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linkgx1

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
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At what income should you be at to buy an Apple Watch? 1 million annual? I'm always curious (as a broke college kid). What kind of people will buy this and how?

Anyone who is buying the Edition that can give me insight?:D
 
People who have more money than you or I could dream of. $10k is less than a weekend excursion just to get away for some, heck 10k just might be gas to get where they are going.
 
People who have more money than you or I could dream of. $10k is less than a weekend excursion just to get away for some, heck 10k just might be gas to get where they are going.

Yeah, a private plane from LA to NY is in the $10K-$20K range. One night stay in a high end hotel's nicest room can easily be $10K. When you live in a place like LA, it's unbelievable the amount of wealth that is around, and $10K is peanuts. Those that can afford a gold Apple Watch aren't concerned about upgrade cycle, long term value, etc. It's like buying a pair of pants or something, to most of us. No biggie.
 
For most Americans $12,000 would be a big chunk of their yearly income. I doubt I'll run into anyone wearing a gold Apple watch any time soon.
 
At what income should you be at to buy an Apple Watch? 1 million annual? I'm always curious (as a broke college kid). What kind of people will buy this and how?

Anyone who is buying the Edition that can give me insight?:D

Picture someone making a $50,000 salary buying a $500 watch. Not much strain for a single person without a family. Many people on this forum could fit this image.

$10,000 is 20 times $500, and $1,000,000 is 20 times $50,000. So I think $1 million salary is doable.
 
Picture someone making a $50,000 salary buying a $500 watch. Not much strain for a single person without a family. Many people on this forum could fit this image.

$10,000 is 20 times $500, and $1,000,000 is 20 times $50,000. So I think $1 million salary is doable.

In all honesty, I'd think it would be much much more. As you get in to that higher income you have higher expenses. At making $50,000 a $500 watch would be MAJOR purchase. At $1,000,000 $50k is still a lot. If you were making a $1,000,000 living in as $50k a year earner, sure the watch would be doable. But at that money you are living in an expensive house, with an expensive car...$1,000,000 can go quick if you are buying dumb things like a $10,000 watch.
 
In all honesty, I'd think it would be much much more. As you get in to that higher income you have higher expenses. At making $50,000 a $500 watch would be MAJOR purchase. At $1,000,000 $50k is still a lot. If you were making a $1,000,000 living in as $50k a year earner, sure the watch would be doable. But at that money you are living in an expensive house, with an expensive car...$1,000,000 can go quick if you are buying dumb things like a $10,000 watch.

Exactly right!
 
As somone who isn't wealthy, who will buy the Edition Apple Watch?

Actually, buying a $10,000 watch isn't as uncommon as people may think. Rolex alone sells almost a million watches a year, and sell every one, with most dealers having waiting lists for the more popular models. I know people with several Rolex, Pateks, APs all at the same time. Hell, I own 3 now (have bought 9 over the course of the past 12 months), and know people making $50k a year wearing Rolexes.

But, to buy an Apple Watch Edition, which will be basically trash-worthy in 3-5 years, that's going to require someone with much, much higher income, as it's going to be the watch equivalent of throwing $10k away. So I'd say millionaire status is what it'd take to buy this Edition watch and not flinch.
 
It certainly depends on one's interests. Lots of people who don't make a million bucks per year spend $10K on things like jet skis, or whatever. That being said, I agree that the Edition, being somewhat disposable, is probably aimed more at those who are worth 8 figures and up.
 
If you...
a) are an Apple enthusiast
b) are a watch enthusiast
c) are an early adopter gadget freak
d) have a modest lifestyle, relative to your salary

...then I don't think it's a big deal to spend a month's take home on the Edition.
 
Actually, buying a $10,000 watch isn't as uncommon as people may think. Rolex alone sells almost a million watches a year, and sell every one, with most dealers having waiting lists for the more popular models. I know people with several Rolex, Pateks, APs all at the same time. Hell, I own 3 now (have bought 9 over the course of the past 12 months), and know people making $50k a year wearing Rolexes.

But, to buy an Apple Watch Edition, which will be basically trash-worthy in 3-5 years, that's going to require someone with much, much higher income, as it's going to be the watch equivalent of throwing $10k away. So I'd say millionaire status is what it'd take to buy this Edition watch and not flinch.

Sure, but a Rolex you can give to your grandkids. The Apple Logo Watch: Edition will just be worth the gold in it in a few years. The grandkids would laugh at it. Maybe I'm just better with my money, but if I was a millionaire I'd still think twice about a $10k gadget.
 
Most people could afford it if they really wanted it. A car is easily $10k+ and plenty of people, rich and poor, own cars.
 
Sure, but a Rolex you can give to your grandkids. The Apple Logo Watch: Edition will just be worth the gold in it in a few years. The grandkids would laugh at it. Maybe I'm just better with my money, but if I was a millionaire I'd still think twice about a $10k gadget.

Maybe a single millionaire, but what a 30 millionaire? I think that's the difference. There are around 200,000 people in the world that are worth 30 million bucks or more.
 
Most people could afford it if they really wanted it. A car is easily $10k+ and plenty of people, rich and poor, own cars.
Exactly. Buy the 'wrong' $25k car and it will have depreciated by more than the purchase price of an Edition within a year. But I very much doubt that the US car industry is dependent upon millionaires for sales of $25k models.
 
As somone who isn't wealthy, who will buy the Edition Apple Watch?

Sure, but a Rolex you can give to your grandkids. The Apple Logo Watch: Edition will just be worth the gold in it in a few years. The grandkids would laugh at it. Maybe I'm just better with my money, but if I was a millionaire I'd still think twice about a $10k gadget.


That's kind of the point that I was making. People who aren't millionaires can feel confident in buying Rolex (for example), because it's something that, at least historically up to this point, has been something that holds really good value.

But with an Edition watch, that's not going to be the case. It's going to be a $10,000 toy purchase. Exactly the same thing as buying a $10k iPod or iPhone. So that $10k is going to have to be meaningless to the person buying. And that's going to take either really stupid person making 6 digits (who will soon be broke), or someone worth 7-8 figures to whom $10k is insignificant.
 
That's kind of the point that I was making. People who aren't millionaires can feel confident in buying Rolex (for example), because it's something that, at least historically up to this point, has been something that holds really good value.

But with an Edition watch, that's not going to be the case. It's going to be a $10,000 toy purchase. Exactly the same thing as buying a $10k iPod or iPhone. So that $10k is going to have to be meaningless to the person buying. And that's going to take either really stupid person making 6 digits (who will soon be broke), or someone worth 7-8 figures who $10k is insignificant to.

Agreed, although, to be fair, the gold in the Apple Watch will retain some value.

Apple is apparently being tight lipped about upgradability, too, so it may at least be usable for several years. They may also offer a gold Watch trade in program. We'll see, but I do think this is for 8 figure people.
 
In all honesty, I'd think it would be much much more. As you get in to that higher income you have higher expenses. At making $50,000 a $500 watch would be MAJOR purchase. At $1,000,000 $50k is still a lot. If you were making a $1,000,000 living in as $50k a year earner, sure the watch would be doable. But at that money you are living in an expensive house, with an expensive car...$1,000,000 can go quick if you are buying dumb things like a $10,000 watch.

No.
That's NOT how you math!
If they make 20 times more, the expenses are built in to the equation. For example: they can have a 20 times higher car payment, a 20 times higher house payment, & still have 20 times more to buy a watch.
Make sense?
 
So the question is will Apple offer any financing like when you are buying a car at $10k and over?


? Why would they? There's typically no financing with luxury purchases. I've never bought a watch and got any kind of meaningful financing options. Maybe 6-12 months no interest, but that's still a $1000 a month payment. If I can afford an extra $1000 a month payment, but suck at managing my finances enough that I couldn't save up the total purchase price before going in to buy, then I have bigger issues. If I'm looking to buy a $10-12k watch, then I shouldn't be making payments on it. It's a want, not a need.

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Agreed, although, to be fair, the gold in the Apple Watch will retain some value.



Apple is apparently being tight lipped about upgradability, too, so it may at least be usable for several years. They may also offer a gold Watch trade in program. We'll see, but I do think this is for 8 figure people.


It might retain some value, but if you read the patents on the "18K gold" that Apple seems to be using for this watch, it allows them to use almost half the gold that you would normally expect a case of this size and shape. So it might not hold as much value as some would think.
 
The Edition version is aimed at the crowd that would shop at Virtu. Some are already saying that this version of the watch is priced to low because it's at near cost instead of marked up. :eek: shocking I know

Edit: Spelling, name of the company is Vertu here is their website if you want to take a peek. http://www.vertu.com
 
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It might retain some value, but if you read the patents on the "18K gold" that Apple seems to be using for this watch, it allows them to use almost half the gold that you would normally expect a case of this size and shape. So it might not hold as much value as some would think.

That remains to be seen, but, still, I'm talking about at least some value.
 
In all honesty, I'd think it would be much much more. As you get in to that higher income you have higher expenses. At making $50,000 a $500 watch would be MAJOR purchase. At $1,000,000 $50k is still a lot. If you were making a $1,000,000 living in as $50k a year earner, sure the watch would be doable. But at that money you are living in an expensive house, with an expensive car...$1,000,000 can go quick if you are buying dumb things like a $10,000 watch.

Reminds me of the Susan Orman Show.

"I need financial help. I bring in 30K a month. But I'm not sure if I can afford a $3,000 bathroom renovation"

I'm thinking...ok....not sure why you couldn't....

''I have $29000k in monthy expenses and I don't want to give up my vacation home and 5 cars".

X_X.
 
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