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Apple Watch Hermès Packaging

BigGuy219 said:
The watch box has to be square, because it has to contain the standard inner watch box made by Apple.

I think the long box was made just for bands, as it resembles the box for Apple bands. Unrealized concept art that was used in marketing.
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It's substantially thicker than the box used for Apple's bands. If the long box doesn't exist, I think it's more likely that it's an unrealized concept art meant for housing the Single Tour, as Hermes uses the long box for their own Single Tours.

The Sport models are packaged in long boxes so it's not an absolute requirement that the boxes be square for housing the AW.
 
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The long box looks like the box that Sports Watches come in. I agree it's probably concept art, and Hermes just decided to put all their watches in square boxes.
 
douglasf13 said:
Yeah, I know they're known for leather, but I thought maybe they were at least trying. Even Ralph Lauren's watches are more serious.
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Cartier has for years produced a vermeil gold-plate over Sterling silver watch, with a 20 micron plating. So there are ways to do this without being cheap. And I was surprised to find this tank watch gold over steel, among several gold/steel watches Cartier sells:

http://www.cartier.us/en-us/collect...tank/tank-solo/w5200025-tank-solo-watch.html#
http://www.cartier.us/en-us/collect...olo-de-cartier/w6701008-ronde-solo-watch.html

The irony is that the Watch is the most logical kind of watch to plate, since the watch presumably has a very short operational life, thanks to technological advances, leading to the plating outlasting the practical usefulness of the watch. I understand the value of working with solid materials, but honestly, what's the point of solid 18kt gold on an electronic device that's only going to have a practical life of only about 5 years at the most? I mean, Apple's crafting watches out of aluminum, which isn't exactly a serious horological material either.
 
BigGuy219 said:
The watch box has to be square, because it has to contain the standard inner watch box made by Apple.

I think the long box was made just for bands, as it resembles the box for Apple bands. Unrealized concept art that was used in marketing.
Click to expand...

As others have pointed out, the Sport watch is sold in a flat long box. As are the bands. Since there's unlikely to be a Sport version of the Hermes watch edition, my vote is that the long box is for the bands which various "sources" have suggested will eventually be for sale after a period of time following the launch.
 
Mac 128 said:
Cartier has for years produced a vermeil gold-plate over Sterling silver watch, with a 20 micron plating. So there are ways to do this without being cheap. And I was surprised to find this tank watch gold over steel, among several gold/steel watches Cartier sells:

http://www.cartier.us/en-us/collect...tank/tank-solo/w5200025-tank-solo-watch.html#
http://www.cartier.us/en-us/collect...olo-de-cartier/w6701008-ronde-solo-watch.html

The irony is that the Watch is the most logical kind of watch to plate, since the watch presumably has a very short operational life, thanks to technological advances, leading to the plating outlasting the practical usefulness of the watch. I understand the value of working with solid materials, but honestly, what's the point of solid 18kt gold on an electronic device that's only going to have a practical life of only about 5 years at the most? I mean, Apple's crafting watches out of aluminum, which isn't exactly a serious horological material either.
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Vermeil plating is a little different, and still not all that inexpensive, although I'm not sure they do that on watches, anymore. Those Cartier watches you listed are solid 18K gold cases with a steel caseback. They're not plated.
 
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Mac 128 said:
As others have pointed out, the Sport watch is sold in a flat long box. As are the bands. Since there's unlikely to be a Sport version of the Hermes watch edition, my vote is that the long box is for the bands which various "sources" have suggested will eventually be for sale after a period of time following the launch.
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And various "sources" have suggested that they won't be on sale separately. There's no reason for the Hermes long box to be as tall/similar dimensions as the AW Sport boxes if they're going to hold just the band, in which case it could have been an unrealized concept or pre-production box meant to hold the Single Tour that they eventually shelved in favor of the square box.
 
BigGuy219 said:
The watch box has to be square, because it has to contain the standard inner watch box made by Apple.

I think the long box was made just for bands, as it resembles the box for Apple bands. Unrealized concept art that was used in marketing.
Click to expand...

The cuff definitely comes in the long box.
 
BigGuy219 said:
Interesting. Any idea what the inner Apple box looks like then?
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It's a long white plastic box that's about half as deep as the outer box. The watch is flat in the box. Pull out the plastic box and the bottom half of the Hermes box contains the charging cord.
 
I finally hit gold.

It is indeed a long box:

img_8361-jpg.592175

img_8367-jpg.592176


Interestingly enough, I bought it at an Apple Store. I had been looking constantly (daily) in the Hermes Store and the Apple Store. The Hermes Store treated me MUCH, much better (it was a much more upscale experience) but couldn't sell me the watch. I can't prove it, but I am almost certain all the watches they received they passed along to the regular customers or the ones they have a relationship with. I was waitlisted but haven't received any messages from them...

Meanwhile at the Apple Store they didn't have a clue which Hermes models they had, on which days. It didn't matter who you asked. Managers, Apple Watch specialists (the ones who sells the editions) or any one really. Such oblivious lady finally sold me one today. She did say: "let me check... Yeah we have one, take the Hermes bag, have a good day" It might as well have been an airport express... She wasn't rude, she was just not.. pompous. Which I guess is good! :) :apple:
 

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mac666er said:
Meanwhile at the Apple Store they didn't have a clue which Hermes models they had, on which days. It didn't matter who you asked. Managers, Apple Watch specialists (the ones who sells the editions) or any one really. Such oblivious lady finally sold me one today. She did say: "let me check... Yeah we have one, take the Hermes bag, have a good day" It might as well have been an airport express... She wasn't rude, she was just not.. pompous. Which I guess is good! :) :apple:
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Was this the upper east side store?
 
mac666er said:
I finally hit gold.

Interestingly enough, I bought it at an Apple Store. I had been looking constantly (daily) in the Hermes Store and the Apple Store. The Hermes Store treated me MUCH, much better (it was a much more upscale experience) but couldn't sell me the watch. I can't prove it, but I am almost certain all the watches they received they passed along to the regular customers or the ones they have a relationship with. I was waitlisted but haven't received any messages from them...

Meanwhile at the Apple Store they didn't have a clue which Hermes models they had, on which days. It didn't matter who you asked. Managers, Apple Watch specialists (the ones who sells the editions) or any one really. Such oblivious lady finally sold me one today. She did say: "let me check... Yeah we have one, take the Hermes bag, have a good day" It might as well have been an airport express... She wasn't rude, she was just not.. pompous. Which I guess is good! :) :apple:
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Which store? Did they take you into the area where they sell the Editions? On Day 1, that's how they did things at the UES. The associates had no clue what they got in stock (it sounds like Apple needs to do a better job there), but the people were helpful. It wasn't the kind of experience I'm used to at stores like Tiffany or Burberry, but they tried to make it a little better than a typical Apple Store sale.
 
NYer said:
The cuff definitely comes in the long box.
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That makes a certain amount of sense as the cuff is like the "sport" band of the three. Even though it is ironically more expensive. But I think to accommodate the cuff width, they would have had to create a new square box just for it. Is the long box any wider than the regular Sport box?
 
Mac 128 said:
That makes a certain amount of sense as the cuff is like the "sport" band of the three. Even though it is ironically more expensive.
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This makes absolutely no sense. What's your rationale as to why you think the cuff is like the "sport" band of the three?

But I think to accommodate the cuff width, they would have had to create a new square box just for it. Is the long box any wider than the regular Sport box?
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Yeah, this is pretty much true. Someone mentioned that Hermes normally packages their own Single Tours in the long box and the cuffs in the square box, but Apple apparently wanted to make the square boxes the same size so they switched them around.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
This makes absolutely no sense. What's your rationale as to why you think the cuff is like the "sport" band of the three?
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I say that strictly from a style perspective -- the cuff if the more "sporty" of the three, the others are more formal. You wouldn't wear a cuff to a formal event, just like you probably wouldn't wear a sport band to one.

That said, I saw a guy at the grocery store yesterday who came in wearing a Hanes T-shirt, gym shorts, and tennis shoes wearing the Milanese band on his Apple watch. It looked absolutely ridiculous with that outfit -- completely out of place.
 
Mac 128 said:
I say that strictly from a style perspective -- the cuff if the more "sporty" of the three, the others are more formal. You wouldn't wear a cuff to a formal event, just like you probably wouldn't wear a sport band to one.

That said, I saw a guy at the grocery store yesterday who came in wearing a Hanes T-shirt, gym shorts, and tennis shoes wearing the Milanese band on his Apple watch. It looked absolutely ridiculous with that outfit -- completely out of place.
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In the world of watches, any leather strap with contrast stitching and a non-glossy finish is generally considered more sporty/casual than formal. None of the Apple Hermes straps are formal.

Milanese bands, which have a history in diving, and steel bracelets are also not considered formal. They're casual, although has become more en vogue to wear Submariners and other sport watches with dressy attire.
 
douglasf13 said:
In the world of watches, any leather strap with contrast stitching and a non-glossy finish is generally considered more sporty/casual than formal. None of the Apple Hermes straps are formal.
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However, some of the Hermes models have matching stitching. Not sure what you mean by non-glossy finish not considered formal. None of the leather bands on the Edition models are particularly glossy, as they're the same finish as the leather bands on the SS models.
 
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douglasf13 said:
Vermeil plating is a little different, and still not all that inexpensive, although I'm not sure they do that on watches, anymore. Those Cartier watches you listed are solid 18K gold cases with a steel caseback. They're not plated.
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No doubt Vermeil is different as is the requirement for gold fill, which is still a respectable plating method. But it's not that expensive compared to solid gold. In fact, there's not $9400 worth of gold in the Edition watch either. It's about the quality of the materials. As for the process, I can see Apple producing yet another slick video about how they've really taken the plating techniques to new levels by developing new materials and processes. I mean it's not that much different than anodizing aluminum or coating the Space Black steel case. Look at Cartier, they actively promote their Rhodium plating, a metal which is currently less expensive than the gold it covers. They promote it as a protective finish, but it's absolutely a plating of a material other than gold. By the way, I assumed those were gold watches with steel backs, but a Cartier rep told me they were plated, but they also didn't seem to know much about their watches. So I assume you have better information. That said, there are Cartier items that are clearly stated are gold plated: http://www.cartier.com/collections/gifts/selections/red/st150190-must-de-cartier-pen.html

Then there are other watch companies such as Movado and Rado who sell gold "plated" watches. Whether that represents a decline of an otherwise respected brand or not is a matter of opinion I guess. http://www.movado.com/us/en/shop-watches/movado-thin-classic-0606847.html

I understand why someone would want a solid gold Swiss mechanical watch, which could last generations. But I don't really understand why that would matter so much for an Apple Watch, which is basically a picture of planned obsolescence. I've owned a few gold plated watches and never had the finish rub off or scratch down to the base material during the time I wore them. So it seems this issue over gold-plating, at least for the Watch, is merely one of elitism. Of course, selling a plated Watch could also be seen as an indication that Apple sees these as short-lived products which would equally diminish the perception they are trying to cultivate.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
However, some of the Hermes models have matching stitching. Not sure what you mean by non-glossy finish not considered formal. None of the leather bands on the Edition models are particularly glossy, as they're the same finish as the leather bands on the SS models.
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I should have been more specific. What I should have said was, formal watch bands are often glossy with matching stitching, but sometimes they're matte finish with matching stitching, or glossy finish with contrast stitching.

In other words, if a strap has both a matte finish strap and contrast stitching, then it is generally considered more casual.

All of that being said, I forgot about that black on black and red on red Hermes, and I'm sure they'd be fine for more formal settings.
 
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douglasf13 said:
I should have been more specific. What I should have said was, formal watch bands are often glossy with matching stitching, but sometimes they're matte finish with matching stitching, or glossy finish with contrast stitching.

In other words, if a strap has both a matte finish strap and contrast stitching, then it is generally considered more casual.

All of that being said, I forgot about that black on black and red on red Hermes, and I'm sure they'd be fine for more formal settings.
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This is for men, right? I'm trying to think of any leather bands that will look good with women's formal wear, and coming up blank.
 
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