Apple Watch gold plating for $399 with a 3-day turnaround
watchplate.com
watchplate.com
The difference is, whilst a Rolex is reasonably affordable, the Edition is clearly out of the price range of most people - so wearing something like this will be so obvious.
However, I would love to see some companies coming up with custom Apple watches. Not to make them look more expensive, just to make them look different. For the first time, I might actually buy a customised Apple product if it weren't too expensive (maybe a wooden Apple watch case might look nice, for example.) We'll definitely see this with custom bands (really looking forward to that) but it'd be cool to see new watch bodies too.
As an aside, whilst I understand (and mostly approve of) the reasoning behind Edition, it's a shame that the only gold Apple watch is so expensive. I wish that Apple had created a gold coloured watch in addition to the solid gold Edition - similar to how many watch companies produce the same watch in stainless steel and white gold or platinum. Or how watch companies sometimes put a diamond on the back of the watch but none on the front.
Apple Watch Edition is actually one of the cheapest solid gold watches out there
I'm well aware of the costs of a Rolex (and most watch brands, I'm a watch enthusiast). You can pick up a Rolex for a few thousand pounds in Britain. New, they start at around £4000ish. Gold watches in general cost a lot more, especially if they have a gold link bracelet, and you're right that Edition is priced fairly competitively.
A stainless steel Rolex is, whilst quite a bit of money, affordable if you decide that you want it. I don't live in a major city and yet I'll still see a few on the wrists of people if I take a trip around town. Edition, however, would be quite a sighting - similar (in terms of required wealth), in my opinion, to seeing a complicated Patek on a wrist. (Whilst the prices are different, I'm saying this because of the upgrade issue, i.e. a £100K Patek will last many lifetimes, a gold Edition will be useless in less than 5 years).
That's not written down anywhere except the over-arching idiom, metaphor, very ground of the relationship. Is the kind of relationship that can slippery slide into parasitism. And therefor I think extant in many sentient species. Great apes, many primates, birds, cephelopods maybe even.
I think it's a reflection of a few basic strategy for living in the world, in a world with limited resources, trust and exchange.
_It will be a big bust._ After the initial hype, not many adults would want to wear it.
This might upset some people (Apple fans?). But now, let's build a mental image together: one day, in the middle of a meeting at your work place, many of your colleagues rest their hands on the conference table (either using a tablet/phone/laptop, or holding papers). You raise your head and glance over the whole room, and you see there are so many Apple watches out there. They look the same, blink the same way, sound the same. The square-ish shape becomes kind of tiring and stupid, simply because you've seem them everywhere. They are really out there. A funny idea pops up in your mind: is this a robotic, dull and weird picture or what?
Watches are not like mobile phones, in terms of personal touches. Adults use phones mostly for their practical functions, and phones can be kept out of sight. Watches are different. Nowadays they are mostly for images/styles/personalities/fun, so, do you want to wear the same watch as everybody else and appear so average?
If I'd all these features available in Apple Watch then I would buy it in heart beat. I can imagine several apps that would be super useful. However price tag is way too high and it needs charging every day. I think Apple Watch isn't going to be smashing success right now but given their investment levels, they might continue produce next versions that gets better and better and hopefully cheaper. It's important to remember that iPhone 1 wasn't smashing success either when it first came out given it's price tag and less powerful batteries.
I feel the functions of watches you mentioned can be easily performed by a mid-range phone, and can be done better with a phone in terms of configurations/flexibilities/features with a few apps here and there. So I think with the prevalence of mobile phone, people put less and less emphasis on utilities when shopping and wearing a watch.
My silly prediction is not about doubting Apple watch's dazzling new utilities. It's about people's need for individuality/differentiations/style, especially adults, they want and can often afford to wear different things than the next person in the office.