Six Apple Watches Later, I Finally Bought the Right One

As an early adopter of most things Apple, I have had an Apple Watch since it first came out in 2015. And I do mean since the beginning. I owned the original (later renamed the Series 0), then the Series 1, Series 2, Series 4, Series 6, and the Series 8. Yes, that is six different Apple Watches between 2015 and 2023.

I wore it every single day and loved it. My favorite part? Never having to hear my phone ring again. Though I will admit I do miss my custom ringtones, especially the intro to "Short Skirt, Long Jacket" by Cake. Little sacrifice for the greater good, I suppose.

Over those years I bought a small mountain of bands, Apple and non-Apple, many of which I still have. I always went with the 42/44/45mm aluminum models and rotated through the colors.

But here is the problem I kept running into. I beat up my watches without even realizing it. I would do a little light carpentry, forget to take the watch off, and later find a fresh blemish on the case or a scratch across the glass. So I started babying them, slapping a tempered glass cover on the screen and being extra careful whenever I worked on projects.

Now, I am a bit of a traditional prosumer. I am naturally drawn to the top end of the Apple lineup. So in 2025, I started reading up on the Apple Watch Ultra, and a few things really clicked for me.

The upgrade cycle is not every single year, so the top-of-the-line status does not evaporate the moment a new one drops. The case is titanium instead of aluminum. The face is sapphire crystal instead of glass. Built-in cellular was a nice bonus, though not a dealbreaker for me. And best of all, my old 42/44/45mm bands would work with it.

In January 2025, I found a used Apple Watch Ultra 2 on eBay for about half of the $799 list price. In the listing photos, the case and screen looked to be in excellent shape, and the battery capacity was still near 100 percent, even though it was not sold as a refurbished unit. I decided to give it a shot.

It did not disappoint.

The case is super rugged and the screen is every bit as robust. I no longer worry about a protective cover to keep it pristine. The only time I take the watch off to work now is when I change my oil, because I do not want to get oil in the mechanism, and I seriously doubt the water eject feature works well with motor oil. I decided not to test that theory.

And here is what really got me thinking. I should have started with the Ultra the moment it was announced back in September 2022. I could have skipped the Series 8 aluminum entirely and saved myself the scratches and the babying.

This is the same lesson I keep relearning in life. Buy the right tool once instead of working your way up to it the long way around. I took six watches to get there, but I got there.

A few other perks worth mentioning. The battery life means I charge it far less often. You can pack more complications onto the face. And the nighttime red mode is fantastic for keeping bright light out of your eyes before bed. Thanks to the fast charging and long battery, I can finally track my sleep score every night without ever waking up to a dead watch.

So if you are the kind of Apple Watch wearer who tends to beat up the case and screen, do yourself a favor and look hard at the Ultra.

Learn from my six-watch head start.