Originally Posted by
vegas33139 Is the difference purely aesthetic and/or strength?
Yes.
Is it worth the price difference? Only
you can answer that. My first AW is a SS. I love it. It's a brilliant dress and semi-dress Watch depending on the bands you use.
However— if you are a little tough on watches and/or want to use a bumper/case to protect your Watch, I'd say don't get SS. It scratches easily and to my eye, diminishes the beauty of the Watch. I've managed to reduce them somewhat, but it may take a buffing wheel and some skill to restore the pristine finish. If you consider scratches and wear part of the price of wearing a watch, don't spend the extra dough on SS.
The aluminum lineup is much more forgiving where light scratches are concerned. By definition, it will dent easier than SS, but I haven't seen any mention yet of someone denting their Al Watch. As mentioned the SS' sapphire crystal is more scratch resistant than the Al's Ion-X glass. I've yet to see any rampant mentions of people breaking or scratching either.