At Smartlet, we've heard the skeptics' refrain: "Wearing an Apple Watch on the inside of the wrist will damage it!" A recurring criticism that comes up in nearly every comment, article, or watch-related discussion. But what's the real story? What if this fear is nothing more than the echo of deeply ingrained habits?
Durability backed by science
Apple has never left anything to chance. Aluminum models feature Ion-X glass, which is shock-resistant and lightweight, while steel, titanium, and Hermès models use sapphire crystal that is virtually impervious to scratches.
Consumer Reports tested screen durability: sapphire crystal withstands scratches up to level 9 on the Mohs scale, while Ion-X holds up to level 7 (source).
SlashGear confirms that sapphire remains the hardest material, but Ion-X is no slouch either, especially against everyday wear and tear (source).
iMore tested the Apple Watch Ultra: the sapphire held up admirably, showing only minor abrasions under extreme conditions (source).
So, wearing the watch on the inside of the wrist: real danger or unfounded fear? The facts are clear: smartwatch screen durability shows the risk is the same regardless of orientation. At Smartlet, we've seen it firsthand for over a year -- our Apple Watch screens have remained flawless.
The obsession with old habits
Why the doubt? Because for centuries, we've worn our watches face up. Smartlet simply offers an alternative: combining a mechanical watch and an Apple Watch on a single wrist. Purists cry foul, but durability tests say otherwise: no significant difference has been found.
Metal vs. glass: the key difference
A common remark keeps coming up: "I completely scratched my deployant clasp, so I can't imagine a smartwatch in the same spot!" It's an instinctive, almost logical reaction. Yet there's an essential distinction worth making: stainless steel was never meant to stay pristine. Unlike sapphire screens, metal isn't treated to resist scratches -- it's made to live, to bear marks, to develop a patina. Every micro-scratch tells the story of a gesture, a trace of time.Sapphire crystal is an entirely different matter: impervious to everyday scratches, built to last. And this is precisely the difference that explains why wearing your watch on the inside of the wrist doesn't increase wear risk in the slightest: one is a material that lives, the other is a surface that resists.
The real question
Can you really damage an Apple Watch with Smartlet? No more on the inside than on the outside. The screens are engineered to handle the demands of daily life. The true revolution isn't about risk -- it's about the freedom to compose your wrist your way, elegantly and safely.And when you think about it, isn't that exactly what we expect from our technology: that it adapts to us, rather than the other way around?
