Apple Watch 6: black screen after swimming pool

Hi everyone,

I’m writing here to get some opinions and advice about my situation.

As the title says, a few weeks ago I took my Apple Watch 6 to the swimming pool as usual. No deep dives, just some casual summer swimming.

After getting out of the water, I noticed the screen wasn’t responding normally, but I thought it was just because of water still on the display. I dried it and tried again, but it still wasn’t working properly, kind of lagging. I realized something was wrong, so I turned it off and back on, and even reset it by holding down the button and the Digital Crown together.

It seemed to recover, so I didn’t worry anymore. Unfortunately, I stupidly went swimming again afterwards. Since then, total blackout (I know, I asked for it).

I’ve kept it turned off since then, but the screen has never shown any sign of life. It charges normally and, despite the black screen, it vibrates when I get notifications, and I can see it from the iPhone widget, including the battery percentage.

I also tried letting it fully discharge, and the lightning bolt with the time appeared, which gave me hope it was back. I put it on charge again, but nothing.

As of now, after about 3 weeks, it’s still just a paperweight. Do you think it’s time to throw it away?

Of course, it’s out of warranty, and what makes me even more upset is that it was replaced under AppleCare exactly 1 year ago. I assume it was either new or refurbished as new. How could it end up like this without any drops or impacts?

Apple obviously doesn’t want to help, so I was considering whether it’s worth wasting time trying a repair, even if it means losing water resistance — which at this point I doubt it still has. To me, it still felt like a new watch.