Apple Watch screen up to scratch? Glass can withstand knives and keys, but not sandpaper

The cheapest version of the Watch, the Sport, has a less strong kind of glass than the more expensive one but could still resist most scratches

Boss Tim Cook says it’s time for the Apple Watch. But what can it do that we can’t do without? (Getty Images)

The glass screen of the Apple Watch has been hacked at, cut and scraped — and seen off most of the damage.

The special screen in Apple’s new smartwatch has been subjected to a scratch test, where it was attacked with a knife and sandpaper in an attempt to see how much it will be able to go through without getting ugly marks. And though the weakest and cheapest version of the Watch was used — the Sport, which is likely also to be the most popular — it could resist most of what it went through.

The Apple Watch Sport uses Ion-X glass, unlike the normal and Edition versions of the Watches which use a sapphire screen. Apple showed off both materials during the Apple Watch’s unveiling in September, claiming that they would each be scratch-resistant and hard-wearing.

The Ion-X glass is cheaper and lighter, and also more flexible. So while it might be more likely to be scratched, the screen is probably more resistant to being smashed entirely.

Lewis Hilsenteger — who runs the Unbox Therapy channel on YouTube and was also one of the first people to bring attention the Apple bendgate phenomenon — made the video, putting the Apple Watch through attacks from keys, knives, steel wool, and different kinds of sandpaper.

“Don’t keep sandpaper near your Apple Watch Sport,” Hilsenteger notes. He says that watches are likely to come into contact with various kinds of scratches — which is why the kind of high-end companies that Apple hopes to take on the with the Watch have historically used sapphire glass like the Apple Watch.