Google has been heavily criticized over the years for the lack of repairability with its Pixel Watch. From the original up through the Pixel Watch 3, there simply was no option to fix a Pixel Watch if the display broke or the battery needed to be replaced. If you cracked or scratched your Pixel Watch, you simply needed a new one. They created mail-in programs to get folks replacements and even admitted as recently as last year that they were still thinking through the process of making a Pixel Watch repairable.

Fast forward to this year’s Pixel Watch 4 and the conversation has completely changed. The Pixel Watch 4 is repairable. You can replace both the screen and battery and seal things up again as if your watch were new. When Google announced this change, we were excited, but iFixit has now done their teardown and they came away truly impressed, calling the Pixel Watch 4 the “Most Repairable Smartwatch on the Market.” That’s about the biggest 180 in tech repair history, I’d guess.

In the process of opening the Pixel Watch 4, they found it quite easy to take the device apart. There were easily-accessible screws to undo and not much else. On the back for a battery replacement, they didn’t need to heat up the device to soften glue or any other material, as Google designed the device to compress into itself and seal when tightened. On the display side, Google is using an O-ring instead of adhesive, so it maintains an IP68 rating even after you swap things out. It’s all pretty brilliant – iFixit even called it “a complete rethink of smartwatch design.” Their praise is off the charts throughout this teardown.

In the end, they rated it a 9 out of 10, saying that it is “far ahead of the pack” when it comes to repairability. I’d sure say so.

For those of you buying a Pixel Watch 4 (here’s our review), Google has already released guides to help you perform a repair.

// iFixit