Frak!

Why are you complaining about your purchase to this Garmin forum? You clearly did not buy it from a Garmin outlet so it's no fault of Garmin that you have received what might be classed as a secondhand watch. What are the warranty implications? 

Just an idea: might this come from inside the box were the strap touches it??

Seems a bit harsh - he's posting about his experience buying a Garmin product in a forum for Garmin users.  I don't see him blaming Garmin at all.  There's plenty of other posts on here relating to third-party buying/after-sales service and if nothing else those cautionary tales may inform future buyers to think twice about "too good to be true" offers.

That could be.  Honestly, it looks worn, but if not, that's a serious packaging issue.  Every photo I've seen of the band looks pretty clean but those weren't stored for a few weeks and sent via UPS where it could rub.

Honestly, I think it's a band that won't stand up to wear and tear very well.

I didn't buy it from Bob's Bargain Jewelers.  This is from a named jeweler/Garmin dealer in the United States..  I expect to be able to return it.  The discounts were not for a display model, just something I lucked into and smart use of my credit card.

I don't know where the issue is.  I know I didn't do it.  Possibly, it's the jeweler using it as a display model or they opened it for training purposes.  Possibly, as Johann said, it's from the box, and/or being shipped and rubbing in shipment, so then it is a Garmin packaging issue.  Possibly, it's just a really crappy band, which is also a Garmin issue.

Rubbing makes sense given where it is on both sides.

Finally, I've emailed the seller about it.  We'll see what happens from there.

Few more thoughts.

I put my Fenix band on it, and honestly, the watch looks great.  Given what I paid for it, basically Athlete price after the hoops, I may keep it, and just use the black band.

Second, I looked at it some more, the way the packaging fits, and almost certainly that's the problem.  The stitching does look more worn than any photos/videos that I've seen, so I wouldn't be surprised if it hadn't been taken out a few times.  So, I think it's a packaging / band issue.

Lastly, this is not a $200 watch band, in my opinion.  If it wears this easy, imagine what it will be like with regular use.

I agree with you on the band build quality, I compared it with the Apple Watch band, for something at the similar price range, the build quality is much better, I think Garmin made a mistake using a Grade 2 Titanium for the Marq, it’s way too soft and easy to get scratch up & ding up. After one week of regular usage on my Marq Aviator, I already got a small ding on the bezel ring around the ceramic. My Fenix 5 Plus bezel can do better than that.... it’s suppose to be a OUTDOOR watch Garmin, please pick a stronger titanium grade 5 for the future watch.

.

I'm probably going to regret what I did today, actually, I kind of do, it would have been easier to have just kept the watch.  But, the dark side took over.

So, I called the jeweler this morning, and was told, we can't do anything for you, if you want anything done go to a store.  Well, I want to exchange it?  Nope, only if you upgrade! The problem also being, no Expeditions in stock, but they do have Athlete's incoming.

"I guess you can send it to us for a refund, we'll process that in, oh,  30-45 days.  And that's that, I'm not going to do a thing for you.  Go to the store", and that's not the part where he got snooty and condescending.

The nearest store is 27 miles away, and you do not get there at freeway speed during the day, even if it's almost 100% on a freeway.  

The irony is that I work in that direction and it would have been easier to have my original order shipped there.  I called them 2 hours after placing the order and "nope, can't do that, only in the 1st hour".  That was the hour they called me to quiz that I was really who I was, "need an address that you've lived at in the past", and, "is that really your email?"  "Oh, and has to go to the same address as your credit card, even if that's inconvenient". Yes, they asked about the address and email.  I've sold on EBay, I recognize people scam like crazy with addresses, but it's more like a Walmart than a jeweler, actually, Walmart would probably ship me a $1,000 item without blinking, Amazon would. 

So, I took yesterday and today off to A) get the watch and B) take care of some things today.  None of which happened.

Today, I hopped in the car and drove the 27 miles.

The store was a better experience.  I'll be getting a Athlete, it's on order, next week.  I have no problem with that, well, a little problem, but it's better than trying to sign for a product with UPS.  I do lose my 4% credit card bonus for shopping with this online dump.  

My net experience, time and gas, this was a loss for me to exchange.  I probably should have just kept it but I let my anger get the better of me.

Now, watch the Athlete scratch in the first week.

PS: When the online reviews for a business royally suck, sometimes, the reviews are actually real.