The holidays are over now, sadly, but you may be enjoying some nice holiday gifts. One of the most popular gifts this year is the critically acclaimed Apple Watch. Most new Apple Watches come with one band included, but one of the great features of the watch is that you can swap bands easier than you change your undergarments. That allows you to customize your look and find something that suits you. Apple sells a small variety of bands, but those are very expensive and leaves a lot to be desired.
If you’re like me and want a lot of variety in your choices of wrist wear, you collect different bands. I’ve tried a bunch of different ones and I have one to suggest to you today.
“Longvadon was founded by two French brothers with a passion for watches and style. It all started when one of the brothers, Robin, was sitting in a cab with a friend who’d just bought the Apple Watch and was complaining about how he just couldn’t find a really good looking, classy, quality strap for his watch after looking everywhere online. It was all either cheap knockoffs or the few extremely expensive options offered by Apple and its partners.”
The Longvadon Story
This is my second Longvadon strap, my first was featured in my Apple Watch review. I’m currently using the Men’s Classic Navy Blue Leather band as my daily driver. My favorite feature is the clasp. On the outside it looks like a traditional watch band buckle that sometimes can be tricky to put on and take off. Underneath the buckle is a butterfly style clasp that you may find on all-metal watch bands. With the press of a button you can easily slide this off your wrist when you need to charge and then put it back on with low effort.
Having tried other leather watch bands, I find the finish on the Longvadon band very comfortable and durable. With the clasp design you don’t have the normal wear and tear on the buckle that comes with a traditional style. The lugs, or where the watch band attaches to the watch, sometimes don’t fit right or slide around, unlike the Apple branded straps. The Longvadon band clicks in and stays put like it should. You can tell attention was paid to the details and fit on this band.
Longvadon is an easy company to order from. They use a secure payment processing system that even allows you to pay via PayPal, Apple Pay, or Amazon Pay. I prefer to use Apple Pay on the web where I can to ensure my transaction and information is secure.
If you’re looking for a band that both be a comfortable everyday band, but also class up your look when you want, give the Longvadon collections a look.
If you’re interested in getting your own Longvadon Apple Watch band, use this link to make your purchase.
Another year, another Apple Watch. Even amid the craziness of 2020 Apple found time to release an update to one of their still emerging products. I’ve been a fan of the Apple Watch since day one and it keeps getting better and better with each revision. I purchased the Apple Watch Series 6 on launch day making this my fifth watch since the original in 2015.
Just like last year, there aren’t a lot of major changes, especially when views as a year over year change. The Series 6 still looks the same and comes in the same sizes as the Series 4 and 5. The biggest three changes this year are the addition of the blood oxygen sensor, new case colors, and better always-on display.
The Series 5 finally gave me a feature that I’ve been longing for ever since the first Apple Watch, the always-on display. This allows you to view information on your watch without having to raise or flip your wrist. The Series 6 expands on that with a brighter display that allows you to see it better in sunlight (in always-on mode).
Something that is pretty relevant right now with COVID-19 being a respiratory disease, is the ability to measure your blood oxygen level. You may have seen this in your doctor’s office when they put a sensor on your finger to get your pulse and a percentage usually in the high 90s. Apple warns that this is not a health device so it should only be viewed as informational. I suspect this is just a liability protection until they can get FDA clearance like the ECG.
I used the Apple Watch blood oxygen reading and a traditional sensor and they both resulted in 99%. To me, this justifies the level of accuracy I would expect out of this device. Just like the ECG in the Series 5 (which is still present and the same in Series 6) I’ll probably only use this occasionally when I remember it exists. The watch will also take background measurements when you are idle, which could be interesting to track.
For the first time ever, we finally have actual colors in the Apple Watch. Instead of the usual silver, space gray, and gold finishes, we get an anodized blue and red finish for the Series 6. These look great in person with and have a similar matte finish as the iPhone 11. The stainless model also got a refined finish changing the black to graphite.
The model I went with is the Apple Watch Series 6 44mm Graphite Stainless Steel. Usually I opt for the Aluminum “Sport” versions, but after a few years of my watch face getting severely scratched I find the stainless model (which features a sapphire crystal lens) to be better against scratches.
In addition to a new Apple Watch Series 6, Apple introduced a lower-priced SE version. This is the same as the Series 6, but without the blood oxygen sensor, ECG, and always-on display. This creates a good, better, best structure to the Apple Watch tiers allowing a wider variety of buyers.
New watches usually come with new bands and this time around Apple debuted a new style called the Solo Loop. Similar to the original Sport Bands, this is a single piece of silicone that you can stretch around your hand to attach to your wrist. These bands come in 12 different sizes (1 – 12) to fit a wide variety of wrists. Downside to this is it’s not like shoes where most people know their size. You have to measure your wrist and hope it’s correct. Apple provides a printable measuring tool to measure your wrist. The tool told me I was a size 12, but I concluded a 11 would be a better fit. After getting the band, I could have gone down to a 10, but that might be too tight. If you but a Solo Loop band with an Apple Watch, and it doesn’t fit, you have to return the entire watch and band to get another one. This is a difficult online-only purchase as in-store try ons would be great for this item.
Update: I have since reached out to Apple about their Solo Loop sizing debacle. They have revised their return policy to allow returning of the band purchased with the watch. Apple also update their sizing guide to make it more clear that it needs to be a tight measurement. They are sending me a size 10 and a box to send them the too large size 11 back. To make things right, they’re also gifting me a Sport Band for my troubles.
Apple Watch Series 6 44mm Graphite Stainless Steel Wrapped in Longvadon Caiman Band
Of course you don’t have to use a watch band made by Apple. One of my favorite bands are made by the good folks over at Longvadon. They make luxury watch bands that pair great with an Apple Watch. Made to look like they came right off a high-end luxury traditional watch. The cost of these bands slots nicely between the cheap knockoffs and the really expensive Apple bands. My favorite thing about these Longvadon bands is they combine the traditional metal clasp with a buckle fastener, meaning you can just unclasp the watch and slide it off your hand instead of fiddling with the buckle. Pictured above is the ‘Men’s Whiskey Brown w/ Silver Details’ from their Caiman Series. It has a beautiful embossed crocodile pattern on top of high quality top grain bovine leather. The inside of the strap is very comfortable and soft. Shortly after I got my Apple Watch Series 6 I had a wedding to attend and the Longvadon watch band was the perfect way to class up my watch for the formal occasion. You can get your own Longvadon watch band on their website use my exclusive code ‘BEN20’ to save 20% off all products in their store!
There’s always a great reason to get a new Apple Watch, and this year’s lineup is no exception. With all the fitness and health benefits of an Apple Watch I recommend any iPhone user (and now their kids) look into being an Apple Watch wearer.
