With much more durable Sapphire Crystal Glass, longer battery life, and upgraded health sensors, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 is shaping up to easily take the crown of best Android smartwatch from the Galaxy Watch 4. Before you slap one on your wrist, there’s a crucial decision to be made: which Galaxy Watch 5 color will grace your wrist? While two of this year’s colors are basically unchanged, the newcomers here are turning heads for all the right reasons, giving us a much more difficult color decision this year compared to last year.
Sapphire Galaxy Watch 5 (44mm only)
Source: Samsung
This is the “new” color among the Watch 5 lineup, as we had shades of pink, black, and silver last year, and Sapphire is quite a fetching shade. It may not be as deep or dark a blue as we’re used to seeing on products named after the iconic gemstone, but it’s a sparkly pale cerulean that meshes exquisitely with the Blue Galaxy Z Flip 4. This colorway is much more prominent and easy to distinguish than let year’s almost-black green and blue also tend to go with a wider variety of colors.
The band is that same color-matched cerulean shade as the frame, just without the shine or speckle of the metal. That said, whether you get a free replacement band as you order your Galaxy Watch 5 or not, I’d highly consider scoping out Samsung’s darker navy blue band, shown with the Sapphire Watch 5 in some of Samsung’s lifestyle photography, and it absolutely pops. While the only other blue product this season is the Blue Z Flip 4, Sapphire plays quite well with all colors of the Galaxy Flip 4 and will also look quite fetching with the S22 series as well.
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Silver Galaxy Watch 5
Source: Samsung
While “Silver” can encompass a great many shades, finishes, and looks, the Silver Watch 5 looks exactly like the Silver Watch 4, which was a great-looking watch. The brushed look helps the Silver Galaxy Watch 5 avoid becoming a fingerprint magnet or noticeably chipping/scratching its color when it gets bumping and dinged. (Anything on your wrist is going to get scraped or knocked at least a couple of times, just accept it.)
The Silver colorway also lets the red accents around the sides of the button shine much more than the other colorways, as the Silver reflects more light and doesn’t have a contrasting color to offset it. Silver also might mesh with a wider array of bands and wardrobes than Graphite. I love the Bora Purple that the 40mm Silver comes with, but the 44mm comes with a white band that you’ll want to swap quite quickly.
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Graphite Galaxy Watch 5
Source: Samsung
Last year, the Galaxy Watch 4 came in Black, a proper, true black. This year, Black is reserved for the Watch 5 Pro and the Golf Edition of the Galaxy Watch 5. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not to say Graphite looks bad — it actually looks quite fetching — but it’s not black, which will disappoint some. The shade here for Graphite is deeper than traditional pencil lead, but not quite dark enough to stray into Charcoal territory.
Just as the Sapphire Gold Watch 5 meshes with the Blue Galaxy Z Flip 4 quite well, the Graphite Watch 5 perfectly matches the Graphite Z Flip 4 if you’re into the matchy-matchy look. It also pairs well with the rest of the Z Flip 4 colorways, but if you’re into third-party watch bands, you likely won’t find as many with matching buckles the way you could with Silver or Black.
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Pink Gold Galaxy Watch 5 (40mm only)
Pink Gold isn’t a shade so much as a spectrum when it comes to Samsung products. There was a Pink Gold Galaxy Watch 4 last year, and the Pink Gold Galaxy Watch 5 is a little more pink this year, but it’s still quite pale. The shade somewhat meshes with the Pink Gold Galaxy Z Flip 4, but it’s a brushed finish rather than the Flip 4’s mirror finish. (Samsung learned its lesson on mirror-finish watch frames back with the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2.)
In any shade, shape, or form, pink always carries a certain charm and requires a certain charisma to pull off. I utterly lack that, but that’s why Sapphire and Silver colorways exist! If you’re soft and creamy, Pink Gold may fit you perfectly, but keep in mind this color is exclusive to the 40mm Watch 5, with the 44mm getting the Sapphire color instead.
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Galaxy Watch 5 Golf Edition
Source: Samsung
The only truly black Galaxy Watch 5 will cost you extra, as it’s reserved for the Golf Edition. This special edition comes with an unlimited membership to GolfBuddy’s Smart Caddie — one of a few golf apps available on the Galaxy Watch 4 and 5 — and on top of the black frame, it features bold green highlights around the buttons rather than red and a two-tone watch band that’s mostly white with some black accents. (I’ll never understand golf and tennis’s obsession with white, but at least the band looks tasteful.) You pay extra for this model because it comes with the Smart Caddie membership, but if you’re just after a black and green watch, you Slytherin super-fan, you can ignore the golf app and just use it like a normal smartwatch.
You’ll have to wait a while for the Golf Edition, as it is not currently available for pre-order.
Go colorful with your Galaxy Watch 5
Source: Samsung
I am super bummed that the coolest color Galaxy Watch 5 is limited to the 44mm size, but unless you have seriously small wrists (like me), the Sapphire 44mm model isn’t that much more expensive and gives you a bigger screen and battery. Sapphire offers a little more style and color than Graphite or Silver while not being as cliché as Pink Gold.
If you decide to buy the Galaxy Z Flip 4, the colorways of the Flip 4 and Watch 5 fit together quite well, even if you mix and max shades. Silver and Graphite will be the most flexible colors when it comes time to pair a different band than the one it came with — though the Bora Purple the Silver 40mm comes with is quite fetching.
