Screen Protector & Case for Scratched Apple Watch

After Apple refused to address the very real issue that, like many other early adopters of the Apple Watch Sport, my watch screen easily became covered in scratches for no reason (Read about this whole experience here…), I decided it was time to protect my expensive wearable tech from further damage in the future, so I spent a whopping $17 total (much cheaper than an Otterbox for an iPhone) for 2 pieces of protective equipment. First I installed the ArmorSuit MilitaryShield Screen Protector (paid $7 for a pack of 2), and then I installed the Poetic Duo Lite Case on my Apple Watch.

After installing the ArmorSuit MilitaryShield Screen Protector on my Apple Watch Sport, the scratches all over the glass face were no longer visible! Hopefully this screen protector will prevent further scratches in the future, but the fact that a $7 piece of clear plastic made all those scratches disappear, at least from visibility, is quite impressive.

After installing the ArmorSuit MilitaryShield Screen Protector on my Apple Watch Sport, the scratches all over the glass face were no longer visible! (See how bad the scratches were before I installed the screen protector.) Hopefully this screen protector will prevent further scratches in the future, but the fact that a $7 piece of clear plastic made all those scratches disappear, at least from visibility, is quite impressive!

The installation of the ArmorSuit MilitaryShield Screen Protector was a little tricky, even following this instructional video on the ArmorSuit website…

What turned out to be the trick to really get this to stick to the curved sides of the Apple Watch screen came from a review I read on Amazon. I used a hairdryer to dry off the wet screen protector as I was pressing down the curved edges, and this finally helped it stick to and cover the full glass screen.

After getting the ArmorSuit MilitaryShield Screen Protector installed properly, I added the Poetic Duo Lite Case, which protects the aluminum from scratching on the Apple Watch and provides a protective bumper around the glass watch face.

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This case from Poetic comes in multiple colors, and the blue on this case matches very closely to my blue watch band.

View from the bottom side of the Poetic Duo Lite Case.

View from the bottom side of the Poetic Duo Lite Case.

The Poetic case snaps on easily without having to remove the Apple Watch band. It leaves all buttons open and extends down the curved edges of the watch without covering the back of the watch or affecting the heart rate sensor.

The Poetic case snaps on easily without having to remove the Apple Watch band. It leaves all buttons open and extends down the curved edges of the watch without covering the back of the watch or affecting the heart rate sensor.

Poetic Duo Lite Case for Apple Watch

The Poetic Duo Lite Case for my Apple Watch Sport does not look as nice or sleek as the bare watch, but since I am used to having an Otterbox on my iPhone 5s and want my devices to be protected so they last a long time, this is the best compromise I could come up with.

Finally I got the Spigen S350 Apple Watch Stand ($10.99) for charging and using the new “nightstand mode” that arrived with the new watchOS 2 software update that just released this week. This keeps my Apple Watch in place while it is charging so it doesn’t get knocked off the nightstand or scratched up by moving around on my bedside table. It also keeps the Apple Watch screen in a visible position when an alarm is sounding.

While I am still very frustrated with Apple over the whole experience I have had with the scratched Apple Watch Sport screen and terrible customer service (including several mistruths and misinformations), these new accessories have improved my user experience with the Apple Watch.