April of 2015, My Series 0 Apple Watch arrived. It was Space Black, 42mm and covered in a gorgeous DLC coating that resisted scratches and it did so exceptionally well. A year later, I purchased a Series 1 and then a Series 2, 3 and I skipped 4 for a Series 5. The Series 5 watch was great. Larger 44mm screen, always on-display and a pretty fast system on a ship that never felt slow. Throughout the years though, I’ve always had the exact same looking watch. Even though the size grew from 42mm to 44mm, it was always a Space Black Stainless Steel watch. For reference, here are some photos over the years:
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The watch really looks identical over the years despite being a new watch almost every year and so 3 months shy of 7 years (wow) as an Apple Watch owner, I never once had an issue with SS SB in the largest size but that’s because I loved how resilient this material was to scratches thanks to the DLC coating and I loved the shininess of the finish, large screen and how the black always stood out among all of the millions of aluminum models. It looked and felt expensive and I really loved how heavy it was.
Also a shout out to Apple, I’ve been wearing a Stainless Steel Link Bracelet that came in my Series 0 Apple Watch Box since April of 2015. One of the clasps has broken but they gave me 3 extras and I’ve never needed to buy spare parts for them. I always feel like one day it’ll break but the link bracelet has been daily worn for almost 7 years. That’s quite a feet. Apple still sells the link bracelet but at $449 ($100 more than their regular link bracelet thanks to the DLC coating), I probably won’t ever buy it again despite really loving the bracelet. The primary reason is I have legitimate concerns that we’re nearing a point when Apple will finally replace how bracelets connect to the watch and I don’t want to spend $449 and have it last me one-two more years at most.
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When the Series 6 and 7 watches were announced, I had some decisions to make. They eliminated white ceramic from the Edition (a material and color I planned to buy for the series 6 but it was nixed at 5 and they made Space Black Stainless Steel a Hermes color. Honestly, I think very few people were buying this model like 1 out of 100 watch buyers so they might as well up-market the device to Hermes but that meant taking a $799 watch and making it $1399. Far outside what I was willing to spend for a watch I’d keep for 1-2 years. I skipped Series 6 thinking this was a one-off and Space Black would be back in reach for Series 7.
I was wrong.
Series 7 implemented the same tactics. Stainless steel is only shiny gloss and if you want steel in black, you’re paying $1399. The only other option you have is to purchase an Edition Apple Watch at $850 which is a different material (Titanium) and it’s not glossy, it’s brushed titanium. Going from shiny black DLC stainless to a more matte graphite titanium was a very hard sell for me. I struggled to find any photos of the watch I wanted paired with my favorite bracelet, the DLC coated link bracelet. Given how few link bracelets are out there and how few DLC coated SB Titanium models that are sold, I had a hard request.
Finally around Christmas, I saw a post on Macrumors’ Forums of someone with the titanium black and link bracelet together. It didn’t look half bad. Sorry for the rambling here but my DLC coated link bracelet has gotten more matte over the years. It’s not as shiny as it was out of the box. In fact, a new SB SS watch was incredibly glossy and the bracelet was not. You can see how my link bracelet used to look brand new here:
That’s brand new in 2015 out of the box. Very close to the watch itself (gorgeous I should add).
Today, the link bracelet is a lot more matte as sen here on my Series 5 in a photo taken 2 years ago next to my space black Milanese loop…the bracelet is even more matte now:
The Titanium Space Black attached to a Link Bracelet convinced me to bite the bullet and order an Edition-class watch. A little known fact about Editions is it’s more than just a fancy name or material. Edition has always been something special like Gold, Rose Gold, Ceramic and now Titanium. I imagine only 1 out of 500 people spring for these materials given how rapidly these watches depreciate. My Series 5 Space Black Watch is worth $150 to Apple and $200 on eBay after costing $799 just 2 years ago. I’ve always lost 75% of the value after just 1 year with Apple Watch stainless steel. I’ve come to terms with it.
Edition gets you:
- Titanium case in Silver or DLC Coated Space Black
- Sapphire front & back
- One extra Graphite or silver sport band
- One Sport Loop of your choice
- Two years warranty (instead of one with other Apple Watch models)
- Negative, AppleCare+ for Edition and Hermes is $149 and only $79 for Stainless Steel models so if I wanted a Space Black watch (SS or Titanium), It’d be $149 to warranty it for an extra year
Anyway, today my watch arrived and I chose a Dark Cherry/Forest Green Sport Loop which looks wonderful in photos and isn’t a band I previously had. I wanted to share a few photos of the unboxing. I was hoping Edition meant a special packaging and it was like the last 3-4 watches I’ve owned:
Here’s the Titanium Space Black Watch under a desk lamp:
And the Dark Cherry/Forest Green Sport Loop in the box:
This is my Series 5 + Product Red SB SS next to the Titanium Series 7 attached to the new band:
…and the setup process:
I’m really excited to show some photos of the watches in the sunlight. I’m happy how they came out:
I wore the watch all day today while out and while sleeping last night. The biggest improvement in the Series 7 is the edge to edge screen and feels more like a fashion piece than in any previous iteration of the watch. Battery is running down slower than my series 5 thanks to improvements Apple has made to the refresh rate on the screen and, in series 6, other optimizations to the always on display. My series 5 was so bad I kept always on turned off after 6 months despite always-on being the main reason I bought that model.
It’s faster by a little bit and it’s nicer. The titanium is about 5-6 grams lighter than the stainless steel. Once the watch is in the link bracelet, I can’t tell the difference in weight from my stainless steel model.
One thing that I was not prepared for was by how much I’d like the look of the Titanium. Not just the newness of it, the weight or the screen but how good it looks in my very worn link bracelet that doesn’t shine anymore. The two seem made for each other. In addition, after spending almost 7 years with a glossy steel black watch, the matte black is kind of refreshing. I’m excited about Apple Watch again. I always loved the watch and wore it daily but I haven’t had a ‘new Apple Watch’ in years. 7 years with one bracelet and one watch (albeit 6 different generations) was getting old and I didn’t realize how stale it felt until I donned the titanium with its matte brushed lines and I really love it!
So, here’s to another $800 wasted but I have a 3 year warranty on this model, it looks fantastic and I’ll keep this one for a while.
Thanks for reading!