you should be able to get this from your watch, settings > battery > battery health
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I was looking in the App on my iPhone only.
I wasn’t aware, that there are differences…
My Battery shows “Service” and 74% Max. Capacity.
So, yes it is a little bit degraded, but doing still good for me, so far.
Maybe a series 8 will be a replacement, if it comes with some interesting new features…?
If you decide the new Series 8 is not for you and wish to keep your current model a bit longer, have a look at the battery replacement policy, which your model currently is eligible for (battery health < 80%). Here’s a thread from MacRumors that discusses the topic (note: the thread is US-centric, you’d have to search for the pricing and details for Germany).
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Apart from celebrating that @mlevison and @geoffaire have had their holidays in Spain and hope they had a good time, I would like to mention that the past few weeks the temperature has been scorching hot. Add to that that mobile devices (is that Apple Watch the cellular version?) while roaming and out and about are possibly a little bit more stressed could justify some battery issues.
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You can turn off the automatic display and that cuts down on battery usage. Mine typically lasts an entire day.
Catching up:
@Ricardo_M my wife and I have iPhones. She just switched last September. The Galaxy watch was legacy. It is now owned by a teenager with an Android phone.
@pantulis our trip was in max 39C heat. Yes this does affect battery life. FWIW the Samsung always had bad battery life, at best a 10% battery life on a normal day,
@Katie thanks we already switched away from always on displays.
FWIW We both bought Series 7’s last week. There were 10% off, which according the Canadian price history was their best price. We don’t need any of the rumoured Series 8 features. (Temperature sensor). So the 7’s are a good choice. With the screen off from always on mode mine is getting to 75% battery life by days end.
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Hey guys, looking for the collective wisdom.
I’m after a new watch after selling my Garmin Fenix 6 Pro.
I am thinking of as second hand (FB marketplace) series 6 SS/Sapphire @ AUD480.
Good price, AppleCare until Jan 2023. Battery health is 83%. After nearly 2 years that’s probably fine but what are your thoughts on buying a watch with that battery health?
I can get a Garmin Fenix 6X brand new for $699
I am in both eco systems.
Wife and I both have Series 3 Apple Watches. We are fairly active. I average walking over 9km / day (over 12k steps) on top of weekly bike rides. I work out 3x/week. I charge the watch in the late afternoon/early evening, only once per day. I do not generally use any workout app except for Activity Tracker, which tracks my steps automatically. I have found that running the Workout app does drain the battery faster.
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I agree that it would depend on your use of the workout app and how important it is to go from early morning to night without taking it off. I would plan to replace the battery 6-12 months from now, which looks like it might cost you $129 AUD. Even if it’s lasting long enough, at 83% you should budget in a chance of some other type of failure (bulging, unexpected shutoff.)
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I bought the AW6 44mm non cellular as soon as it became available 2 years ago. It now has a maximum battery capacity of 87%. I don’t have the always on screen enabled as it uses approx 10-15% battery and after having it on for a while, I didn’t like the look of it.
I regularly walk somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 steps often with a 30-50 minute activity tracked on Strava (on the watch)
Most nights before I put it on the stand to fully charge, the battery level is somewhere between 50% and 35%. I wear the watch overnight while sleeping and use it as an alarm. When I wake, battery life is between 88% and 80%
I was expecting a 3 year cycle for replacement (AW 0, AW 3, AW 6,) but at this time, I think I’ll be ok when the AW 9 is launched next September and may even decide to wait until the AW 10.
That is unless there’s a significant new feature I desire or the battery life goes downhill faster than I expect.
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Just checked my watch battery health for the first time. Purchased late 2019, worn all day, every day, since then. Health at 92%
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Sounds like you are doing great. My 11 month old SE, worn all day, is already down to 95%.
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Thanks everyone for chiming in. I may pass on the watch at 83%. Risk averse much??? 
As an aside, my wife’s Xr (not a watch obviously) was purchased on release (2018) and is still at 92%.
Apple on their web page entitled " iPhone Battery and Performance" state that
“A normal battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles when operating under normal conditions.”
That means, assuming an approximately linear function, 0.04% of battery capacity is lost with each charge cycle.
I’ve been using my Apple 7 watch for 298 days, and it’s battery health is 96% of maximum capacity. I would guess that I have gone through about 100 complete battery cycles. In which case, my drop in battery health is in line with how Apple has designed the battery. That is, 0.04*100 = 4%. Can’t complain.
Edit: Stupid me. I see elsewhere the claim that the Apple watch’s battery is designed to retain 80% of its maximum capacity after 1000 cycles, not 500. So they designed the watch battery to last longer, probably to compete better with standard digital watches that have batteries that last a long time. The 4% drop is not so good, after all. My iPhone battery is still at 100% capacity after almost a year but maybe I’m going through fewer cycles.
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I would suggest that the curve of degradation is a reverse logarithmic so it decreases more slowly at first with drop off increasing. if you check it regularly, degradation isn’t even recognised by the software at first. I put this down to one of 3 things (or a mixture of the 3)
- Apple over provisions the battery so while it says 3000mah (for example) it’s actually 3020
- the battery degradation at first is exceptionally low
- the software only acknowledges degradation after a certain trigger point.
It usually takes a good few months to go from 100% to 99%
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Can’t argue with that. Everything I read about batteries says that nothing about their performance is linear. 
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I think it’s a good call. Apple Watches don’t have much value for resale. I don’t think I’d buy one second hand for a daily driver due to no knowing it’s history, but also from a hygiene perspective (unless I bought a brand new strap and gave the watch itself a very good cleaning.)
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What malady do you fear from a watch?
Nothing particularly, but it’s something someone’s worn regularly, who knows where.
I’ve always used a sport band or a nylon one, so for the past 6 years my AWs have been washed regularly in Dawn dish soap. YMMV
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