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honglong1976

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
1,676
1,135
UK
how is it joined? Is it glued? Or another method. Just curious and curious to know if anyone has ever broke one?

thanks :)

31B0B2EE-F4C2-4781-AFE1-30382C64E046.png
 

MacDevil7334

Contributor
Oct 15, 2011
2,553
5,817
Austin TX
Interestingly, it’s actually not glued on. It’s attached with a spring bar that is hidden inside the buckle. This makes the 1st-3rd gen Classic Buckle bands one of the few OEM Apple bands that can be taken apart by the owner. I recently swapped out the lugs and clasp on a saddle brown band and replaced them with space black hardware. You can see pictures of the hidden spring bar and the final result at the links below.



If you ever want to remove the buckle on your band, I describe how to do it here.

 
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honglong1976

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
1,676
1,135
UK
Interestingly, it’s actually not glued on. It’s attached with a spring bar that is hidden inside the buckle. This makes the 1st-3rd gen Classic Buckle bands one of the few OEM Apple bands that can be taken apart by the owner. I recently swapped out the lugs and clasp on a saddle brown band and replaced them with space black hardware. You can see pictures of the hidden spring bar and the final result at the links below.



If you ever want to remove the buckle on your band, I describe how to do it here.

That's great, it uses a spring bar! No need to worry about it falling off. I was curious because I had a nylon strap before and I always thought it was glued, but I wonder if that had a spring bar as well.

Very good engineering by Apple.
 
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honglong1976

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
1,676
1,135
UK
That's great, it uses a spring bar! No need to worry about it falling off. I was curious because I had a nylon strap before and I always thought it was glued, but I wonder if that had a spring bar as well.

Very good engineering by Apple.
Thanks for the links, I had a read and they are all quite interesting. I would imagine the spring bar is a pain to remove. I don't have any need to, but I can see the benefit (space grey watch).
 

MacDevil7334

Contributor
Oct 15, 2011
2,553
5,817
Austin TX
That's great, it uses a spring bar! No need to worry about it falling off. I was curious because I had a nylon strap before and I always thought it was glued, but I wonder if that had a spring bar as well.

Very good engineering by Apple.
Yeah the buckles on the woven nylon bands definitely do not use a spring bar. I tried removing a black buckle from one of my nylons to swap over to my leather band. I was able to get a little bit of the nylon out of the buckle. There is no spring bar. The band appears to be held in by metal teeth that grip into the nylon (might be woven in?) from the top and bottom of the clasp and hold it in place. It’s possible it might be glued too. I didn’t keep going once I realized there was no spring bar because I figured the clasp wouldn’t work with the leather and I didn’t want to ruin the woven nylon band for no reason.

Apple’s method of attaching the buckle to the leather band with a simple spring bar is much more elegant.
 
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honglong1976

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 12, 2008
1,676
1,135
UK
Yeah the buckles on the woven nylon bands definitely do not use a spring bar. I tried removing a black buckle from one of my nylons to swap over to my leather band. I was able to get a little bit of the nylon out of the buckle. There is no spring bar. The band appears to be held in by metal teeth that grip into the nylon (might be woven in?) from the top and bottom of the clasp and hold it in place. It’s possible it might be glued too. I didn’t keep going once I realized there was no spring bar because I figured the clasp wouldn’t work with the leather and I didn’t want to ruin the woven nylon band for no reason.

Apple’s method of attaching the buckle to the leather band with a simple spring bar is much more elegant.
At least you tried! Must be glue. I would imagine the glue bonds to nylon better.

Acrylates. The Apple Watch case, the Woven Nylon, the Milanese Loop, the Modern Buckle and the Leather Loop contain trace amounts of acrylates and methacrylates from adhesives.

 
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