Fear and loathing in Rolex-ville

I disagree. Watches that cost below $1k are seen as "low-end". At the higher levels it's all about prestige. I had a boss that wore a $50k Franck Muller to match his $150k pinky ring. He only cared about showing it off. It's a piece of jewelry to him.

The new "watchlet" is not expensive enough or exclusive enough to warrant any prestige from the truly wealthy. I doubt it will have much impact on Rolex's bottom line.

Now if you said Tag, Burberry, Movado, etc, then I would agree. Those are lower end quality watches with a similar pricing. Bottom line: The apple watch targets younger crowd with excess cash, not the rich like Rolex.

People who buy Rolex and other luxury brand watches aren't really the target market.

There is a reason there are no LCD type watches (/smart watches) with luxury watch brand names on them. thats not their target audience.

Hell, most rolex's are automatic (not quartz). Its about the perceived quality of the watchmaker/the insides for most people who buy luxury brands watches. And people buy good quality watches because they last for years and years. A smart watch won't (you could wear a watch from the 80s now, and it would not look out of place. I can't imagine wearing a iWatch in 30 years...)

You could compare it to the watches made by consumer brands like Gucci, Armani etc though i guess.

Apple gold watches are so arriviste