Is it Worth Buying an Older Apple Watch — 6 Months Later
It’s a Great Watch, But…
Back in December, I bought the Apple Watch SE 1st generation second-hand from CeX.
The watch cost me around £120 in condition B, which was great considering the fact that it didn’t have any scratches, and it had a decent battery capacity remaining.
At the time, I was thrilled with the watch but fast-forward 6 months. Was the purchase worth it?
I’ll be sharing my thoughts based on my own experience throughout this article.
The condition of the watch
For those of you who are unaware, CeX is a shop in the UK that sells second-hand tech, games and various other forms of media such as CDs and DVDs.
I like visiting these stores when I have the time as you can find some great deals, and no CeX is not sponsoring me in this article.
Back in December, I decided to visit one of these stores, and I wasn’t really expecting to buy one, but I have been looking at the website to see what’s available.
Surprisingly, they had an Apple Watch SE 1st generation 44 mm in great condition, which they were selling as condition B for £120. The watch came with a box and charger but no straps, which is perfectly acceptable for that price.
The watch practically didn’t have any scratches and the screen looked great, so I just couldn’t resist.
Battery
At the time of purchase, the maximum battery capacity was 90%, but at the time of writing this article, that has dropped to 88%.
That may sound like a sharp drop to some, but in terms of usability and battery life, I haven’t noticed any major differences in battery life and performance.
I can still comfortably get a day and night’s worth of battery life, which suits my needs perfectly. But like with the Google Pixel Watch, I think that thanks to a good charging routine.
I tend to charge the watch every morning during my morning routine with the help of my Benks charging stand, and in most cases, I leave the house with the watch fully charged.
That then lasts throughout the day and night, even if I use it for tracking GPS activities such as cycling.
Performance
In terms of performance, I think that the watch performs incredibly well and based on my usage, there have been no glitches or crashes throughout my time with the watch.
The watch still works incredibly well with all the apps I use and functions incredibly well.
That is one of the main reasons why I like the Apple Watch, you can have a much older watch, but even as it ages, it still performs incredibly well.
The same is true for all the previous Apple Watch Models I had, including the 1st generation, the 3rd generation and an earlier Apple Watch SE 1st generation I had a few years ago.
If I compare that to my experience with some Android-based smartwatches I have had over the years, the experience is just not the same, as some models do tend to slow down as they age.
But was it worth it?
After 6 months with the watch, I remain undecided.
Looking at what I read online, the watch won’t support watchOS 11, which I am incredibly disappointed about. I think that it’s a real shame, especially as the watch is still in a great condition.
However, considering the fact that I’ve only paid £120 for the watch, it will provide me with around 9 months of usage depending on when wearOS 11 will be released.
Just because it’s on an earlier version of watchOS, it doesn’t mean that the watch will stop working, it just won’t receive the updates.
But I want to receive updates, so I may be looking to update or trade in my watch over the next couple of months.
Considering the fact that a brand new Apple Watch SE costs around £250 at the time of writing this article, I think that I may simply buy a brand new one or upgrade to a better version. But that is something I haven’t decided yet.
Final Thoughts
To summarise the 6 months I had with the watch so far, I am very satisfied with the watch. It does everything I need it to do, the battery life is still decent and it performs impressively.
At the time of purchase, the watch cost me £120, which is actually a rather attractive price considering the condition of the watch. But thinking about it, I doubt that I will be buying an older second-hand model again.
If I ever decide to buy a second-hand watch, it will be either the latest model or 1 down from that to ensure that I have it for a reasonable amount of time.
But apart from that, I think that it’s a great watch.