Monowear Black Metal Link Band Arrived (Pictures!)

[mightyjabba]

Thanks for the pictures. I think the weak point with a lot of these early third-party bands is going to be how they attach to the watch. A band like this should really be better integrated with the body of the watch, but since Monowear isn't making these from scratch for the Apple Watch there isn't much they can do. I do wonder about how durable the black finish will be.

 

[DeepStuff]

Monowear's response on the Kickstarter site:

"We are sorry for what happened but it's definitely not our intention. Our supplier has two shipments going out, one to us, one to Amazon seller around the same time. Unfortunately the batch to us has quality issues. We're not deliberately try to prioritize Amazon over our backers.
We are trying our best to do quality control and ship as soon as possible. Hope you understand."

This does not explain why the delay in the steel models as they have said those were fine.

 

[Esoom]

OP thanks for the pictures, I think it looks pretty good, and hope they ship mine soon. Am really disappointed in them for this crap, I emailed kick starter and monowear about it.

Poor form monowear, poor form.

 

[DeepStuff]

.

 

[mightyjabba]

It's not too surprising since the band itself appears to be available from Aliexpress for around $9.

 

[jwilson25]

Thanks for posting the pictures, it looks nice. Makes me even more disappointed I ordered in April and got delayed on the shipping. They're not doing a good job of handling this one, but with a limited market on black link bands and adapters there isn't a lot I can do.

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Look Familiar? On EBay for $46

If they had that in black, I would cancel my order and get that instead.

 

[xraydoc]

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Look Familiar? On EBay for $46

Wow. That profile pic is a pretty horrible photoshop job.

 

[Batnight]

It's not too surprising since the band itself appears to be available from Aliexpress for around $9.

It can't be the same one.

 

[atxx]

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Look Familiar? On EBay for $46

Do you have a link? The only ones I've found got this "roundly" lug which appears to be optimized for leather bands but don't do well on metal link band though..
thanks

 

[ianfann]

The adapters look poorly designed IMO

 

[Brendan688]

Personally, I think it looks very good. The adaptor doesn't look like a perfect match, but from a distance I like it better than the sports band.
Based on the email from the other poster, I'm wondering if Monowear didn't like how it wasn't a closer match and that is why there is a delay, to reconfigure it. Doesn't appear to be on Amazon now. Perhaps when they ship, it will be a better match.

 

[DeepStuff]

Do you have a link? The only ones I've found got this "roundly" lug which appears to be optimized for leather bands but don't do well on metal link band though..
thanks

I messaged the seller (myroti2014) because the auction was confusing with mixed pictures and they replied with the corrected picture and have thus updated the auction to this image:

 

[BmoreDrumGuy]

It looks as though Monowear has removed the band from Amazon for the time being, probably to make sure from here on out their website orders will be processed first.

 

[CaptCaveman]

I'm intrigued. Can you take a picture of it while on your wrist but from a distance?

It is not right that the Kickstarter backers haven't gotten theirs before Amazon purchasers. At least the $75 Kickstarter price is more appropriate for this band. I did not back the Kickstarter campaign because I have never received a Kickstarter award less than 2 months after the promised delivery date and I knew third party bands would flood the market within a month of the AW launch. Little did I know I would get the Monowear band from Amazon in that timeframe. When I ordered it I assumed they had fulfilled all of the Kickstarter backers orders. I actually see it as a classy move that Monowear has removed the Amazon sales for now and are hopefully focusing on getting Kickstarter backers orders prioritized.

 

[scott99]

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Look Familiar? On EBay for $46

Wow, half price. I may just wait until these go for around $30. No rush, the price will drop. The $119 price is just taking advantage of the HIGH prices for Apple bands.

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It is not right that the Kickstarter backers haven't gotten theirs before Amazon purchasers. At least the $75 Kickstarter price is more appropriate for this band. I did not back the Kickstarter campaign because I have never received a Kickstarter award less than 2 months after the promised delivery date and I knew third party bands would flood the market within a month of the AW launch. Little did I know I would get the Monowear band from Amazon in that timeframe. When I ordered it I assumed they had fulfilled all of the Kickstarter backers orders. I actually see it as a classy move that Monowear has removed the Amazon sales for now and are hopefully focusing on getting Kickstarter backers orders prioritized.

Man that REALLY looks good, at least in my opinion, I know not everybody likes it or thinks so, but I think it looks awesome. I'm definitely gonna get one, just gonna wait till the prices go down.

 

[mightyjabba]

It can't be the same one.

It's certainly not exactly the same one, if only because the one on Aliexpress is just a generic band and doesn't have the connectors for the Apple Watch. But if you look through the listings on that site, you'll find bands that look identical to the Monowear ones.

I think the OP's watch looks quite a bit better from a little distance away. Pretty cool, actually.

 

[Esoom]

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It is not right that the Kickstarter backers haven't gotten theirs before Amazon purchasers. At least the $75 Kickstarter price is more appropriate for this band. I did not back the Kickstarter campaign because I have never received a Kickstarter award less than 2 months after the promised delivery date and I knew third party bands would flood the market within a month of the AW launch. Little did I know I would get the Monowear band from Amazon in that timeframe. When I ordered it I assumed they had fulfilled all of the Kickstarter backers orders. I actually see it as a classy move that Monowear has removed the Amazon sales for now and are hopefully focusing on getting Kickstarter backers orders prioritized.

People are getting shipping notices from the monowear website now.

 

[jaeb0922]

Only reason I bought it is for the length. The apple sport doesn't fit well as my wrists are about 220mm. This band goes up 250mm with The extra links.

Anyone know of a larger band for cheaper that's not leather? I hate leather bands!

 

[dannys1]

Just throwing this in, but its $14 if you can find a decent way to attach it...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171576369263?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[J.C]

Hmmm sounds like the quality is not great. The look doesn't impress me at all. Pretty awful. The size of the links is all wrong (too big, not enough of them) for the watch and allows too much side-to-side movement. It definitely doesn't come close to matching the style or quality of the watch.

 

[irentamac]

Just throwing this in, but its $14 if you can find a decent way to attach it...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171576369263?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

A couple other good options...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-22mm-Spe...fc2a63&pid=100011&rk=1&rkt=10&sd=361265665182

http://www.strapcode.com/store/22mm...celet-straight-black-p-3643.html#.VVPRes5fklP

http://www.holbensfinewatchbands.com/hadley-roma-mb3838-mesh-straight-end-pvd-black/

 

[CrAkD]

mine shipped today. I can't wait! looks good. but I wish the whole band matched the watch.

 

[jaeb0922]

I just canceled my order. I decided to buy a few infantry nylon bands off eBay for 5-10 bucks and 2 sets of connectors adapter kits. I'll. ring them to my local jeweler and have them put together if it's a pain.

 

[Esoom]

Just throwing this in, but its $14 if you can find a decent way to attach it...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171576369263?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I have a couple Pebble steel's and one of those bands, the coating is very fragile, an looks like hell after about a month, I strongly suggest a pass on it.

I also have the SS no coating version, it was delivered with scratches and buff marks, looks ok from a distance, but they're really cheap bands.

 

[3under2]

I ordered two of the leather bands off of Amazon. I have the 38mm SS with milanese loop plus the BSB (ordered seperately) and I already received the bands. I am in Sweden so ordered the to the US and then they will ship to me here, but they shipped to my US address very quickly. I assumed all the Kickstarter backers already got theirs?? I'll be back with pics once they arrive.