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would any of those 30.7 million A-Watch wearers have bought a traditional Swiss watch if the A-Watch didn't exist?
Does anyone wear an A-Watch because they think it's beautiful?
A Swiss watch is jewelry. The A-watch is, well it is what it is

I have wanted a speedmaster for a long time, I'm not saying I would 100% have purchased one by now but not wearing my other watches makes the case for doing so much harder.
 
Ha, good joke! Counting units not $$$$ ?
I assume that the Swiss watch industry shipment is 100 to 300 fold value of Apple watches !

The Swiss Watch market is estimated at about $20 billion in 2016.

Estimated Apple Watch revenue is about 12 billion for 2019 (based on AboveAvalon).

The Apple Watch market is already at least half the size of the entire Swiss Watch market in terms of revenue, and still growing.

It’s not going to be long before the Apple Watch eclipses the Swiss Watch market in terms of sheer revenue generated.
 
90% of the time I see someone wearing an Apple Watch, I wonder, sometimes aloud, WTF do they need notifications on their wrist for.

They look ridiculous - they're the Pager of the current generation. Most people who had a pager them kept them as a fashion accessory.

Conspicuous consumption of a device that depreciates to $0 in 5 years. TOTAL waste of money.

I have almost all notifications turned off on my Apple Watch, I find them annoying but I still really enjoy my Apple Watch because it does a lot more than simply send you notifications. I'm someone who constantly looks at the time so I find it convenient to wear a watch and for this reason alone I avoided the Apple Watch until the current series 5 because a watch that doesn't have an always-on-display does not appeal to me. I also use it as a timer when I'm working out and it's a bonus that it tracks my hear rate.

I also find it convenient to be able to take calls on my watch because I usually leave my phone on my desk when I'm walking around.

Then there is the cool factor that comes along with having a computer on your wrist. For a kid growing up in the 80's, this is the stuff of sci-fi dreams.

A total waste of money? If you don't enjoy it, it's a total waste of money. If you enjoy it, definitely not.

The Apple watch is not an "investment" and neither are most goods people buy.

If the value of a purchase of something is only measured by what you are left with afterwards in a few years, entire parts of the entertainment industry would crumble.

Are you a mechanical watch aficionado?
 
90% of the time I see someone wearing an Apple Watch, I wonder, sometimes aloud, WTF do they need notifications on their wrist for.

They look ridiculous - they're the Pager of the current generation. Most people who had a pager them kept them as a fashion accessory.

Conspicuous consumption of a device that depreciates to $0 in 5 years. TOTAL waste of money.
I totally agree if someone uses them for notifications but in terms of encouraging people to be more active and for sports in general it’s amazing. It’s totally transformed my life. My favourite Apple product in years.
 
LOL comparing Tesla to Ferrari?



The Apple Watch outsold the entire Swiss watch industry by a wide margin in 2019, according to new data shared today by Strategy Analytics.

Apple shipped an estimated 30.7 million units worldwide in 2019, up 36 percent from the estimated 22.5 million units shipped in 2018.

tagheuerapplewatch.jpg

Comparatively, the Swiss watch industry (which includes all Swiss watch brands) is estimated to have shipped a total of 21.1 million units worldwide in 2019, dropping 13 percent from the 24.2 million watches shipped in 2018.

According to Strategy Analytics, the Apple Watch is "wildly popular" in North America, Western Europe, and Asia due to its user-friendly tech, sticky apps, and attractive design. Analog watches, meanwhile, remain popular with older consumers, but young buyers prefer smartwatches and computerized wristwear.

applewatchshipmentsvsswisswatch.jpg


Apple beat Swiss watch shipments with its own Apple Watch shipments during the holiday quarter of 2017, but 2019 marks the first full year where Apple has shipped a larger number of Apple Watches.

Apple does not break out Apple Watch sales numbers so estimates on shipments are based on guesswork, but the large margin between estimated Apple Watch shipments and estimated Swiss watch shipments suggests that the conclusion the Apple Watch outsold Swiss watches in 2019 is accurate.

Article Link: Apple Shipped an Estimated 30.7 Million Apple Watches in 2019, Beating Entire Swiss Watch Industry
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BTW: what's the lifetime expectance of a mechanical Swiss watch and Apple watch?
 
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I get that a lot of people don't see the value in a Swiss watch that only does one thing when an Apple Watch does hundreds of things. They're not wrong.

But I can also see why some people find higher value in a good Swiss watch that will last decades and can be passed down to their kids. I have one that my late grandfather got when he was around my age and it's absolutely priceless to me. (Besides looking really cool.)

Everyone has their own preferences about the relative value of the two product categories, and no one is more "right" than another.

Because Apple Watches and Swiss watches are two different product categories. That they both tell time doesn't really make the comparison of # of units shipped relevant.
 
90% of the time I see someone wearing an Apple Watch, I wonder, sometimes aloud, WTF do they need notifications on their wrist for.

They look ridiculous - they're the Pager of the current generation. Most people who had a pager them kept them as a fashion accessory.

Conspicuous consumption of a device that depreciates to $0 in 5 years. TOTAL waste of money.

I'm probably a niche demographics, but I'm hearing impaired and, unless I"m in a completely quiet room or hold my phone, I miss all audible notifications. The A-Watch fixes this for me with the haptics.

One man's ridicule is another man's solution.
 
Apple Watch freed me from the shackles of checking a phone to a) tell the time, and b) check notifications. It is the precise polar opposite of what the non-wearers (who are often welded to their phone) think it is.

And that’s before we even get started on the utility. Controlling your home lighting & central heating system from anywhere in the world via your wrist is full-Star Trek. Likewise remote-starting your car in the winter so it‘s pre-heated when you get in it. On-wrist graphic & haptic prompts from Maps when navigating a city on foot. Etcetera etcetera etcetera.

Totally useless. Don’t know why I bought it...🤡
 
90% of the time I see someone wearing an Apple Watch, I wonder, sometimes aloud, WTF do they need notifications on their wrist for.

They look ridiculous - they're the Pager of the current generation. Most people who had a pager them kept them as a fashion accessory.

Conspicuous consumption of a device that depreciates to $0 in 5 years. TOTAL waste of money.

I'd love to see the looks people give you when you wonder aloud why people choose to use an Apple Watch. As much as you think you are mocking, you are likely the one being mocked, heavily, in those situations.
 
Until/unless Apple allows the core to be swapped out, AW will always be disposable. It can thus never have the collector value of high end Swiss watches regardless of materials used or redesigns. So of course by its nature nature the AW sell far more units because people want the latest tech.

I’ve swapped my AW pretty much every generation. I’ve had my Rolex Daytona for 25 years and I’ll pass it to my son some day. It’s already worth a multiple of what I paid for it, and it’ll do nothing but continue to appreciate. AW can never do that so long as the cores can’t be swapped. And even then...
 
For running Apple Watch + AirPods has been magical for me.

Not having to run with my iPhone strapped to my waist has been AMAZING. I too run with AirPods and my watch. Absolutely amazing.

I have used an AW 3 for a few years, sold mine to family (in use today) (wife/relatives all share activity stats), and now use an AW5. Can't imagine life without it. Besides the exercise benefits, activity information throughout my day, ECG reading, noise reading, sleep analysis, and pages of benefits ... I like it because I don't have to always check my phone and when my boss calls me, I don't miss it. My phone is 100% on silent with no vibrate.

Carrot weather on my watch is a must. Love being able to see the forecast for the next 5 days that changes where I go.

Traveling the world over the last few years (for work) - the watch updates itself wherever I go. Being able to see what my wife texts me without grabbing my phone, my reminders (to do list), a quick timer, automatically logging into my Mac when it has been sleeping, American Airlines boarding ticket for when I board a plane... Microsoft Authenticator approver when I log into my windows PC...

Heartwatch app is amazing.

The watch is indispensable imo. .... I had fully intended on only writing a few sentences - told ya I could write pages on this. :p
 
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The Swiss Watch market is estimated at about $20 billion in 2016.

Estimated Apple Watch revenue is about 12 billion for 2019 (based on AboveAvalon).

The Apple Watch market is already at least half the size of the entire Swiss Watch market in terms of revenue, and still growing.

It’s not going to be long before the Apple Watch eclipses the Swiss Watch market in terms of sheer revenue generated.

The Apple Watch isn't a direct competitor to mechanical watches but there is some overlap. The Swiss watch market is going to be just fine as a whole but I would imagine that their sub $1,000 watch category will probably lose sales to smartwatches. By and large, mechanical watches are a veblen goods, fashion accessories, and jewelry.

Over in the mechanical watch world they marvel at the accuracy of watches that cost thousands of dollars that lose several seconds per week.

But people aren't buying a $10,000 Rolex because it keeps time accurately and while that Rolex can't match the accuracy of an Apple Watch at a fraction of the cost, the Apple Watch can't match the status, fashion, and jewelry aspect of a a watch that costs $10,000.

There will definitely be overlap but I believe they will mostly remain separate markets.
 
still prefer my Rolex.
Too much notifications/distractions nowadays.
Also another device that I have to charge.

I have Rolex, Breitling and others, none of them have been on my wrist in so long, most of my friends who have bigger watch collections than me are the same. They much prefer to have a strap collection for the watch and switch them depending on the event and the face.

As for the notifications/distractions, you control them, not the watch.
 
Certainly impressive. However, most Swiss mechanical watches are significantly more expensive than most models of the Apple Watch, and aimed at a more limited audience. I wouldn't put them in the same category -- one is functional jewelry, one is a wearable computer and comms device. I happen to like both categories a lot, but they serve a very different purpose in my own life. Well, other than being able to tell time on both of them!
 
The Swiss Watch market is estimated at about $20 billion in 2016.

Estimated Apple Watch revenue is about 12 billion for 2019 (based on AboveAvalon).

The Apple Watch market is already at least half the size of the entire Swiss Watch market in terms of revenue, and still growing.

It’s not going to be long before the Apple Watch eclipses the Swiss Watch market in terms of sheer revenue generated.

No time to check your figures, but I'm sure something's wrong. Take just 1 Patek for $300K and try to do the math how many Apple wathes you can buy 300K. And I was talking just about ONE watch just from ONE brand....
 
I always enjoy reading comments like these, makes me laugh.

I remember people said the exact same thing about the iPod, iPhone, iPad, AirPods... And all of these products came BEFORE Apple turned into a one trillion dollar company.
I heard the same thing when people were saying when do we need a mouse when using a computer. Keyboard is faster when we remember all the shortcuts and mouse is slowing down the CPU because there is one extra task for it. It's all history
 
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