Most of the Apple Watch accessories I’ve seen to now have been charging stands, backup batteries, and even pads to lay the Watch on while you’re not wearing it, but more and more companies are offering actual covers for the watch’s metal body. Spigen has an ExactFit Apple Watch Slim Premium Matte Finish Hard Case that snaps on to cover and protect the metal body of the watch. The case is made from “premium polycarbonate” and leaves the Crown, contacts button, and band attachment open and accessible. It’s available to fit the 38mm or the 42mm Watch. Available colors are champagne gold, satin silver, smooth black, or smooth white, but all colors may not be available in both sizes. Your choice of size/color is $14.99. You can pre-order at Amazon now; item will be in stock on May 11, 2015.
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I normally alternate between a 18K GMT II and a Pt President and I have other watches that also cost more than an Apple watch. Getting a case to cover a watch is silly.
It’s “silly” for you, but not silly for everyone. It sounds like you have a large budget for watches. Not everyone does, and they may want to spend a little extra to protect what to them is a much higher investment than a single watch represents to you.
Besides, the Apple Watch isn’t a watch; it’s a small computer with timekeeping abilities, among other properties. People who put a case on their Apple Watch may want to keep it in top shape so they can re-sell it for top dollar when they are ready to upgrade to another smartwatch in a couple of years or so.
@Janet Cloninger, I guess I do. My family used to be in the Watch business and I sort of collect watches. I view this as a hobby and I am also protecting my assets. Rolex watches hold their value very well. I bet I can get my money or close to want I paid for on some of the watches that I own. When I pass away, I would have something to gift my sons that they would appreciate. A few years down the road these Apple watches would be very out of date and they probably going to devalue much like an old phone.
I guess you are right that a brand new looking iPhone 4 would depreciate less than an iPhone 4 with normal wear. However, the difference might be the cost of that case, so why bother?
If one is very rough doing sports and needs a wearable, there are many other choices other than an Apple watch.
Oh mine, a cover for a watch. What is this world coming to? Cover for the bottom of my shoes? Cover for my sunglasses? That sapphire face is going to waste, and that watch is going to look mint 30 years from now, just like my cousin’s 1973 pocket calculator.
Live a little, people. These are just things. They will be obsolete before you know it, and no one really care what they look like a few years from now.
You know not all the Watches have sapphire crystals, right? The Sport, which I see this accessory for, is made of relatively soft aluminum and has a glass face. And some people do care what their things look like. The fact that someone may have a cover for one of their gadgets might help them keep their gadget looking mint until it does becomes obsolete, which may be their way of “living a little”. And someone having a cover for their gadget won’t decrease anyone else’s appreciation for their own scratched up gadgets.
From Apple’s web site “The Sport collection cases are made from lightweight anodized aluminum in silver and space gray. The display is protected by strengthened Ion-X glass. …………”
Pure aluminum is relatively soft but aluminum alloy is not as soft. Apple watch is made with 7000 series aluminum. 7000 series aluminum is stronger than some steel. Hardcoating or hard Anodizing aluminum could make the aluminum surface much harder than steel. While color anodized surface is not as hard as the hard anodized surface, it is much harder than the surface of aluminum soda pop can.
I have no idea of what is Ion-X glass. If it is like Gorilla Glass 3, it would have better shatter resistance than sapphire. Sapphire is probably harder and probably more scratch resistance. While I am not an Apple Fan, I do believe that Apple make quality products. Apple would not make a Sport Watch with fragile material. I just think a case protector is an overkill but to each of his own.
@meistervu, My feelings exactly. Somewhere among my “prized processions”, there is a pristine looking HP-45 scientific calculator circa 1974. It still had its leather carrying case, manual, charger and the plastic storage box. I was in college and it cost closed to $400 after tax. Today, it is probably buried in a box somewhere in my garage. The battery no longer holds charge long ago and I have not turn it on for decades. I guess 40 years from now, there will be folks still holding on to their prized Apple watches. Some of which might have their protective case on. LOL!
@EWY I love those HP calculators. I bought one in 1982 from a flea market when I was in high school. I thought it was broken until I figured out RPN. Now a day, my favorite calculator on my iPhone is “42” which is an RPN calculator.
I love nice things, and I take excellent care of them. It pained me to get a scratch on a beautiful desk I designed and have custom built and spent days putting a finish on myself. But I am not going put a piece of glass on it to protect the wood surface because that would defeat the purpose of having a beautiful wood surface. The way I see it, everything is in the state of constant decay. We are all turning into dust eventually. To go out of one’s way to try and preserve physical objects to the point of not being able to enjoy them fully for what they are is missing the point.
The iWatch is beautiful in its own way. I am sure Apple tried as hard as they can to make it what it is. Adding a cover to such a minimum piece seems so wrong to me.
My point of view is if I spend MY money on an expensive watch and I want to protect it by buying a snap-on protective cover or screen protector with MY money, then why should YOU care?
I had a snap on cover for my Palm tungsten and is caused more abrasive damage from slight movement with dust under it than if I had left it off.
@Julie, If I/We do not care then why would I/we even bother to make any comments? I guess I should stop posting then. BTW, the comments that was made were not saying people should not use covers. It is just the opinions that it was “silly” or “not necessary”.
@EWY it’s always easy to dismiss a product as useless or silly without thinking through all the possible scenarios first. Case in point, this product I posted about the other day:
This weird looking ring thingy adds wireless charging to your non-wireless charging device
I said it was stupid, but then someone in the comments pointed out that it would be a perfect product for stores like coffee shops. And then BOOM, we had a reason why it could be a useful product.
Now we’re talking about a plastic cover for a watch. It might seem silly and not necessary. But it’s too early to tell how well the Apple watch will hold up to every day abuse. Some people are fastidious about their gadgets and like to project them as much as possible. A $15 cover for a $349 – $17,000 watch doesn’t seem silly to me at all. Although spending $17,000 on a watch that will probably be out of date in a couple years is definitely crazy 🙂
And buying a $15 cover for a $17K watch – taking something beautiful and covering it up with plastic…
I don’t actually believe someone with the Oprah version of of the Apple watch would buy one of these covers… 🙂
That wireless charging thing doesn’t make sense for a coffee shop either. How long do you think it will be before some of them go missing? A USB plug doesn’t walk away.
But you are right in saying that there are special environment when even the most absurd looking things make sense. If I were a brick layer working with cement, sand, bricks all day, and I wear an Apple watch, I would get one of these.
I was definitely in the “a cover for a watch…really?” camp until the glass type was mentioned. You really need sapphire for an everyday watch crystal, as a daily driver is going to be smashed into something eventually, regardless of how hard you try not to. Perhaps the next iteration of the Apple Watch will have this option, regardless of the cost increase. It’d be worth it, and eliminate the need for a high tech plastic couch cover.
I would think that Apple watch glass is comparable if not better than most watches out there on the market. I don’t see the need for watch face covers for all those watches, some of which are more expensive than Apple watches.
But I can’t really blame the companies that come up with product like this. There will be lot of Apple watches on the market, so it’s a good opportunity to make some money.
I collect all sorts of watches too… from expensive, to not. I appreciate all my analog movements, but there is definitely room for the smartwatch world.
I will definitely be casing my new applewatch in the #epik watch case when it comes out!! I’m a huge fan of Scott Wilson’s design work.
http://epikwatch.com/
I can see a use for a case, it’s why I am here on this page! Problem is, I can’t find a case like I would want. All I want is a clear case that snaps on and covers the entire watch with no cut-outs for the controls. When I’m done work I want it to just snap off. Seems like something that should cost about 99 cents. Maybe that is why nobody makes it…
The way to prevent a snap-on case popping off (which is a problem with this and all such cases, if they are impacted in just the right way from a sudden blow) is to stick a layer of transparent matte Scotch tape on the insides of the left and right edges of the case: just on the curved edges of the case, and then use an X-Acto knife to trim it away around the holes. Do this, and your case will be snug and will NEVER pop off!!! …