The existence of rugged smart watches seems fairly likely, but I can’t comment on that.
However, I can tell you every smart watch I’ve ever owned (which admittedly isn’t that many) has some form of protective case available and replacing a case is a lot cheaper than replacing a smart watch. Example (no affiliation, just randomly selected):
Do note that this might interfere with some functionality of the watch. For example, I previously had a Fitbit Charge 2 (IIRC) which offers an ECG function. However, it relies on conductive pads on its body for that. All the cases I found blocked those pads which meant the scan wouldn’t work. Everything else worked fine, though.
The existence of rugged smart watches seems fairly likely, but I can’t comment on that.
However, I can tell you every smart watch I’ve ever owned (which admittedly isn’t that many) has some form of protective case available and replacing a case is a lot cheaper than replacing a smart watch. Example (no affiliation, just randomly selected):
https://www.amazon.com/Protector-Compatible-Scratch-Resistant-Flexible/dp/B0CSD5RM97/
Do note that this might interfere with some functionality of the watch. For example, I previously had a Fitbit Charge 2 (IIRC) which offers an ECG function. However, it relies on conductive pads on its body for that. All the cases I found blocked those pads which meant the scan wouldn’t work. Everything else worked fine, though.