By Graham K. Rogers

At the recent Apple Event in Cupertino, as well as the announcement of the 9.7" iPad Pro which has now arrived in Thailand (along with its Smart Keyboard), other accessories were announced. Among these were some new bands for the Apple Watch. As soon as I saw the Royal Blue fluoroelastomer band for the Apple Watch Sport, I was online ordering one from the newly reactivated English Language pages for Thailand. That arrived a few days later and I have been quite happy with it.

A number of other bands are now available, including some new colors in the fluoroelastomer range for the Sports Watches. Yellow and Orange were noted arrivals, although I still want a green band for purely selfish and aesthetic reasons.

My preparation for the morning, includes trousers (UK-English), socks, shirt; and then I go through a process of selecting a suitable band, to match either short or socks, then customizing the watch face. This is pure vanity and I have a green shirt that cries out for such a match.

A new range of bands for the Apple Watch Sport was announced, made from woven nylon. I now have a couple of these and, like the fluoroelastomer bands, will go with the more expensive Apple Watch.

I was dubious of the material initially, but this week, with the sun directly above at noon, temperatures are running into the high 30s C. The woven nylon bands feel lighter than the fluoroelastomer bands and despite the high temperatures are comfortable to wear in the heat. I have two of these: in black and a red/blue mix.

Several more expensive leather and metal bands were also released, including a black Milanese Loop band, which (of course) goes perfectly with the black Apple Watch. I have two of the leather bands: a leather band with a "classic" buckle. There are 9 colors: I have the blue one. I also have a grey leather loop, that has a magnetic clasp arrangement similar to the Milanese Loop. There is also the Modern Buckle in Granada leather (7 colors).

Such ability to mix and match watches and bands as well as the watch displays, means that the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport (as well as the Apple Watch Edition) give owners a huge range of options for sport, shopping, dining and other functions.

The bands were slow in arriving in the shops here. My online-ordered Royal Blue band was in my hands over a week before they were on the shelves. I have now seen them in the iStudio, Siam Paragon, where they can be tried with the watches.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. He is now continuing that in the Bangkok Post supplement, Life.