With the Summer Olympics just around the corner, Apple has introduced a new line of watch bands for the Apple Watch called the International Collection Sport Loop. The Sport Loop, which I reviewed in 2019, is one of my favorite Apple Watch bands because it is so comfortable and so easily adjustable with the hook-and-loop closure. It is also very durable and easy to clean when necessary. I own two different models of the Sport Loop just to have different color combinations. I don’t consider the Sport Loop quite formal enough to wear to work, but after hours and on the weekend, this is one of my two favorite styles of watch bands to wear. (The other one that I really like is the Solo Loop, which I reviewed earlier this year.)
The International Collection Sport Loop comes in colors that match different countries. Or, to be more specific, it matches the colors typically used by the Olympic teams for different countries. And for each different watch band, there is also a new watch face that matches the band. Here are the new designs.
Australia, Belgium, and Brazil:
Canada, China, and Denmark:
France, Germany, and Great Britain:
Greece, Italy, and Jamaica:
Japan, Mexico, and the Netherlands:
New Zealand, Russia, and South Africa:
South Korea, Spain, and Sweden:
And the United States:
Note that many countries have similar color schemes, so you might choose to get a band associated with another country to celebrate your own country. For example, if you are a fan of red, white, and blue, you could purchase the USA Sport Loop, but you could also purchase the one for France, Great Britain, or Russia. I think I actually prefer the Great Britain band with the USA face over the USA band with the USA face.
When you purchase the watch band, it uses Apple’s App Clips feature to help you to download the matching watch face. But anyone can download any of these watch faces without buying the watch band. For example, you might want to download the USA watch face right now to use it for the Fourth of July in a few days. To do so, using the iPhone that is paired with your Apple Watch, go to the Apple Watch page on the Apple website. Scroll down until you see the International Collection part of the web page and you will see a button that says “See the countries.” Tap that button.
This will bring you to a page that has circles corresponding to each country. Tap a circle for a country and then, at the bottom of the page, tap the button that says “Add Apple Watch Face.” That will download the watch face to your iPhone, install it on your Apple Watch, and make it the active watch face. (To switch back to the watch face that you had been using, just swipe your finger from the left side of the Apple Watch screen across to the right to change faces.)
In fact, you don’t even need to download one of these faces to use it. You can create one yourself. Each of these is simply a watch face created using the built-in Stripes style of watch face. For example, the USA watch face is simply a Stripes watch face in the fullscreen mode with 9 stripes. The first six stripes alternate brick red and white, and the last three stripes are all deep navy. The position is set as 150° to put it at an angle. Whether you create a watch face yourself or download it from Apple, you can adjust the face however you want, such as placing the stripes at a different angle or changing the colors. For some time now, I’ve used a purple, green, and gold watch face during Mardi Gras season in New Orleans. And I have a black-and-gold one that I often use when I’m watching a Saints football game.
You may want to create your own Stripes watch face with colors that match a school, team, season, organization, charity, etc. Note that the Stripes watch face doesn’t support complications so it is very much form over function. But that makes sense because whenever I use this watch face, my goal is to show off the colors.
Each of these bands costs $49, the same price as other Sport Loop bands sold by Apple. You can buy them on the Apple website or at your local Apple Store.