Classic Buckle quality issue, Apple replaced with Milanese

[pittine]

First of all, I sincerely regret not taking pictures of my deteriorated black Classic Buckle band.

A month or so after receiving my 30mm Classic Buckle Apple Watch, the "leather" strap holder thing (circled in red in the photo attached) began showing excessive wear. The edges began fraying into pieces of what seemed to be black latex. As the latex-like coating began to peel, the inside of the "leather" piece became exposed. It did not appear to be leather at all, but rather a layered fibrous material. I suppose it could have been leather, but I have never seen leather like that.

I didn't expect Apple to do anything about it, as I thought wear on the bands wasn't covered by Apple Care. Today I was in an Apple store for an unrelated reason and in passing mentioned the issue to an Apple employee. The employee seemed alarmed by the fraying and exposure of the synthetic-appearing fibrous material. I noted my disappointment, as the watch is not by any means old, hasn't been exposed to water other than hand washing, and doesn't even appear to be leather.

The Apple employee, after about 10 minutes of disappearing to the back of the store, replaced the band completely- giving me a choice of other bands. I chose the Milanese Loop, as it was the same price as the Classic Buckle. The employee promptly took my Classic Buckle band to the back of the store.

I love my new Milanese Loop! But I wish I had documented with photos, as I am questioning the quality of the entire Classic Buckle leather. Someone should cut into a Classic Buckle to confirm that it is actually real leather. It could be that the small strap holder section is made from a different material from the rest of the band?

PS: I was overall dissatisfied with the quality of the band. It never seemed luxurious or supple as I was expecting. It didn't breathe at all and regularly left my wrist feeling clammy.

 

[WarHeadz]

I've always thought that Apple's modern and classic leather bands look cheap. The leather loops are really nice and so is the Milanese.

 

[Enygmatic]

I don't have the leather band, but I did try one on once while in the store (on an Edition); I think they're real leather - just so over-processed that they lose most of the "leather feel" qualities. I know a couple of people who are very happy with theirs, but this isn't the first complaint I've seen about that particular band. Glad Apple took care of you.

 

[pittine]

I don't have the leather band, but I did try one on once while in the store (on an Edition); I think they're real leather - just so over-processed that they lose most of the "leather feel" qualities. I know a couple of people who are very happy with theirs, but this isn't the first complaint I've seen about that particular band. Glad Apple took care of you.

I think the leather of the Classic Buckle is made by Ecco? The leather in the Modern Buckle and the leather loops are from different makers. I could be wrong. I'm highly suspicious of the actual quality of the Classic Buckle leather. The others may be better.

 

[Enygmatic]

I think the leather of the Classic Buckle is made by Ecco? The leather in the Modern Buckle and the leather loops are from different makers. I could be wrong. I'm highly suspicious of the actual quality of the Classic Buckle leather. The others may be better.

The one I tried on was the Midnight Blue Classic Leather Buckle... it's likely real leather - they just have so many "refinement" processes that it ends up an almost entirely different material. I know they try to minimize creasing; I actually prefer a bit of creasing with leather bands. Adds character (and comfort).

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

The one I tried on was the Midnight Blue Classic Leather Buckle... it's likely real leather - they just have so many "refinement" processes that it ends up an almost entirely different material. I know they try to minimize creasing; I actually prefer a bit of creasing with leather bands. Adds character (and comfort).

Yes, this is pretty much true. The Classic Buckle is covered with artificial (embossed) grains, masking the real leather underneath. The Leather Loop is the same in this respect.

 

[Defender2010]

Yes, this is pretty much true. The Classic Buckle is covered with artificial (embossed) grains, masking the real leather underneath. The Leather Loop is the same in this respect.

That's rubbish! Do u actually know anything about leather?! Stop fanning the "hate classic buckle" haters. My buckle is worn everyday and looks immaculate. Pristine in fact where people comment on how good it looks. Perhaps you are all just careless users. It's leather- for gods sake let it rest.

 

[Defender2010]

Yes, this is pretty much true. The Classic Buckle is covered with artificial (embossed) grains, masking the real leather underneath. The Leather Loop is the same in this respect.

It's pebbled leather. Never heard of it? I suggest u research a little.

 

[WarHeadz]

That's rubbish! Do u actually know anything about leather?! Stop fanning the "hate classic buckle" haters. My buckle is worn everyday and looks immaculate. Pristine in fact where people comment on how good it looks. Perhaps you are all just careless users. It's leather- for gods sake let it rest.

Perhaps you're just very defensive? If it feels cheap to someone, your ranting and raving won't change that.

 

[omgitscro]

It's pebbled leather. Never heard of it? I suggest u research a little.

It would be easier to get your point through if you developed your social graces a bit. But nevertheless, you're right. The material is absolutely real leather, but as Apple themselves will tell you online, the leather is augmented in its inner layers with stronger artificial materials in order to avoid stretching, i.e. around the sizing holes and ends.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

That's rubbish! Do u actually know anything about leather?! Stop fanning the "hate classic buckle" haters. My buckle is worn everyday and looks immaculate. Pristine in fact where people comment on how good it looks. Perhaps you are all just careless users. It's leather- for gods sake let it rest.

It's pebbled leather. Never heard of it? I suggest u research a little.

I don't know why you're so defensive. I never said anything derogatory about the Classic Buckle nor did I imply it wasn't real leather. I merely wrote it's covered with artificial (embossed) grains. As you pointed out, it's pebbled leather, which means the pattern is embossed on the surface of the leather using some kind of rollers and as such, the grains are artificial.

 

[pittine]

Apparently, people have opinions.

As a former owner of the Classic Buckle, I do call into question the quality of the leather. I know people want to defend their choices and not embrace the idea that something they paid a lot of money for and have high expectations for is actually of poor quality. I am one of those people. But my experience with the band has been poor. Perhaps it was just my band that was flawed. I wish I had pictures to illustrate my concerns, as the contents of the band appeared to be a synthetic coating with fibrous layers on the inside, none of which remotely resembled any leather I have previously used.

My hypothesis is that the leather used in the Classic Buckle band is actually of lower quality than it is marketed.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

I wish I had pictures to illustrate my concerns, as the contents of the band appeared to be a synthetic coating with fibrous layers on the inside, none of which remotely resembled any leather I have previously used.

Perhaps it's the UPVA glue mentioned in one leather expert's take on the Classic Buckle below, and yours happened to have a defective glue?

I've done a fair amount of leather working and my take on the band is this.

Leather has a skin side and a felted side, you can thin the leather down by a process called skiving but any real thickness and durability comes from the thick body of the leather extending into the felted side. It's skin at the end of the day made up of layers.

The classic band uses a modern tanning process and it is uncertain if it is chemically died or uses an iron oxide treatment (vinegaroon) for the black. I'm guessing chemically died.

The material used is skived quite thin and doubled over around the watch lugs. Near the lugs there is an additional leather insert which is stitched in by very small machine stitches to bulk out the shape and ensure there is no visible gap around the bar of the lug.

The straps are then glued, probably with UPVA glue. There is nothing wrong with this, it's durable and flexible. Applied in exactly the right amounts it will see out the life of the strap but one could have possibly hoped for micro stitching. Stitching, however, is debatable because the stitching could cause stiffness in the band.

Stitching only appears to be present on the inside of the band where the pads near the lugs are attached and the belt loop middle.

The edges are then burnished to produce a rounded and smoothed boundary and to hide the join of the felt parts meeting and to make the inserts near the lugs look uniform.

3 layer perception can be summarised as 2 skin sides and 2 felt sides impeccably and strongly glued with no discernible join between the felt side. Simply seeing the skin finish on the inside tells you it is back to backed.

The ONLY bit I can't work out is how sturdy the connection to the ring link on the buckle is and I'm not cracking it open to find out how they did it

I'm pretty happy with it, nice design job

 

[broadbean]

That's the funny thing about leather, sometimes cheap fake leather feels and smells better than the real thing.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

That's the funny thing about leather, sometimes cheap fake leather feels and smells better than the real thing.

Nonsense. The OP merely had a defective band that exposed the glue, which was the synthetic stuff he saw. His hypothesis is moot if he's basing it on his own defective band. Isolated manufacturing defects happen.

 

[broadbean]

Nonsense.

My post was about leather in general, based on the other replies.

 

[javisan]

I truly understand the comments on the quality of the classic buckle made in this thread. I don't mind the quality that much as I bought my watch with the classic buckle and my employer reimbursed 50% of the total cost of the watch so I really only paid $50 extra dollars from what I would have paid if I bought the watch with the sports band. However, I would NEVER had paid $100 or $150 for this band as I think it feels extremely cheap. I have a couple of leather watch bands from Florence, Italy which, after at least 3 years of constant use, are still smooth and feel great and are in top shape. Honestly, the classic buckle just feels like a $20-$30 Chinese knockoff. Worst of all, after only 2 weeks of use, mine looks very deformed (when not wearing it) and just does not feel real. You can try to justify the reasons why this is happening, but for me, the reasons don't matter, it just feels cheap/fake. But again, I don't mind as I only paid $50 for it, but I can understand why others who paid $100 of $150 would feel very disappointed.

 

[Downs2011]

Nonsense. The OP merely had a defective band that exposed the glue, which was the synthetic stuff he saw. His hypothesis is moot if he's basing it on his own defective band. Isolated manufacturing defects happen.

This could be true but what other reason could have caused them to quietly "enhance" the quality of the classic buckle? Theres is definitely a new design and it seems to look better to me.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

This could be true but what other reason could have caused them to quietly "enhance" the quality of the classic buckle? Theres is definitely a new design and it seems to look better to me.

Based on the posts here, there have been too few complaints. We know from experience that issues that affect a few percentage of users tend to be disproportionally overemphasized here, and we'd be seeing posts left and right if it were a more common complaint (like Antennagate and the iPhone 5 arriving from factory full of nicks and scrapes).

As for the new design being better, that's subjective. Some members are extremely unhappy about the brown lining on the inside. I do think the new design looks better on the outside, but at the same time the old design was better looking as a whole (less distracting without the brown lining).