Metal band and plastics?

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tomtecs

Member
Apr 14, 2007
36
10
You guys, your worst fears have been realised, and unfortunately I have to live the nightmare myself..

I woke up one morning to check my watch (which I hadn't been wearing all night) to find a scratch in the top right corner. Whilst small this scratch is so horribly visible. The scratch reveals a dull grey plastic underneath. My £200 pound watch now appears to be extremely unattractive, cheap and the worst part is there seems to be nothing I can do about it.

I have tried everything I can to try to cover up the scratch, i spent around £10 buying different silver sharpies and permanent markers to try to cover these scratches. All of these did not work and some made it look even worse. Luckily they all wiped off and the watch is still in it's original scratched state. It looks horrible and I feel very ripped off.

I do not believe I can return this item now; I have contacted the seller via amazon and a week later and no reply, I have called sony and they have said there is little they can do except purchase a new strap, but they're not selling the metal straps individually yet!!

it's really terrible, what can I do? I am so heartbroken because I really loved this watch, i really really did. It was great and all of a sudden it's not scratched, I don't even remember it being scratched, it looks awful now, so cheap looking, cost me a lot of money and I'm not made of it.

Please can someone help me I am so down about this.

I would spend £30 on a new strap but they don't sell them! Dx

attached is a pic of the scratched watch.


Sorry to hear about your accident.

My suggestion is to remove the core and if possible, the band as well, and use spray paint. If you try to cover the scratch itself with dab of paint or marker, you won't succeed unless you can get a perfect colour match.

Try to get the spray paint that matches the band as close as possible, but even if it's not perfect it should be better than seeing the scratch. The uniformity of the paint on the front surface should make it look a lot better.

If you can't remove the band, then just cover it up with masking tape, along with other parts that you may not want the spray paint to adhere. Also, you may want to give the surface to be painted a light sanding first so that the new paint job will stick and not scratch off easily.

N.B. I have not performed this procedure myself and I can't guarantee that the result will be to your satisfaction. If you wish to proceed with this guide/advice, please do so at your own risk.
 

callan102

New member
May 14, 2015
4
0
Sorry to hear about your accident.

My suggestion is to remove the core and if possible, the band as well, and use spray paint. If you try to cover the scratch itself with dab of paint or marker, you won't succeed unless you can get a perfect colour match.

Try to get the spray paint that matches the band as close as possible, but even if it's not perfect it should be better than seeing the scratch. The uniformity of the paint on the front surface should make it look a lot better.

If you can't remove the band, then just cover it up with masking tape, along with other parts that you may not want the spray paint to adhere. Also, you may want to give the surface to be painted a light sanding first so that the new paint job will stick and not scratch off easily.

N.B. I have not performed this procedure myself and I can't guarantee that the result will be to your satisfaction. If you wish to proceed with this guide/advice, please do so at your own risk.

I really don't want to have to spray paint my £200 watch... I'm sure you understand...

I feel so upset by this it's so unfortunate. But in any case, i will be returning it and complaining that it is made of plastic in the first place, hopefully I'll get a full refund and then I will be buying a new smart watch, not a sony s3 as they have disgustingly made it impossible to replace straps! this has been the most irritating thing i've ever had to deal with !
 

dingbatt

Senior Member
Jul 17, 2010
97
28
I wish my life was so idyllic that the most irritating thing was a scratch on my watchstrap! Surely you bought your watch for more than just the strap? I would suggest you have a fallback position if they are unwilling to refund your money. Perhaps a replacement strap? Would you consider a rubber strap? The other side of things of course is what watch would you replace it with as all have their own 'irritations'.
 
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cyberhern

Senior Member
Apr 6, 2008
399
68
Ft Laud, Florida
I wish my life was so idyllic that the most irritating thing was a scratch on my watchstrap! Surely you bought your watch for more than just the strap? I would suggest you have a fallback position if they are unwilling to refund your money. Perhaps a replacement strap? Would you consider a rubber strap? The other side of things of course is what watch would you replace it with as all have their own 'irritations'.

Very nicely put dingbat! Yes their choice in materials leaves a lot to be desired but, I've had the same situation with significantly more expensive watches. For example my $600 Casio Pathfinder... Impeccably beautiful steel band crappy soft plastic around the glass and edges of the core. scratched after 1 month.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
 

mstrpeter

Senior Member
Jun 11, 2010
64
16
yes, mine is doing the same
VPDSzMFsA1Rljg1pOyEIV3ZCWHn2MsKs6QQu5mtFVk1uWaU4pVyu4_zXJ14d6m-5GbCxS7RIhfxlDm064bPVGnREeceQ5JaXmR531Ct9QDiwZufzbSQ_AaBPzTDkmhZA7d2jny2R-SbcBinmkRXil1fEEYw8O00URv5Ctguk7SfszsO_4MtVYp-wnKmuBPm79CuyvdTsAgP89ZtY39MQq2etcb43fkAmYIXm8jHmjLvyjNUokhdF_61JrTBo83Bn7awqlShzfc7X994xk0S9_cS7o-XJ5kRRbI0dZ_kBsGjWELNOflpCLmEOTmIcpwxSgMkvOPnGnJCCI8StRCenQwwlzEWi4eNiMCpU70jNBNWuWAkMEFl6JuR61MA7qWoOaRXOCSoF4lWa32yO1FycOn_DFHkwX7vqPqSu8vv1lL1cDxjnfOBcE2SN-6WukMKJdDiNRr_Y3_QE-TRxKhXJ8lIF8zgNyrcbFdZiTSSGmh7e-Wr78RkIdnRR8MX7h8ro5gpd1rtYT-lhLG7XBQ-SNPbW3cAzEMP_8DHV1YgPP-yT=s785-no
 

givemevtec

New member
Feb 20, 2008
1
0
The band on mine looks painted to match the plastic. Eventually that paint will come off and it won't match the face anyway. If I polished the band it would be more silvery and definitely won't match the face.
 

fastest83

Senior Member
Jul 13, 2012
570
88

pbenoit

Member
May 22, 2012
46
5
I wanted to start a new topic but I'm hijacking yours, because this morning my stainless steel SW3 had an unexpected encounter with a wall (not a bang though), and I scratched the part outside the watch core, which is indeed fu#king silver painted plastic.
I would have scratched it anyway, it was a mistake, but then...
I try to polish it with a nail polishing machine (with the dedicated thingy, which is like cloth... I don't know what's its name), and I didn't know it was plastic until I tried on the bottom (on a link) and it worked, so I thought "why not!" and I made a fu#king dent on the top.
Which of course is way more visible than the scratch in the first place.
I'm attaching pictures of before and after (they are not that detailed but you'll understand).
I'm going to write Sony about this as I'm pissed about this, they should have said it wasn't ALL stainless steel.
The same thing happened on my Z Ultra, where the borders appear to be aluminum (and Sony said so itself), where it's really silver painted plastic.
BEFORE
View attachment 3210496

AFTER
View attachment 3210497

Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk
Hello
I've unmounted my steel one for check.
The body part of the watch is not sainless steel. Two lateral parts of steel are here to have a good look. Plastics parts looks a little more yellow than stainless steel.
When tou unmount the watch, you understand that for removing the central part of the watch, the body have to be flexible. Stainless steel don't allow that. For having another solution, the watch would be bigger and heavyer (and with a big cost increase, the part is complex to build).
Such uses are normal for automotive for exemple.
It don't seems to be wrong in this case : it's a casual watche not luxury, then you don't pay the price for a full frame with only stainless steel.
For me this watch is full of good stuffs for the price.
 

Dandgqro

Member
May 12, 2014
14
2
Querétaro
Where do you buy the band, I've been trying to buy the brown one that looks more elegant, but i can't find it anywhere, not even in the sony atores on line, even I saw it advertising the sw3 in the sony web page of the uk.
Thanks
 
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biochemgod

Member
Aug 24, 2010
26
2
Unfortunately the plastic bezel is also more fragile than metal - the metal band has now separated from the bezel on both sides after I caught the watch on something. The posts broke the plastic holding them on.
 

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StorminATL

New member
Jun 8, 2017
1
0
Sony Smartwatch 3 Stainless band

I see that a number of you have already posted comments about your SWR 3 stainless bands. Yes, the connector part that connects the watch band to the frame around the core of the watch is plastic. One of my plastic connector parts broke after a bit over a year of use. Sony has been NO help. 5 months of trying to get an answer as to where I can get a new band and still nothing. Just the stainless band is available on eBay for more than the cost of the whole watch + band. Sony can't tell me how to get a new band for a watch that is out of warranty.

Any help the group can provide is greatly appreciated!
Tim
 

Hupsaflups

Member
Sep 18, 2013
18
1
I see that a number of you have already posted comments about your SWR 3 stainless bands. Yes, the connector part that connects the watch band to the frame around the core of the watch is plastic. One of my plastic connector parts broke after a bit over a year of use. Sony has been NO help. 5 months of trying to get an answer as to where I can get a new band and still nothing. Just the stainless band is available on eBay for more than the cost of the whole watch + band. Sony can't tell me how to get a new band for a watch that is out of warranty.

Any help the group can provide is greatly appreciated!
Tim

I have the exact same issue since two days. have been in contact wih Sony helpdesk and have reached out via Twitter, facebook and even Linkedin. No news yet :(
 

mh297

Member
Dec 24, 2005
24
3
Portsmouth
Another scratched 'metal' housing here too. Disappointing, as it's not a bad looking watch in silver with a metal strap. The strap part is holding up really well. Fortunately Amazon returns (even 10 months on) helps get past Sony's obstinacy and ignorance.
 

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  • 4
    More pics of the inside without the core: it seems like the inner casing is made of plastic, including top and bottom bezels, where the left and right borders seems like steel.
    The plastic inside is not painted, so it's pretty clear that the top is painted.
    If you look closely you'll see several hinges, the plastic casing seems latched to those. And if you notice, hinges are present only at the sides.
    uploadfromtaptalk1426363824942.jpguploadfromtaptalk1426363838409.jpguploadfromtaptalk1426363851259.jpguploadfromtaptalk1426363866879.jpg

    Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk
    3
    Thanks for the info on the plastic surround. It makes sense now...I was wondering how the rigid bodied watch would be held in by a rigid stainless steel bracket without popping out all the time. This is disappointing, but it does make sense. Still beats the spring-clip mechanism on the original Smartwatch! I actually like the Smartwatch 2 I have on now, with no mechanism to pop the watch out. Just comes off your wrist in one piece like normal watches! But they had to go back to the removable thing, didn't they!

    Anyway, somewhat off-topic, I do want to get one of these anyway, even with the plasti-steel. BUT WHERE IN THE WORLD DID YOU GUYS GET YOURS!?!? I've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more. My Smartwatch 2 is on its last leg (barely turns on anymore) and I don't know how much longer I can wait! I've searched everywhere for this, even called Sony. No luck. Every article I found said this thing was launching globally the second or third week of February. It is now almost April and I still can't buy one at any price! Can someone please send me a link to someone who sells this?? I did find one on eBay, but it was only $150 buy-it-now and was being shipped free from the "Russian Federation" by someone with -1 feedback rating...I decided to pass!

    Any help finding one of these would be appreciated. Or alternatively, maybe someone here who bought the steel and is ready to throw it out upon discovering the plastic would want to sell me theirs??

    Been a Sony Smartwatcher since the MBW-150, and for the first time in years I don't have a working one! Still wearing the broken Smartwatch 2 on my wrist for weeks now, even though it doesn't even power on! It's pathetic. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

    P.S. I'm in the United States

    For the states, here you go:
    watch and bands available within days...
    http://www.expansys-usa.com/s.aspx?search=Smartwatch 3

    ;)


    Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk
    2
    I wanted to start a new topic but I'm hijacking yours, because this morning my stainless steel SW3 had an unexpected encounter with a wall (not a bang though), and I scratched the part outside the watch core, which is indeed fu#king silver painted plastic.
    I would have scratched it anyway, it was a mistake, but then...
    I try to polish it with a nail polishing machine (with the dedicated thingy, which is like cloth... I don't know what's its name), and I didn't know it was plastic until I tried on the bottom (on a link) and it worked, so I thought "why not!" and I made a fu#king dent on the top.
    Which of course is way more visible than the scratch in the first place.
    I'm attaching pictures of before and after (they are not that detailed but you'll understand).
    I'm going to write Sony about this as I'm pissed about this, they should have said it wasn't ALL stainless steel.
    The same thing happened on my Z Ultra, where the borders appear to be aluminum (and Sony said so itself), where it's really silver painted plastic.
    BEFORE
    uploadfromtaptalk1426347848954.jpg

    AFTER
    uploadfromtaptalk1426347869178.jpg

    Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk
    2
    You know how LCD screens work right? Especially the Transreflective one in the SW3? It is backed by a silver / metal lining to reflect the light outwards, so putting the radios behind the screen won't work either! If they put an p-oled in there (like the GwatchR), then that might work, but not with the current screen tech.
    2
    Where did you get the screen protector??? is really better than mine! :silly:

    Wondering about your screen protector as well.

    Sent from my D5803 using XDA Free mobile app

    It was an order I made in the early days of the watch, here it is: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-x-100-G...202814?hash=item462dbefffe:g:t0YAAOSwj0NUeGiu
    ;)

    Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk