Slate Titanium vs Jet Black Aluminum Apple Watch - which one should you buy?
The answer might be obvious from a budget perspective since the Jet Black is $300 cheaper than the Slate Titanium, but you have to consider the following 5 factors:
Durability
Luxury appeal
Screen quality
Pricing
Durability
There’s no question both finishes can get scratched and show the natural aluminum or titanium color, but Jet Black will definitely show the aluminum more prominently due to its darker “Jet Blackness.” Slate Titanium is lighter, making it more likely to mask any scratches. Aluminum is also softer, so it will dent with hard impacts. Neither finish can be buffed or polished since it will remove the coating, leaving bare metal.
Luxury Appeal
Both have a nice, unique sheen to them and even though Jet Black is a great piece that can do both sport and luxury, the Slate Titanium really takes the win with matching luxury bands that don’t disrupt the flow of the lighter Titanium sheen. The Jet Black reminds me a lot of Space Black - very stealth, but the coating is so dark that it can quickly look dull from skin oils, requiring frequent wiping.
Screen Quality
It’s a double-edged sword, but the Titanium Apple Watches have a sapphire display, making them 100% scratch-proof unless you happen to rub your watch against diamonds. The caveat here is sapphire displays are more likely to crack on impact. For the Jet Black Aluminum (and all aluminum Apple Watches), Apple uses an Ion-X glass display, which is less likely to shatter on impact, but much more likely to get scratched.
I have been wearing Apple watches daily since 2015, and from my personal experience of owning over a dozen watches, every single Apple Watch with an Ion-X glass has gotten scratched, and not a single Apple Watch with a Sapphire display ever got a scratch or a crack. The Ion-X glass is objectively inferior and can easily go from pristine to a scratched mess if you’re not careful.
Pricing
You can get a Slate Titanium Series 10 at deep discounts since it's almost two years old while having the same processing power as the Series 11. The only difference is the Series 11 has 5G instead of LTE. More importantly, both will support the new Siri AI.
I sold my Jet Black aluminum because I was able to snag a Series 10 in Slate Titanium with Milanese Loop for $449 vs a Series 11 at $749, saving $300. Once again, the only real difference being LTE vs 5G. I don't even use a cellular plan on my Apple Watch so this was a non-factor.
If you plan on keeping your watch for years on end and don’t want to worry about a scratched display, the Titanium models are the way to go. The premium is worth it for the look, feel, and durability.
Photos
Here’s some side-by-side shots of the Jet Black vs the Slate Titanium. I also have a regular Stainless Steel model Series 9 just for comparison since Slate compared to Jet Black might look like Silver.
From left to right: Jet Black Aluminum, Slate Titanium, Stainless Steel. All 3 look gorgeous in their own way.
Jet Black almost disappears in darker lighting, even though it is the same size as the Slate Titanium.
Speaker side angle - notice how Slate almost looks Silver with bright lighting.
Once again the screen disappears into the Jet Black chassis (left) compared to Slate (middle).
Closer detail between screen and chassis.
Digital Crown up close. Notice the difference in the knurling with the Stainless Steel Series 9 vs the other two Series 10 watches.