I got my first Apple Watch since I got rid of the series 0 a few years ago and decided to splurge on the Hermes edition. I noticed my indigo swift single tour rattled a bit with notifications. The lugs too and bottom lugs move a little bit but I tightened the band a bit which seems to prevent it. It isn’t enough to worry me with exhanging it - especially since it took over a month to arrive and no stores near me have stock. Otherwise, it’s really great and the faces are much better than the standard Apple Watch faces.
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Hermès Edition Owners Thread
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I got my first Apple Watch since I got rid of the series 0 a few years ago and decided to splurge on the Hermes edition. I noticed my indigo swift single tour rattled a bit with notifications. The lugs too and bottom lugs move a little bit but I tightened the band a bit which seems to prevent it. It isn’t enough to worry me with exhanging it - especially since it took over a month to arrive and no stores near me have stock. Otherwise, it’s really great and the faces are much better than the standard Apple Watch faces.
What brand is it?I couldn’t afford or find the original Hermès cuff band. So here is the replica I got instead
View attachment 802507 View attachment 802508 View attachment 802509 View attachment 802510
It’s a Chinese seller on website Taobao.
I’ve bought numerous single tours from him. They’re very good quality.
How are you finding the colour fidelity of the AW4 screen?
I just tried out the new solid colour faces and the colour on my iPhone 8+ screen and the one on the watch are really very different. In particular the Hermès orange on the AW4 is very milky. But none of the solid colours look the same on both the 8+ and the AW4.
I first noticed this with the blue/white split screen Hermès face. I turned down the brightness on the watch, which improved it, but the blue was still somewhat washed out.
Do I have a dud watch?
Slightly embarrassing edit:
I just realised my iPhone was on Night Shift. Removing that made the colours closer to the ones on the AW, but the AW colours still seem a little washed out. I tried all three brightness settings. It’s really only noticeable when there are solid blocks of colour. And I’m not in general unhappy with how colours look — other than they are not as punchy as the ones on my iPhone when comparing blocks of colour.
I just tried out the new solid colour faces and the colour on my iPhone 8+ screen and the one on the watch are really very different. In particular the Hermès orange on the AW4 is very milky. But none of the solid colours look the same on both the 8+ and the AW4.
I first noticed this with the blue/white split screen Hermès face. I turned down the brightness on the watch, which improved it, but the blue was still somewhat washed out.
Do I have a dud watch?
Slightly embarrassing edit:
I just realised my iPhone was on Night Shift. Removing that made the colours closer to the ones on the AW, but the AW colours still seem a little washed out. I tried all three brightness settings. It’s really only noticeable when there are solid blocks of colour. And I’m not in general unhappy with how colours look — other than they are not as punchy as the ones on my iPhone when comparing blocks of colour.
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is that the same brand as the Hermes replica which are almost identical as the real thing ?
Haha yes. Well it’s from the same seller. I don’t know how close this cuff is to the real thing.
I should get commission from bring customers for him from macrumors lol
Incredible relicas. With all Hermes prints in the leather they look almost identical... except the price
Follow this other thread and there are instructions from other members.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...d-strap-thread.1866289/page-168#post-26770372
Essentially download the taobao chat app and chat directly to the seller.
also look here how good the fakes are #2042
[doublepost=1541953492][/doublepost]
Both devices have different screen- and backlit technology
Curious as what Hermes ended up doing? Either was going to buy through Hermes or just order from Apple and wait a couple weeks to get the watch. Thanks!
It looks like the policy of punching an additional hole varies by boutique. After some deliberation, they stated that they made a one-time exception in my case, and I sent it to the store in Beverly Hills for the additional hole via FedEx. However, your mileage may vary and I would make sure that you have it in writing from a boutique that they will punch an additional hole if you have the slightest doubt that a particular strap size may not fit.
In my case, I have owned a previous Apple Watch since the original and have amassed a collection of bands, so the only realistic option for me was the larger Apple watch for compatibility reasons.
Wonder why they initially wouldn't do it. They wouldn't get paid? I wonder if they all work on commission. I've only been in a Hermes store a few times and most have been friendly and helpful. One woman that I've saw twice working was burnt out. She was hiding and using her phone. Another time reluctantly answered a question. I imagine it's difficult to maintain high quality as the Apple Stores in the beginning early 2000s were great, then it was quite awful with some Apple Store workers were utterly rude and angry. Now it seems better. I remember a Manager for a car dealership telling me tried to be "nice" but it didn't work. He theorized that workers are inherently lazy so have to be leaned on. Maybe this Hermes store was simply being lazy and didn't feel like punching a hole. I have a Tumi bag in which the monogram isn't centered and I have to decide if I want to bring the bag back in and have the monogram re-done.
The commission structure at Hermes is strange, and definitely a big part of the company’s customer service problems. Sales associates currently get commission on fine jewelry and ready-to-wear. This means that many (if not most) sales associates can demand that customers spend at least the dollar value of the coveted handbag they want to buy in one of those two departments. In other words, if you want a $12,000 handbag, get ready to spend $12,000 on jewelry or RTW, whether you have any interest in those items or not. Oh, and even if you do shell out the 12K, no guarantees you’ll get a bag (I use the indefinite article there because it’s assumed you’ll take a bag, in whatever color and leather and size is offered, not the bag you might have wanted). Meanwhile, prices go up an average of 10% a year, so while you’re waiting to spend enough money to be graced with a “bag offer,” the price goes up precipitously. And yet people continue to beg and plead for the privilege of spending thousands and thousands of dollars to acquire a bag that isn’t even what they really want— is it any wonder you get lackadaisical sales associates when it’s so easy to hold the merchandise hostage until you get a fat commission?
I say all this from the point of view of someone who owns a lot of Hermes, but has bought almost nothing in the last five years because I’m in it for the craftsmanship, not the competition.
None of this necessarily bears directly on the watch issue, but I think it is telling re: the sales culture at Hermes, and the sense of entitlement that some of the staff have. When I read reports of SAs playing games over a simple hole punch, I can’t help but think it’s another symptom of a larger malaise.
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I presume the idea behind expanding to the Apple Watch was to increase the market for Hermes products beyond traditional buyers, particularly technology enthusiasts. I am certainly not one of their customers who would pine for a handbag. However, they do sell traditional non-Apple watches (i.e. Cape Cod) as well as belts, and I have not heard of resistance to adding additional holes to these products. One argument I was given was that it was an Apple product, after which I had to point out that the strap was clearly made by Hermes and I had purchased the item from hermes.com, a point they naturally had to concede. However, given how much of a hassle this was for one hole, unless they change their policy, I do not see myself buying a product from this collaboration in the future. Also, I certainly have not had such a sizing issue with any other official band for the 44/42mm Apple watch, and the current distinction for "Womens' Size" and "Mens' Size" for Hermes bands corresponding to watch size is a bit unnecessarily restrictive and quite antiquated in my humble opinion.
Now, I remember the question I asked that the burnt out Sales person reluctantly answered. She had a little bit of an attitude, wasn’t patient and didn’t want to be bothered which is why I described it as “reluctantly”. She probably thought I was stupid … anyway I wasn’t familiar with the world of Hermès and didn’t know their bags were highly coveted. I don’t think the one I looked at was highly coveted as it was a business bag. I noticed a dull brown thing in the bag that was too nice to be just a filler (typically paper tissue) to help the bag keep its shape like you see in other bags. She told me it was a bag. I pulled it out and it was a big bag to hold the business bag when not in use, I suppose to keep it from getting dust on it?!? I didn’t ask.
I'm so glad you're getting your band fixed, but so sorry that this was your experience. I hope the pleasure of wearing it when it comes back properly fitted goes some way to making the memory of the hassle vanish.
The argument you heard that "it's an Apple product" bears on a recent experience I had with the Apple Watch bands, and is a telling summary of what seems to be a bit of tension between the two companies' practices and goals. Since the Series 4 is my first AW, I didn't have a chance to buy bands from previous releases, and I really wanted the Equateur Tatouage strap from 2016. I knew it was a long shot, but you never know what inventory Hermes might be hiding somewhere in the world until you ask. I walked into the store nearest me (London), and to my shock, the sales associate who looked up the item number and said there was one in the storeroom, but she cautioned me not to get excited because they might have already sent it back to Apple. I was perplexed by this, and she explained that Apple had recalled all the "old" bands and was requiring Hermes to pull anything from before 2017. Now, this is NOT how Hermes does things. What Hermes does is keep inventory until it sells, raising the price on that inventory around 6-10% every year. Do you want a silver ring from ten years ago? No problem-- just pay up the compound interest it's accrued while sitting in a drawer somewhere, and it's yours. (The company does have a twice-annual Paris sale, but it features trend-based items like ready-to-wear, shoes, and scarves. No handbags, no wallets, no fine jewelry-- with few exceptions, those sit until they sell.)
To my dismay, the Equateur strap London had had been shipped back to Apple two days before I asked for it. I called my sales associate in the New York store, because I knew he would do a worldwide search for me and pull in any inventory that a store might be hoarding. He found three more Tatouage straps in France, tried to call every one of them in, and in every case was told they had been inventoried and reported to Apple, which had demanded them back. Hermes would be glad for me to buy one, my sales associates would be glad to go to the trouble to get one-- but Apple says no.
I wrote to Apple about this, asking what they're doing with the bands that many people would gladly pay them for if they would only agree to sell them, and I got nothing but form-letter replies.
So-- although we had opposite customer service experiences with the straps-- it seems you and I might both have experienced the symptoms of dueling corporate policies, and Apple clearly "owns" the watch and its accessories.
Oh yes, sounds like you got a little bit of Hermes haughtiness there! You're exactly right about the toile bag you unfurled-- it's the dust bag, dust being one of leather's sworn enemies. Some of the bags also come with clear plastic "raincoats" tailored to the dimensions of the bag. Both accessories sell for healthy amounts on the secondary market, believe it or not-- along with the Hermes boxes, shopping bags, and even the ribbons they use to tie up the packages.
I didn't know dust is very bad for leather.
I've kept the boxes only to help with resale. I didn't know the boxes themselves are valuable!
That is strange Apple wants all the older inventory (take it off the market) which I assume they have to actually buy back from Hermes. Not sure how having an older strap out there in a Hermes store hurts Apple's marketing strategy. Why not keep it in inventory as it doesn't take much space plus it's not like a strap is obsolete like a technology device. And it can't be because of "consistency" because I bought Apple's Link bracelet when I found out it was reduced by $100. The packaging on it says it's for a 42mm AW (not 44mm). Is this unsold old inventory that Apple wanted to move at a reduce price?? Or are they still making it, but have old boxes they rather use up than throw away?? I do realize that Apple puts out straps (sport bands etc) of a certain color and if it runs out you don't know if they will produce it again. That's why when the Hermes multi-color (1st version) was available I bought it even though I wasn't 100% about it as I felt once it was sold out it might not be produced again. Since then, I've grown to like the multi-color one more than the Ebene deployment strap.
[QUOTE=" And it can't be because of "consistency" because I bought Apple's Link bracelet when I found out it was reduced by $100. The packaging on it says it's for a 42mm AW (not 44mm). [/QUOTE]
I’ve actually been thinking of getting one of link bracelets for my 44mm Hermes AW. How do you like it? By chance could you post a picture of it with your watch?
I’ve actually been thinking of getting one of link bracelets for my 44mm Hermes AW. How do you like it? By chance could you post a picture of it with your watch?
I don't have a Hermes, but I can tell you the Apple link bracelet (marked for the 42mm watches) fits absolutely perfectly on my 44mm Series 4. The connector is absolutely flush with the watch at all points.
I do like this bracelet quite a bit. Removing links to get the proper size is very easy and requires no tools. It's not quite as bulky or heavy as, say, the stainless bracelet on my Omega Seamaster, but each link is a tiny bit thinner which gives the bracelet a certain elegance. The butterfly closure mechanism works great, and the brushed finish goes well with the polished stainless finish of my SS S4 watch. However, that said, I wish they made a polished version of this bracelet. I think it would look good as well, particularly on the smaller steel watch worn by a woman.
I was having a hard time justifying the $450 price, but the $350 price is more reasonable for what you get.
Thank you for the feedback regarding fit and finish, and overall quality. Surprisingly there’s not a lot of quality aftermarket link bracelets out there for the AW, and I don’t think I want to go into the ultra-cheap Amazon option...so the Apple version may be my best bet.
I agree, the stuff on Amazon is mostly cheap stuff. If you are looking for high quality bands, Juuk offers some of the best.
www.juukdesign.com
I purchased several for my Series 3 stainless, and I can attest to their quality. They are as good, if not better, than metal bracelets you would find from Rolex or Omega. They really elevate the stainless steel watch into a luxury item. And yes, they are nicer than the Apple bracelet.
Now, all that said, the current crop of Junk metal bands do not fit the Series 4 watch. They are working on revised connectors since Apple apparently made some slight changes in the connector between the Series 0-3 and the 4, so don't buy right now if you have a Series 4 watch. Wait until next spring when they should have these issues ironed out. You won't be disappointed.
Juuk does have some nice looking metal designs! Now I just need the patience to wait until the 44mm versions are in stock!