Apple Watch vs Rolex

[Poochi]

Indeed, but as I said previously, if you are comparing a Rolex and an Apple watch purely financially in order to justify which one is better for you, you were never going to be a Rolex customer in the first place. You are not the type of individual who could cause concern in the Rolex boardroom.

Perhaps. However a successful mass market product like Apple Watch could threaten Rolex:
- demand side problem: suppress future "would-be" Rolex owner/collectors
- network effect making Apple Watch infinitely more valuable, eventually the (utility + convenience) > wearing a Rolex
- Rolex pricing: inability to raise prices as quickly as in the past due to demand side issue, causing "second hand" market pricing to stagnant - making collecting Rolex ROI negative compared to other options, and feeding into demand side vicious cycle

A lot of people buy into Rolex with the idea that eventually the watch would retain/increase in value and seeing Apple Watch as a bad "investment" because it would be "worthless". Without that notion of "investment value" the demand for Rolex would be much lower than we have witnessed today, and when it hits, it'll hit fast and furious.

 

[zetaplus93]

Unless another device comes along that does the same job without having to wear anything on the wrist first. Wearables can be anything: a pendant, or a necklace, or a bracelet, or a cufflink, or a shirt button, or even a woven into the fabric of the clothing. And frankly in my mind that's much more likely than the smartwatch becoming the de facto "wearable".

Agreed that other types of wearables are interesting as well. But given the near term technological constraints, it's likely the watch/wrist will be developed first and fullest.

Benedict Evans has an interesting post where he thinks of the mobile phone as the new sun, with wearables like the watch being different planets/moons/etc in the new solar system. So perhaps the other wearables (pendants, necklaces, cufflinks, shirt buttons, etc etc), TVs, etc can all play in the new personal network that surrounds us going forward:

http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2015/5/13/the-smartphone-and-the-sun

 

[firewood]

A big difference between phones and watches is that watches are used both for utility and also as self-expression/personalization. Phones are used predominately for utility ...

Back in the day of flip and feature phones, there's a story about a large sport stadium event where all the cell phones had to be checked and were then scanned. Some large percentage turned out to be non-working dummys, just carried for show (self-expression), no utility at all (except maybe impressing a GF by flashing one).

 

[firewood]

Unless another device comes along that does the same job without having to wear anything on the wrist first. Wearables can be anything: a pendant, or a necklace, or a bracelet, or a cufflink, or a shirt button, or even a woven into the fabric of the clothing. And frankly in my mind that's much more likely than the smartwatch becoming the de facto "wearable".

Except it's harder to unobtrusively check a necklace to see if you can ignore that message and not interrupt your lunch/dinner conversation. And a watch and a bracelet are the same thing (e.g. a wristwatch is a bracelet that tells time) and they consume the same space. A cufflinks or a sleeve button will only work on long sleeve shirts. The google glass thing is so far a failure, but maybe eventually will morph into something more acceptable socially and at work, or people will implant them into their eyeballs. A ring is another possibility, buy most men only will wear a wedding ring and only if married.

 

[vladi]

That's beside the point. Today's young people who start with the smartwatch will likely have become so accustomed to it (much like our dependence on the iPhone) that they'll only consider other smartwatches, and later in life when they're well able to afford a Rolex, Patek, etc., they'll likely opt for a more expensive, luxury smartwatch instead (like the Edition).

As Jony Ive said, Switzerland is in trouble. Either evolve or die a slow death.

As we grow older and wiser we will figure out how useless of a gimmick smart watches are. Small screen estate makes it truly uncomfortable to use it for content manipulation. Reading text on a Apple Watch? Give me a break, its wrong.

Smart watches will evolve but they will not be app centric nor will they have you scroll to infinity.

On the other hand craftsmanship of mechanical time pieces will die when sculpture and painting dies. It will only gain in value.

And two things about Jony Ive, he is way past his prime and he is only holding up a position for some young visionary designer that could do the same or more then he did. Great designer know when their juices are depleted, there is no refill.
Second thing that crown control he designed for the Watch is the worst gimmick ever. Its like WTF

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

As we grow older and wiser we will figure out how useless of a gimmick smart watches are. Small screen estate makes it truly uncomfortable to use it for content manipulation. Reading text on a Apple Watch? Give me a break, its wrong.

Methinks you've never truly experienced the Apple Watch as there's hardly any content manipulation on it. It's mostly canned responses or Siri dictation. It's actually pretty easy to read texts on it.

 

[Roller]

As we grow older and wiser we will figure out how useless of a gimmick smart watches are. Small screen estate makes it truly uncomfortable to use it for content manipulation. Reading text on a Apple Watch? Give me a break, its wrong.

I'm in my 60s and love my Apple Watch. It helps that my expectations are realistic, though. I use it to determine when an incoming text or email needs my urgent attention, and I can reply discretely in an instant with one of my pre-programmed responses. Perhaps when I get as old and wise as you I'll see the folly of my ways, but for now, I'm happy in my blissful ignorance.

By the way, my satisfaction with the AW doesn't lessen my high regard for finely-crafted timepieces. My appreciation of one doesn't necessitate my denigration of the other. As I believe I said upthread, they're different animals, and comparing them doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Arran]

Is it more convenient to read the time on a smart watch than it is on a mechanical watch with lumed dials then?

It's way more convenient to do all the other things.

 

[Arran]

The thought has occurred to me, but...

Maybe a possible analogue is the transition from horses to automobiles. There are still people who own horses, and many of them are passionate about the horses they own, and collect horses, pay lots of money for them, etc. So there is still a "horse industry" so to speak. But that "industry" is nowhere near the size it was when horses were the main means of transportation.

I'm thinking the same kind of thing could happen to the watch industry. Smartwatches, or some other type of wearable/mobile technology, are here to take over the function of telling time. A select few might still find interest in buying and collecting high-end mechanical watches, but the low- and middle-range watch industry is about to be squeezed out.

So perhaps not doom for Rolex, but Seiko, Citizen, etc, could be in trouble.

I think Rolex is in trouble too - because it's kind-of coasted on it's HUGE reputation and brand-recognition for too long.

The niche and obscure brands will survive - because they always have. They're the ones that push mechanical timekeeping to it's limit and are loved for that Their timepieces aren't given away as freebies to high achieving salespeople for exceeding their quarterly numbers - or as a nice end-of-year thank-you bonus.

 

[Arran]

Reading time, by itself is not more convenient. But a smartwatch has many other functions in addition to telling time. If you own a smartwatch, then a conventional watch is redundant. I know I would never go back to wearing a regular watch as long as I have a smartwatch.

Indeed. Apple have cleverly used the "watch" moniker as a trojan horse. And it's fooled many, evidently.

It introduces the idea of a game-changing wearable as something familiar to a skeptical public. Ithas a familiar look, modus operandi sales channel, packaging and price range. It's 3D skeumorphism on steroids.

But functionally it's in a completely different league. It's only a watch pre-sale. Once you take it home, a watch is the last thing it is.

 

[Arran]

New Rolex watches only need to be serviced every 10 years.

Could that suggest the old ones only needed servicing every 10 years too?

But Rolex was quite happy to milk the owners all these years?

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

It's way more convenient to do all the other things.

That's what I thought you would say.

The product changing is irrelevant when I highlight it, but a positive when you give it as a response.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Could that suggest the old ones only needed servicing every 10 years too?

But Rolex was quite happy to milk the owners all these years?

Believe it or not movements have evolved and been developed by watch manufacturers over the years. The movements now are very different to the movements produced in the 1960's. Technology applies to watches too and Rolex have not just been selling the same watch for the past 100 years.

I think this is the problem. People here casting doubt on mechanical watches don't actually understand them or know enough about them. They are just a watch.

 

[usarioclave]

It introduces the idea of a game-changing wearable as something familiar to a skeptical public. Ithas a familiar look, modus operandi sales channel, packaging and price range. It's 3D skeumorphism on steroids.

Cellphones did the same thing: a cellphone was nothing like phone, except that allowed you to make phone calls.

I suppose that must be in the Apple new product playbook. The iPhone didn't really look like other phones, but it was sold as a phone+. Which makes sense. People mostly understand new things in relation to the things they already know, so by disguising a product as something old allows you to trojan into their workflow.

 

[Bromeo]

Interesting this has gone on for what, 11 pages now. There are aspects a Rolex and an Apple Watch share in common, and yet things that are also starkly different. I wouldn't be so bold as to predict the imminent demise of Rolex, Apple, or anyone else.

My Rolex now sits in a drawer. I put in on now and then. It's curious... fifteen years perched on my left wrist, and now it sits, the time in stasis at 6:35:53, as they say, right twice a day.

Apple has hooked me with their Watch. The fitness tracking makes me want to get credit for each day, and I love all the other little creature-comforts like setting a kitchen timer using just my voice even as my hands are covered in flour, or seeing that someone important is calling and being able to take the call immediately without running to the phone charging on my home office desk.

Yesterday I noticed when standing out in a parking lot with my colleagues, when the question came up about where to go for lunch, someone asked "Well, what time is it?" I naturally glanced at my watch and said "quarter to three" while my two friends where still digging out their phones, touching the wake button, and confirming that it was true, we would be having a late lunch.

The same goes for other creature comforts. I hope someday to have the watch enable my house to lock/unlock. I have that feature with my phone using the Kevo locks, and now I want it in my watch, too. I can pay for a sandwich with my Watch, and it is very quick to do. I suppose I could pay for a sandwich with my Rolex, but it would be a one-time transaction.

The Rolex is a pretty watch, and so is the Apple Watch in its own way. Functionally, the Rolex doesn't tell time any better than a $19 Timex. Arguably the Apple Watch beats both on network-synced time and automatic time-zone support.

It will be very interesting to see where all this goes in a couple years. None of us really know.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Interesting this has gone on for what, 11 pages now. There are aspects a Rolex and an Apple Watch share in common, and yet things that are also starkly different. I wouldn't be so bold as to predict the imminent demise of Rolex, Apple, or anyone else.

My Rolex now sits in a drawer. I put in on now and then. It's curious... fifteen years perched on my left wrist, and now it sits, the time in stasis at 6:35:53, as they say, right twice a day.

Apple has hooked me with their Watch. The fitness tracking makes me want to get credit for each day, and I love all the other little creature-comforts like setting a kitchen timer using just my voice even as my hands are covered in flour, or seeing that someone important is calling and being able to take the call immediately without running to the phone charging on my home office desk.

Yesterday I noticed when standing out in a parking lot with my colleagues, when the question came up about where to go for lunch, someone asked "Well, what time is it?" I naturally glanced at my watch and said "quarter to three" while my two friends where still digging out their phones, touching the wake button, and confirming that it was true, we would be having a late lunch.

The same goes for other creature comforts. I hope someday to have the watch enable my house to lock/unlock. I have that feature with my phone using the Kevo locks, and now I want it in my watch, too. I can pay for a sandwich with my Watch, and it is very quick to do. I suppose I could pay for a sandwich with my Rolex, but it would be a one-time transaction.

The Rolex is a pretty watch, and so is the Apple Watch in its own way. Functionally, the Rolex doesn't tell time any better than a $19 Timex. Arguably the Apple Watch beats both on network-synced time and automatic time-zone support.

It will be very interesting to see where all this goes in a couple years. None of us really know.

I doubt I'm alone in wanting to ask this but can you post a side by side pic of your Apple watch and Rolex?

 

[Arran]

That's what I thought you would say.

Now you're getting it!

The product changing is irrelevant when I highlight it, but a positive when you give it as a response.

Correct!

(Joking aside, I'm not sure what you're referring to here.)

 

[Arran]

The movements now are very different to the movements produced in the 1960's. Technology applies to watches too and Rolex have not just been selling the same watch for the past 100 years.

But it does seem a tad suspicious that as soon as the apple watch arrives and Joe public starts doing 30-year cost of ownership calculations for both, that Rolex is miraculously able to halve their lifetime servicing costs. What changed?

I think this is the problem. People here casting doubt on mechanical watches don't actually understand them or know enough about them. They are just a watch.

That works both ways. Do you own an Apple watch? I own both. You?

 

[OllyW]

But it does seem a tad suspicious that as soon as the apple watch arrives and Joe public starts doing 30-year cost of ownership calculations for both, that Rolex is miraculously able to halve their lifetime servicing costs. What changed?

I doubt if it was anything to do with the Apple Watch. It's most likely a response to the longer warranty and service intervals offered by rival watchmakers.

 

[Arran]

I doubt I'm alone in wanting to ask this but can you post a side by side pic of your Apple watch and Rolex?

Meaning?

I can relate to his story exactly. Particularly the part about my own beloved automatic Swiss certified chronometer. The watch that hadn't left my wrist for almost three decades is now sitting on my desk with the date and hands frozen at some time in May (or it may even be April?).

That fact shocks and surprises me too, but there it sits nonetheless. Still beautiful, but totally irrelevant now.

 

[Arran]

I doubt if it was anything to do with the Apple Watch. It's most likely a response to the longer warranty and service intervals offered by rival watchmakers.

Well, they're all in the same boat now I guess: Fighting off the disruptive newcomer.

That was a very interesting article BTW. I thought I remembered 2-3 year service intervals back in the 80's and 90's. Thanks!

 

[BillGates1969]

I too own both - a Rolex Datejust and an Apple Watch 42mm SS. Until the Apple watch the Rolex was my 24-7 wear for around 5 and a bit years (I got it for my 40th Birthday ).

Now I find I wear the Apple watch during the day at work and in the evenings or if I go out the Rolex (I also wear it to bed whilst I charge the AW). I wear it not to show off, not to justify the cost, but because the Rolex is a beautiful timepiece.

I couldn't do without the AW as I'm getting more and more used to the features and 'rely' on it to some extent during the day. The Rolex is quite simply a great timepiece and is in my opinion less 'showy' than the AW. They are chalk and cheese. Apple have, like they did with the iPad, created a market that didn't exist (I'm not saying before the AW there were no smart watches, just as there were tablets before the iPad, but Apple have created the 'i want' factor and awareness. Let's face it Apple do try to make out they invented stuff, but whilst it isn't always true, they seem to take an idea and make it work).

So I will keep both. There is a time (no pun intended) and a place for both.

 

[BarracksSi]

I doubt I'm alone in wanting to ask this but can you post a side by side pic of your Apple watch and Rolex?

Not a Rolex (at least not until my wife lets me take a pic of hers), but the brand name starts with an "R":

 

[Arran]

So I will keep both. There is a time (no pun intended) and a place for both.

I intend to keep my old watch also:

1. Too many happy memories.
2. I've certainly got my money's worth from it over the years.
3. I still love it. I love that the engineering is all on a human scale and I can see all the bits inside and understand what they do. As an engineer, it's what attracted me to automatics in the first place. Silicon, while equally breathtaking in its capability, is nothing to look at!

Sadly, I have less desire to wear it now, because I'd miss all the useful the stuff that Apple watch does for me.

 

[zetaplus93]

I own an obscure brand alongside my AW:

Being an enthusiastic owner of both (got my AW on 4/24!), I see a future for both. The mid-range traditional watches will likely be the market that AW and similar products cut into though.