Every Apple Watch band Apple released. Ever.

[Thalyn]

Picked up Tangerine and Aquamarine sport bands today. Love them! Aquamarine especially looks great in person.

 

[goldmac2006]

Apple started engraving a super tiny serial # on Bands starting around early 2016. Its hidden usually on one of the spring pins. You have to push the pin out and zoom in super closely to make it out. I used Halides macro mode in conjunction with a 16ProMax using the 0.5x macro capable lens to get these photos.

In terms of Hermes, they only started having serial #'s present on their Bands sometime in 2022. Prior to that they had no serial # on the lugs beyond the usual datecode stamps. I couldn't tell you when exactly, since my Hermes collection of bands post-2021 is pretty small, but none of my 2021 and prior bands have it, of which I have many. They also funny enough often include the serial # on both lugs, which is not something Apple does. Any Hermes leather bands that have a stamp on the buckle piece that begins with U B W or K are made in 2022-2025 respectively and should have serialized lugs, while T X A C D Y Z are 2015-2021 respectively will be blank. Textile bands have no datecode stamps at all, granted the oldest Textile bands, which are the Jumping Single Tours, came out Fall 2021. The oldest Fluoroelastomer bands (rubber) are the Kilims, which didnt exist before 2023 and actually have a datecode stamp under the keeper closest to the deployment buckle.

Apple serial numbers had a 10-character format, and eventually around mid 2020's switched to a 13-character alphanumeric format, and then sometime around late-2021 to early 2022 they switched again to an 18-character format, while Hermes serial #'s are also very different from Apples and follow a 14-character CCCCC******* format. The Orange and Noir Sport Bands follow Apples serializing rules since they are an Apple band that just licences the Hermes name.

Berry Stripe Woven Nylon:
View attachment 2501045

California Poppy Leather Link (Fall 2020):
View attachment 2501046

Pride 2021 Sport Loop:
View attachment 2501047

Desert Stone Nike (Fall 2023):
View attachment 2501048

Hermes 2022+:
View attachment 2501049

Also, none of these serial numbers are ever used at Apple stores or Apple Service Providers or anywhere else. They literally wont even pull up in GSX/MobileGenius/Core (Apple Service Provider, Genius Bar, and Apple Phone/Chat Advisor systems respectively), theyre used for nothing as far as warranty and support and repair is concerned. Its an accessory, and accessories are "unserialized" as far as Apple cares so dont stress too much over it. Apple also never services Hermes bands anyways, with exception for the Sport band. All Hermes non-sport bands have to go to Hermes store.

Fun fact: this is not the tiniest serial number Apple uses. Apple Watches have an even tinier one engraved onto the inner part of the very center sensor on the health sensor array, and its so small that a spec of dust is many times larger. its not engraved as text, but a 2D Datamatrix and you can only really see it under a microscope.

Great piece of info. I noticed these minuscule numbers on my Nike strap, a few sport bands and my other leather Apple straps.
Here how it shows up on a Gen1 black:

They can still identify a band but it is still quite useful.

Also to contribute to the band chat and to get to the 500 post quota to get to MacRumors marketplace, here's my new near-mint condition Bordeaux Double Tour on my 41mm Series 9 Gold. Got this as part of a super nicely priced 15-and package that also came with 2x link bracelets one of which was mint, Indogo Double Tour (en-route to a happy new buyer already), some mint condition classic buckles, and a bunch of less noteworthy bandsView attachment 2501057

Looks really nice finally you got a 41mm so the Hermes straps make sense in how they look now. When you had the 45mm it was a bit awkward to see it on the side.

 

[mikedis]

barry mcgee on white ceramic

 

[athousandbands]

barry mcgee on white ceramic
View attachment 2501506

Always-Off Display? 😏

 

[athousandbands]

Lake Green sport band (silver steel)

this one really looks better in more light, please excuse my 45mm tan line

 

[goldmac2006]

Lake Green sport band (silver steel)

this one really looks better in more light, please excuse my 45mm tan line
View attachment 2501586

You switch between Apple Watch sizes? I stick to 40/41mm.

 

[athousandbands]

Ultramarine sport loop (white ceramic)

 

[mikedis]

Always-Off Display? 😏

hey im just matching the renders

 

[athousandbands]

hey im just matching the renders

???

 

[goldmac2006]

 

[mikedis]

???
View attachment 2501617

 

[athousandbands]

View attachment 2501631

In this house, we go by Apple renders

 

[mikedis]

In this house, we go by Apple renders

in this house, we accept the mcgee renders as apple

 

[athousandbands]

in this house, we accept the mcgee renders as apple

It’s a real bear market out here

 

[heyyitssusan]

Pink citrus

 

[goldmac2006]

Spring break chillin. 😎

Ink Leather Link.

 

[Snide]

Question for the bandoholics: I have one of the original blue sport bands, but not sure if it's gen 1 or gen 2. It is the one in the bottom of the photos. The first photo was taken by a window, the second under a skylight and is more saturated. For reference, the bands above it in ascending order are:

Surf Blue
Capri Blue
Blue Horizon
Abyss Blue
Mallard Green

 

[goldmac2006]

Question for the bandoholics: I have one of the original blue sport bands, but not sure if it's gen 1 or gen 2. It is the one in the bottom of the photos. The first photo was taken by a window, the second under a skylight and is more saturated. For reference, the bands above it in ascending order are:

Surf Blue
Capri Blue
Blue Horizon
Abyss Blue
Mallard Green

View attachment 2502145

View attachment 2502144

Gen 1 the one from the original Apple Watch release if I look closely. IIRC Bandbriete shows that gen 2 is a bit lighter whilst gen 1 is more sky blue and darker like the colored pencils

 

[athousandbands]

Question for the bandoholics: I have one of the original blue sport bands, but not sure if it's gen 1 or gen 2. It is the one in the bottom of the photos. The first photo was taken by a window, the second under a skylight and is more saturated. For reference, the bands above it in ascending order are:

Surf Blue
Capri Blue
Blue Horizon
Abyss Blue
Mallard Green

View attachment 2502145

View attachment 2502144

For some reason I still remember the pnemonic we came up with during the pandemic: blue2neon, not that a band can be too neon (give me all the forever chemicals 🍽️)

 

[jags828]

Gen 1 the one from the original Apple Watch release if I look closely. IIRC Bandbriete shows that gen 2 is a bit darker whilst gen 1 is more sky blue like the colored pencils

Gen 1 is darker than Gen 2.

 

[goldmac2006]

Gen 1 is darker than Gen 2.

o dang thanks for the correction that I mustn’t have put them backwards 😂 but indeed Bandbriete does show it like that. The poster earlier had the pictures in actual light a little different, so the True Tone display sometimes confused me too. Will update it cheers 👋

 

[nattK]

With Beats’ recent foray into accessories, I wonder whether we’ll see Beats-branded Apple Watch bands soon. Would be interesting to see whether it’ll also eventually replace the Nike partnership given that Apple is positioning Beats as a sport-adjacent brand.

 

[athousandbands]

With Beats’ recent foray into accessories, I wonder whether we’ll see Beats-branded Apple Watch bands soon. Would be interesting to see whether it’ll also eventually replace the Nike partnership given that Apple is positioning Beats as a sport-adjacent brand.

Yeah let’s throw out the collab with the 80B company that our CEO is on the board of, genius

 

[JBlass421]

With Beats’ recent foray into accessories, I wonder whether we’ll see Beats-branded Apple Watch bands soon. Would be interesting to see whether it’ll also eventually replace the Nike partnership given that Apple is positioning Beats as a sport-adjacent brand.

Beats bands? I highly doubt that!

 

[nattK]

Beats bands? I highly doubt that!

Beats already makes iPhone cases, so I wouldn’t say it’s a stretch