Battery Service

September 19, 2024

A few days ago I shipped my Apple Watch Series 7 to Apple for battery service. I have had it for almost 3 years and it was time.

I was disappointed, but not really surprised, to learn that I would be receiving a entirely different, presumably refurbished, watch. Not a replacement battery, but a replacement watch.

This was not strictly necessary. My watch was fine other than the battery. But I understand the logistics advantages for doing it this way. To properly replace the battery and the seals/gaskets on an Apple Watch might take hours or days, and by simply sending me a refurbished replacement the process is streamlined. From the time I submitted my service request to the time I receive my replacement will be less than 6 days. Impressive.

And I suspect that there is nothing inherently wasteful about this process either. My watch, in turn, will be refurbished and shipped to the next person in line for a battery replacement.

So in a few days I will be receiving an Apple Watch. But it won’t be my watch.

Does this matter? Should it?

While I wait for the replacement to arrive I am wearing my 20-year old Omega Seamaster. It’s a beautiful watch. A watch with a history, with a patina on the case and the bracelet. It is, for lack of a better way to put it, a “real watch.”

If I sent it in for service and Omega sent me back an equivalent replacement I would be upset. Maybe not as upset as if that happened with, say, my wedding ring, but still, the object itself has meaning to me. A watch, a real watch, is more than just the functionality it provides.

Can the same be said for an Apple Watch? Or is it just another piece of fungible, transient, replaceable tech?