I’ve dug out my old Apple Watch 1st generation (series 0) and it seemed to boot loop when I put it on charge.
After it having no response to any of Apple’s troubleshooting steps, a repair was offered by chat for £160… (which was what I paid for it initially!)
Now, a service, they said, would get me a working watch back. However, my question is how likely am I to actually get a Series 0 back? I have heard that sometimes you end up with an upgrade if they don’t have an older product in stock for repairs anymore. I would suppose these days that the Series 3 is the oldest watch that is still in circulation. However, spending £160 to get an actual series 0 back is not worth the money.
Should I pay for the repair and roll the dice as to what I get back, or should I save a few more pennies and get a series 5?
With Series 3 selling now for £199-£229 I wouldn’t consider spending £160 to repair an old discontinued Series 0.
If I had a non-working Series 0 I hadn’t been using, I’d probably donate it or sell it as-is on eBay (but I wouldn’t expect to get much, since ones working order go for £50-£70).
So, I could either cut my losses, so to speak, and just get a new watch.
Or I could try the £160 and perhaps get back a something between a series 1 and 3. Best case scenario is that I pay the £160 and get a new or reconditioned series 3, saving £40 vs buying new.
I have a genius bar appointment later today. I’ll go and see what happens!
That would be great, but pretty unlikely. Apple isn’t even accepting trade-ins for Series 0/1 any more, which makes me think they’ve got a nice inventory of refurbed ones just waiting for people like you. The calculus is asking whether you’d be satisfied paying £160 (on top of the original price paid) for such an old, slow device, with the hope that you might get something newer. I’m not sure I’d take that gamble. If I were on a budget and definitely wanted a watch again the option between a £160 gamble and a £229 watch running the latest OS (plus full warranty) I would lean me towards a new Series 3.
Just looked at ebay_uk and saw that you can get a refurbed Series 2 for around £110 shipped. So I see no upside in paying £160 to repair a Series 0 with slim hopes of getting something newer as a replacement.
My Series 0 watch face just popped out. It works still with all touch controls. When I asked at the Genius Bar, I was quoted $199 to repair when the Series 3 can be had for $199. So its a no brainer to even send it in for repair hoping for it be repaired or a Series 1 sent in as replacement. You are going backwards. I would just buy a new Series 3. It will have a new battery and warranty and not have to deal with the refurbished watch if even Apple sends as replacement.
Unfortunately to my failure, I had a chat with Apple support. I told them that charging $199 to just glue a face to the watch is ridiculous. Instead you guys should have screws to the face plate from underneath so that they just won’t pop out when the adhesive looses its strength.
Whatever now its a loosing battle with Series 0. Move along to Series n
Thank everyone for the help! I caved and got a series 5… that always on display tho!
I’m doing a orange theme with my gadgets, orange dbrand skins for my phone and AirPods case, and nearly went for the clementine sport band. But it was a bit lighter than I thought in person and was amazed at how comfy the sport loops are! So I got classic tech nerd greys! Space grey S5 and anchor grey loop.