Jet Black Apple Watch is the most luxurious Apple Watch of the year.

The Jet Black Apple Watch took all of us by surprise, and it has been 8 years since the last Apple product with Jet Black. I owned the Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus which was released in September 2016, but I couldn’t get my hands on it until November because of the long back-order for the Jet Black variant. Even though it was priced the same as all the other colors, it was the hardest one to buy. 

It had a luxurious flow to it, with its smooth, glossy, and reflective outer shell. You could never really capture it well in photos since the highly polished body would always catch the light. It was a striking design that everyone wanted.

Now you can have that same experience with the Apple Watch.

You get the polished inky black body that seamlessly blends in with the OLED display, resembling a finely polished volcanic rock with a mirror shine, hand crafted by Jony Ive himself. That highly polished look is a twin of the stainless steel Space Black model from the original Apple Watch, which warranted a $100 premium over the regular stainless steel version. The only way you can tell the difference is if you hold them. The original stainless steel Space Black weighs 10g more than the Jet Black Series 10.

Sadly, this inky black color slowly made its way from being a standard stainless steel option to becoming an exclusive for the luxurious Apple Watch Hermès. The Titanium Edition Series 5-7 did get “Space Black” but I don’t consider that to be a true Space Black since it was gray and had a brushed finish.

The Space Black color has always been a premium product for Apple, as you can see over the course of the Apple Watch’s life:

Series 1 thru 4 - Space Black was a premium stainless steel model.

Series 5 - Space Black was available for the stainless steel and Hermès models. 

Series 6 thru 9 - Space Black was available for the Hermès models. The “plebeian” stainless steel model now gets an inferior graphite coating with a dark gray look instead of the inky black.

Series 10 - inky black returns as Jet Black for the aluminum watches. (Polished slate titanium models are very close to Jet Black but lighter in color)

The official Space Black was a Diamond-like coating (DLC) which is more durable and expensive than the ink-based anodization on the Jet Black, but the look is the same.

So we have the same luxurious look with the deep blacks, but what about the display?

The Jet Black does have an Ion-X display which is more prone to scratching than the Sapphire display on the polished titanium models. Sapphire however, is more prone to shattering than the Ion-X display. Where the Ion-X display wins is it has noticeably less glare than Sapphire, which makes it easier to read in all lighting conditions. The only time where they are equal is in complete darkness.

Here is what DisplayMate said when they tested the Ion-X glass vs Sapphire:

In the dark both Apple Watch displays appear and perform identically, but in ambient light they appear and perform differently due to the difference in the Reflectance of Sapphire and Glass.

For the Apple Watch Sport with Ion-X Glass we measured the Screen Reflectance to be 4.7 percent, while for the Apple Watch with Sapphire we measured 8.2 percent Screen Reflectance, which is 74 percent higher than Glass. Both values are about 0.6 percent higher than just pure sapphire and glass alone, indicating that Apple has done an excellent job in optically bonding both the glass and sapphire to the OLED display without an air gap.

Having both a Series 9 with a Sapphire display and a Series 10 with a Ion-X display, the glare is apparent when I go to my Series 9. Sometimes I think my glasses have some oils on them, but it is just the glare from the Sapphire crystal. One could argue that Sapphire is a more luxurious material versus glass, but having a clearer display is more satisfying to look at. 

Clarity is luxury in many spaces. 

When it comes to dents and scratches on the actual body of the watch, this is where the titanium is more durable, but not necessarily more luxurious.

Once again, durable and luxury are not inclusive of each other. There are plenty of luxury items that are not durable, especially watches that don’t even have splash resistance. The Apple Watch would still be way more durable than even these ultra-expensive watches.

If you treat your watch well and get one with no defects, you can get a luxury experience out of the Jet Black Series 10. Any watch band that looks good on the Slate Titanium version will look the same or better on the Jet Black Aluminum.

If you plan on using your watch like a tool and are going to get it banged and dinged up, then go for the Titanium.

If you do plan on using your watch in more fancy environments, the Jet Black would be the better option and up to $300 cheaper.

However you look at it, watch enthusiasts who like to go dark got a special treat this year with Jet Black.