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Do you think we'll be able to get the Hermes watch face?

Y

Yixian

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 2, 2007
1,483
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Europe
Without buying the Hermes edition watch?

I really don't like the plain or goofy watch faces that come with watchOS and think it's pretty absurd that we don't have 3rd party faces with OS 2, but the Hermes faces actually look very nice.

Anyone think there'll be some way for us to get hold of them without paying $1000+ for the Hermes edition itself? Whether directly from Apple/Hermes or some other means?
 
No. It's exclusive to the model. But I'm hoping that similar designs sans the Hermes branding will be available soon. I'd like a face design that uses more screen.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
No. It's exclusive to the model. But I'm hoping that similar designs sans the Hermes branding will be available soon. I'd like a face design that uses more screen.
Click to expand...
I am in agreement with this on all levels. Is it that hard to add watch faces that do not interfere with other watch brand faces? Apple can keep the watch faces exclusive to themselves and make a million dollars selling watch faces for .99. I know I would buy more faces. They could also offer the option of designing your own watch faces (similar to app layout) within the Watch app on your phone. Let me control where I place some of the icons and what colors I want. I like the modular face with multi-colors but it can get to be too much color for many. Utility face now allows a few color complications but that's it. All other watch faces are either blank or one color. If I use my photo album to pic a watch face, I would prefer the choice of adding complications. You could then decide on a photo that allows you to be creative with complications/picture for the best layout or maybe even make your watch look like a watch face from another company without violating any trademark.

It's an untapped money make for Apple to start making watch faces available in their store for us Apple Watch customers wanting more faces. Give us more or let us design our own. Once third party complications are available this will be even more useful.
 
I can't think how they will give you access to the face when you buy the strap.
 
Yeah- will this watch run a different version of Watch OS than the rest just to include the specific watch face? I doubt it. Prob be added in 2.01
 
Defender2010 said:
Yeah- will this watch run a different version of Watch OS than the rest just to include the specific watch face? I doubt it. Prob be added in 2.01
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No, it runs exactly the same version, only that the face is unlocked based on the model. That's how it works on all iDevices, including iPhone (e.g., the same software shows a TouchID option only if the iPhone supports it).

It should in theory be possible to jailbreak it. Nobody tried to do this for the dedicated Edition faces with the gold/rose gold-colored features.
 
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Not a chance. The Hermes watch face will be an Apple Watch Hermes exclusive just like the watch face on the Edition.
 
Defender2010 said:
Yeah- will this watch run a different version of Watch OS than the rest just to include the specific watch face? I doubt it. Prob be added in 2.01
Click to expand...

Just like many features in iOS and OS X being hidden and only showing up on specific models. The Hermes will be the only watch to see them without having a separate OS for it. watchOS will see the specific identifier to the Hermes and show the faces.
 
Neo1975 said:
I can't think how they will give you access to the face when you buy the strap.
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You're not buying just the strap, it's a whole watch. The watch has unique Hermes engraving on the back. The Hermes watch faces are only available on these units, I'm assuming by serial number or some form of internal model identifier.
 
BlueMoon63 said:
I am in agreement with this on all levels. Is it that hard to add watch faces that do not interfere with other watch brand faces? Apple can keep the watch faces exclusive to themselves and make a million dollars selling watch faces for .99. I know I would buy more faces. They could also offer the option of designing your own watch faces (similar to app layout) within the Watch app on your phone. Let me control where I place some of the icons and what colors I want.

<snip>

It's an untapped money make for Apple to start making watch faces available in their store for us Apple Watch customers wanting more faces. Give us more or let us design our own. Once third party complications are available this will be even more useful.
Click to expand...

I think it's a lot more likely Apple will do everything in their power to avoid the ridiculous situation that was apparent two weeks after the various Pebble face sites went up. The most craptastic "developer" output in history.
 
Chundles said:
You're not buying just the strap, it's a whole watch. The watch has unique Hermes engraving on the back. The Hermes watch faces are only available on these units, I'm assuming by serial number or some form of internal model identifier.
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What are they odds they'll sell the strap separate down the line? I really like the double-wrap strap and the face, but have no need for the entire watch, engraving or no, as I like my current watch.
 
flur said:
What are they odds they'll sell the strap separate down the line? I really like the double-wrap strap and the face, but have no need for the entire watch, engraving or no, as I like my current watch.
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Slim. Although the unique nature of the Apple Watch replaceable bands does seem to beg for Hermes to sell them individually so that customers can interchange them. Otherwise, Apple is really going to have to step up and allow more than one watch to be paired with an iPhone at a time. But even if they did sell them individually, I'll bet they would be more expensive than just the current price less the $500 watch. So probably cheaper to just buy the watch, which you can easily re-gift with a new $50 Sports band (after all it will still have the Hermes Watch Face).

Does Hermes sell watch bands separately now? If so, the easiest thing in the world is to just buy one of those bands, and install it on some Apple lugs, which is very easy to do.
 
Mac 128 said:
Slim. Although the unique nature of the Apple Watch replaceable bands does seem to beg for Hermes to sell them individually so that customers can interchange them. Otherwise, Apple is really going to have to step up and allow more than one watch to be paired with an iPhone at a time. But even if they did sell them individually, I'll bet they would be more expensive than just the current price less the $500 watch. So probably cheaper to just buy the watch, which you can easily re-gift with a new $50 Sports band (after all it will still have the Hermes Watch Face).

Does Hermes sell watch bands separately now? If so, the easiest thing in the world is to just buy one of those bands, and install it on some Apple lugs, which is very easy to do.
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Yeah, Apple certainly needs to open the option of multiple watches per phone, especially as these newer fashion models become available.

I don't believe the public can technically buy a Hermes watch strap without a watch, although there's probably a way around it, since Hermes watch owners can likely get a replacement for their straps when they wear out.
 
douglasf13 said:
I don't believe the public can technically buy a Hermes watch strap without a watch, although there's probably a way around it, since Hermes watch owners can likely get a replacement for their straps when they wear out.
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If it's anything like special edition vehicles, many auto manufacturers require you to produce the VIN in order to get replacement accessories and parts, including rims made only for those cars.
 
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Apple has allocated out the set of watch faces as Unique IDs, with 2 extra blanks - looks like one for Hermes and another for some other face (are there two Hermes faces, not sure?)

So it's there on your watch running OS 2, but probably not available unless there's a way to JB. I'm sure it's tied to the watches serial or something - high end exclusivity just works like that.

Or, you can run custom Watch faces on your watch with OS 2 and Xcode, so you can just make your own (or donate to encourage someone with the skills to do it).
 
Neo1975 said:
I can't think how they will give you access to the face when you buy the strap.
Click to expand...
The OS already supports this. Edition watches have face options not available to the pedestrian watches. So, whatever mechanism they need to support has been in place with the hardware and OS since the beginning.
 
exxxviii said:
The OS already supports this. Edition watches have face options not available to the pedestrian watches. So, whatever mechanism they need to support has been in place with the hardware and OS since the beginning.
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They do? Which faces?!

Edit: Googled it, Looks like they had same faces but a few additional colors.
 
exxxviii said:
The OS already supports this. Edition watches have face options not available to the pedestrian watches. So, whatever mechanism they need to support has been in place with the hardware and OS since the beginning.
Click to expand...

It must be referencing the serial number of the watch, and installing accordingly. Aside from purchased watch faces, a unique watch identifier would be the only way they could restrict installation of certain watch faces, or options. without jailbreaking it. Unfortunately that means selling a whole watch -- so no Hermes face without the watch and band. It also means that any third party watch face can't be exclusive unless paired with a watch branding deal ... unless the capability exits to chip the bands which can be read by the watch and unlock the appropriate face. That also means the watch face will have to be installed on all watches, but just locked away. Wouldn't be the first time Apple has taken up storage with software a customer didn't want, and couldn't get rid of. But where there's a chip, there's a way to counterfeit it as well ... so I would think Apple would take steps to protect their branding partners.
 
There are a lot of ways they could be doing it... On the watch, it could be a model number, an unpublished sub-model ID, a serial number lookup, and encrypted chip, or some other screwy method. Then, on the OS side, it could be unique versions based on model that get downloaded and loaded, or it could be a unified OS that works for all models but hides certain features based on the watch lookup.
 
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