Apple quietly dumps Modern Buckle Watch band

By Lulu Chang Published June 24, 2018

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Looking to accessorize your Apple Watch? Your roster of options just shrank a bit. The iEmpire quietly removed the Modern Buckle Apple Watch band from its lineup, 9to5Mac noticed, marking the first time that the company has completely eliminated an entire material.

Previously, Apple has discontinued colors while introducing new ones, or supplemented an existing offering with new materials. With the Modern Buckle, it’s just sayonara for good — an unfortunate farewell, as the Modern Buckle is one of the original Apple Watch bands. It was introduced alongside the first-generation wearable and withstood a number of updates, like new colors.

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But to be fair, as MacRumors points out, the Modern Buckle wasn’t exactly set up for success. It was one of the less flexible Apple offerings: It was only ever available in the 38mm size and set customers back $149, about middle of the road as far as pricing goes. Other bands are both more expensive and more economical, making the Modern Buckle somewhat forgettable. Plus, with the plethora of third-party bands available (we’ve rounded up the best Apple Watch bands for you already), folks likely opted to look elsewhere for cheaper options, which probably meant Apple’s own band sales suffered.

While you’ll no longer find the Modern Buckle on Apple’s website (it’s actually been unavailable there since mid-March), that doesn’t mean it has disappeared entirely. Look to Target or Best Buy for remaining inventory, though once they’re out, they’ll be out for good. If you try to search for the band on Apple’s site, you’ll get a redirect to a page that reads, “Looking for something? We thought so. However, the product you’re looking for is no longer available on apple.com. But we do have similar products to show you.”

There is one exception to the above, however. The Modern Buckle has disappeared from U.S. listings, but it does appear to still be available in other countries. At the very least, the UK Apple Store is still selling the band, so if you really want to get your hands on one, you can.

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