! I have a Black Aluminium 44mm Nike Apple Watch Series 5 WIFI/Cellar which cost my wife nearly £550 GBP in the Lakeside Apple Store. It was a 50th Birthday Present in July 2020. When I bought it I asked the store assistant in the Apple Store how fragile the watch face is to breakage and scratches and he said they are very robust so shouldn't need a protector over the face. Other family members with previous versions of the Apple Watch advised me they were very robust, however research since reveals the spec of the screen has been changed. I have an iPhone 6S Plus which I have had for 5+ years and it is mint. After 2 weeks of careful wearing my Apple Watch Series 5 somehow had a deep gouge right in the middle of the face (pictured). Now, just 6 Months later, it has several scratches, one mid deep and it spans most of the watch face. It also has a few light scratches that you will unlikely see in the photo. I've been hiding it from my wife who shelled out for it. Been wearing Swiss watches all my life and have never significantly scratched a watch. I'm gutted! Do put a protector over the watch face before it scratches as once it is scratched you will see it even worse with a protector on it as it traps air underneath! You can get them on eBay for a few £ GBP. Get the one with the black surround and get several as they come off. For a premium watch they are very easy to damage and you wont know you've even done it until it stares you in the face... Disappointed to say the least! . I have been

I really expect that Apple will fix it soon and they will change our watches, because it was verry expensive.

with those money you can buy an autentic watch with real sapphire glass and swiis mecanism that will live on your hands at least 10-20 years.

this watch is not for more than 3-4 years!

Bought the stainless watch about a month ago. Already it has a similar fine scratch on the screen

despite only everyday normal use. Didn't drop it or anything else unusual. I

have had a Swiss watch with a sapphire screen for 30+ years and NO scratches,

so the Apple sapphire seems to be considerably less durable. I bought the

stainless version specifically for this reason, so pretty disappointing. Apple support seems to just shrug their shoulders and say take it to the store. Guy in the store says, "It's scratch resistant, not scratch proof." Well, based on it what I am reading here and seeing myself, it is not as scratch resistant as typical watch sapphire crystals. I really wonder if these are defective in some way.

Same thing is happening with my apple watch. It's brand new, titanium, always really careful with it but there's this weird spider web thin scratches appearing all over the screen. I have my iPhone XS Max for a long time now, no scratches but the apple watch, for some unknown reason there's scratch showing up. I wear a jacket to work and it's soft. Is this a defect of the screen? It's really bizarre.

Inhave the same problem. Got a titanium version 3 weeks ago and i have same scratches as MVCanada, on the right side of my screen display.

what is wrong with this glass? On my apple watch series 2 i’ve never seen a single scratch, and i had that watch for almost 4 years, and here, in 3 weeks inhave multiple scratches.

even my wife, on her apple watch series 3 sport doesn’t have scratches like i do, and she owns that watch for more than a year.

i think Apple lied to us when they’ve said that the glass is sapphire, or the quality of sapphire is the “cheapest saphire like never before”

unfortunatley, the quality of the picture doesn’t show all of the scratches, and inam certain that the scratches come from the shirts that i weared, so that glass is verry sensible.

i mention that i never accident my watch, i was verry carefull with it.

Me too! I have not been rough or banging against things, in fact I have a broken foot so definitely not getting around, I noticed a very deep scratch on my (2 month old) series 5. I thought it was a crack, no visible impact damage or marks. The shop staff don’t really care, a female assistant stated that she wasn’t the one wearing the watch so couldn’t tell me what materials or circumstances would cause a scratch so deep! I have been given the options to get repaired at a cost of £300, or purchase a new watch at £400, and add on apple care. Prior to purchasing I asked a shop assistant specifically about the screen’s integrity, he advised the screens are very strong and would not be damaged easily. When I think of the money I’ve spent over the years on apple goods. Shocking customer service!

i have watches with sapphire crystals and they don’t scratch in everyday use. My Apple Watch series 5 scratched within months of ordinary use. The display isn’t sapphire crystal. Here’s a picture of the watch face. I wiped it with a cleaning cloth I use for my eyeglasses so the smudges are actually scratches.

The description on the website says “ceramic and sapphire crystal back” . it doesn’t seem to make the same claims about the face.

Mine is the exact same way and it happened within a week. I was very upset because it was a gift from my husband and they told him they were very sturdy as well. We had a series 1 that he’s still using and no scratches like this on there whatsoever.

i bough this stainless steel in may 2020 and I thought since it’s a crystal screen, it would be better. But nope, I hade a normal digital watch for 7 yrs and no scratches. When I go for a apple appointment for my phone, I’ll ask if they can replace it under warranty.very stange

My first Apple Watch was a series 2 stainless steel with sapphire crystal and I wore it for over 2 years without a screen protector and had absolutely no issues with it. I used a case to protect the body and add a little volume on my wrist but the screen was unprotected the whole time. I sold it to a friend and got the Series 4 stainless steel a couple of years ago and I might say that it seems like Apple used less premium materials to build it. I even got a case with raised edges to protect the sapphire screen but it did no good. I has several micro scratches that don't come off. Can't even sell as it is it now.

I am very positive that Apple decreased the build quality on the series 4.

I have the same issue. Splashed out on the series 5 stainless steel with Milanese Loop 3 weeks ago thinking the sapphire screen would be bullet proof and already it has several scratches on it. I've been really careful and it's not been knocked or dropped. I've had the series 1,3 & 4 in aluminium in the past and have never seen a scratch on them. Very disappointed after spending the extra on this one.

The watch is not defective. In the terms and conditions it doesn’t not state that it is scratch resistant. Other companies offer screen protectors and cases. Like the iPhones and other products the cosmetics damages are not given that way. Scratches are not covered. If you don’t want scratches I’m sure other companies offer scratch removals.

Elsewhere in the internet, some people suggest the sapphire has a coating on it for smudge resistance or anti-reflection. Either that is the case, or it’s not full up sapphire. What is the point of advertising “sapphire” as a feature of the watch if the face scratches this easily? I tried polishing out the scratch with a soft cloth and also a rubber pencil eraser, but no joy. Sure it is probably technically not covered by the warranty, but that is hardly a good excuse.

I understand this is upsetting, but I have a Stainless Steel Series 4 (so it is probably about 15 months old) with the Sapphire glass and even though I am not the most careful person, the screen is still perfect.

Maybe they changed something with the Series 5. Funny, but I have an old Series 2 that I use in the gym, and even though it is not sapphire and is several years old, it does not hav any scratches. I am suspicious that there is a costing on the series 5 sapphire version.