Scratches on MARQ Athlete

Same here.  Got a tiny scratch on the edge of my Marq Athlete.  Really a shame they didn't make the bezel ceramic.  Expect it to look like crap in a few months.

Agreed.  still within the return window so I will be returning.  I actually like the watch very much from a usability standpoint, but you cant sell a $1500 watch on "premium materials" that scratches this easily.  Will wait for Fenix 6 then.  No knocks on the functionality though, that is great.

Wow, I didn’t expect the Bezel with DLC is this easy to get a deep scratch on it, making me thinking if I should upgrade to the Aviator with ceramic bezel which is much better to resist scratch.

Yea, I was really disappointed.  My Fenix 5 has been through wars the past few years with workouts and obstacle course races and not a mark on it. The limited tech upgrade was not worth the money, but that combined with a higher quality case that looked better in more business situations would have been great.  DLC scratch after two weeks woke me from that dream and I ended up sending it back.

I got a pretty bad scratch on my Expedition's bezel as well.

Hpwever, to be the voice of reason, I also owned a Fenix 3/3HR and Fenix 5 Plus. All three watches were pretty nicely scratched up after a few months of regular use (nothing extreme, just cycling, running and wearing during the day);

However, I do agree that we are right to expect a higher level of durability on watches this expensive. Even though my 7k+ Rolex got some pretty bad bezel scratches within two weeks of leaving its box.

This isnt a knock on the device itself, I actually did love the feel and the speed.  Stepping back to my Fenix 5 feels a bit sluggish.  But a big selling point on this device is build quality.  Had I dropped it or hit something obvious during a race I would expect scratching.  The fact that nothing obvious happened to it and it still scratched does not bode well for the future.  I'll continue on with my 5 until a 6 comes along.

Completely see where you are coming from. Again, I wanted to state that the situation isn't so different with older Garmin watches or some time pieces I own/used to own.

My Expedition has scratched some on the bezel after rock climbing with it. I kind of expected it. I've had other titanium watches before, like my Tissot T-touch expert, and titanium seems to scratch quite easily. To me I guess it's part of the character. It still looks better than my 3HR. Much much better. I'm looking forward to the leather strap getting a little distressed as well.

That's part of the reason I got the Aviator over the Athlete. I've seen knives with DLC coatings scratch without much effort. I'm hoping the super-hard ceramic on my Aviator holds up. The diamond-like particles on the Athlete should be plenty hard, but i suspect that the bonding to the underlying titanium is not as strong.