Buying a Milanese Loop for your aluminum Apple Watch? Think twice.

Milanese Loops are great, until they aren’t.

If you own an aluminum Apple Watch, the Milanese Loop can work with it, sometimes really well like in this Space Gray example, but you have to know its limitations.

The Milanese Loop is made out of stainless steel or Titanium, and both materials scratch glass. Technically the Titanium Milanese Loop shouldn’t scratch glass since it has a lower hardness than glass, but it could scratch the glass indirectly if there’s grit stuck in between the crevices and the silica rubs against the glass. I had a horrible experience in the past where my stainless steel Milanese Loop created scratches in a hashtag-like pattern on my aluminum Apple Watch display back in 2015.

I put my watch in my pocket when using an airplane bathroom and didn’t want to wash my hands while wearing the watch. This was when Apple Watches were not officially water resistant, so I didn’t want to take any chances. Funny thing is I would have been better off wearing the watch while washing my hands to avoid what was to come…

I came out of the bathroom and held my daughter on my lap, and she was naturally bouncing around on my lap like any 3-year old would. The watch was still in my pocket (I forgot all about it), directly underneath her bottom, and it was getting pummeled unbeknownst to me as she was squirming around. In the end the Milanese Loop left the hashtag pattern of scratches on the display which is why I avoid aluminum Apple Watches altogether. I made an exception for Jet Black last year, but I knew not to wear a Milanese Loop with it, nor put it in my pocket.

If you do choose to get a Milanese Loop for an aluminum Apple Watch, be extra careful and don’t allow the band to sit on the glass. This is not a problem if you get a Stainless Steel or Titanium Apple Watch since the display is made of sapphire.