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Do you view your Apple Watch as an item of jewellery, or rather just a gadget?

How do you view your Apple Watch?

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The Cockney Rebel

The Cockney Rebel

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 17, 2010
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As per the title.

I know many of you collect and swap bands, regularly.

You also clearly take good care of your watches.

I personally don’t view my Apple Watch merely as a gadget. Maybe that’s because I bought the SS version, which looks a bit more “up market”?

How about you?
 
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My response is different depending on which watch I'm wearing.

My SS gold S8 is 70% jewelry, 30% gadget.
My aluminum S7 blue is 60% jewelry, 40% gadget
My aluminum S8 silver is 10% jewelry, 90% gadget

They all have specific purposes and uses for me. Sorry for the twisted response. 😄
 
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The Cockney Rebel said:
You mean unlocking your Mac?

Is that the only thing you use your watch for?
Click to expand...
No not just that its still a watch bro :D
nah but I always have my stuff on silence so it helps with calls/texts and reminders/meetings etc.
and can’t forget wallet thats prob the most useful part that i feel i would not wanna live without.
 
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Both. My Ultra is my every day watch. With a leather band, this thing goes with everything. My Series 8 is what I wear for golf. It pairs with the sensors in my grips to collect data.
 
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Apple Watch is a tool first and foremost. Once all the electronics die, its value drops considerably until enough of them end up being in landfill and people start to collect them again, just like many 1980s era computers Today.
As such, I don’t buy those expensive versions of basically the same internals. Saves me money on buying other more collectable items such as limited edition items.
 
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I think of it as a watch first. Not necessarily jewelry or a gadget. It's a functional tool that I can use in my everyday life. I've always looked at watches at time instruments, at least for my use case. Now, in IMO there are some mechanical watches that could be classified as "functional jewelry."
 
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95% gadget for me. If it wasn’t $300 extra for a steel case and a sapphire face (which is just too much for so little…) it would probably graduate to 60% jewelry.
 
I’m not sure the term, “gadget,” gets it quite right. Is a laptop a gadget? A car? A screwdriver?

Just considering the car … any idea how many of those are also very significantly fashion statements?

Is a smartphone a mere gadget? I’m not sure how one functions in modern society without one, any more than one would function without access to toilet paper.

Now consider that the Apple Watch unquestionably is functionally superior to early smartphones … and that many of us who wear an Apple Watch use it as our primary smartphone, leaving actual smartphones for media (social and otherwise) and many other things people used to use laptops for (like composing lengthy messages).

The Watch for me is only distantly secondarily for fashion. First and foremost, it’s a tool, a wrist computer, and a shockingly powerful and effective one at that.

b&
 
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The only reason I bought it was 90% fashion and 10% supplement to the most basic functions of my pocket super computer. Which is why I was disappointed that Space black is only offered in the Hermes labeled AW. I wish they'd partner with other luxury brands. Hermes aesthetic isn't the best in my view.
 
mrsmith1 said:
Apart from my wedding ring, I don’t wear jewellery so my Apple Watch is a gadget for me. I love it’s functionality.
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Same here! My wedding ring is my only jewellery. My Watch is primarily a tool, but I do care how it looks so I do take care of it and from time to time change between one of two bands: alpine loop or the midnight ocean band.
 
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mrsmith1 said:
“

I’ve never thought about different bands. Perhaps I should.
Click to expand...
Before I bought my Ultra, I was able to try on different Apple bands. The midnight ocean band was, to me, absolutely the best looking band but not the most comfortable. I did not try on the trail loop because it looked pretty much exactly like the sports loop that I had for my Series 4 watch and I erroneously thought I could easily swap the Series 4 sports loop to the Ultra (more on that later). The next one I tried was the alpine loop which I found comfortable but not that great looking.

So, I did a little splurge. I bought the midnight ocean loop for looks (to match with nicer clothing), and the alpine loop for workout and other daily wear.

The sports loop for the other Series watches do fit the Ultra except in my case, the loop was too long on the Ultra and did not fit me at all. I have small wrists so the sports loop that fits the Series 4 was the S/M size. That size however is too big on the Ultra (the whole thing wraps around more than once on my wrist and the dangling band is a hazard!). So turns out I needed an S size sports loop which of course I wasn't going to buy just because I didn't need yet another ugly though functional band. Yes, I find the sports loop ugly, but it's very comfortable and functional :)
 
Jewelry for more formal occasions since my gold watch is too expensive to wear daily. I wear a Wyze watch daily that has 90+% of the Apple Watch functions for less than $40
 
I’m on 50% gadget, 20% jewelry and 30 just pure watch. You know the thing you have on your wrist that tells you what time it is.

I wish it was more a jewelry. The watch it self is just not very elegant or jewelry-ish. So you can only make it more like a jewelry with a band. I started with cheap sports band which also looks and feels cheap. Now I’m on an aftermarket leather band. But it’s of low quality and doesn’t “patinate” very well. It’s only 2 months old and well…

So looking for a Milano or chain steel band, but the apple originals are ridiculously expensive. Way more than a normal watch.

And it comes with no guarantee that it can be reused on eg series 9 or whatever will come next.

Point being: To score higher on the jewelry scale you need to invest a lot
 
Used to be 50/50, but since I got the AWU to accompany my S7 Hermes:

AW Hermes: 90% Jewellery 10% gadget. Always have a Hermes Leather, Hermes Jumping, Milanese or Steel Link Bracelet on it.
AW Ultra: 40% Jewellery 60% gadget. Normally have a trail loop or Alpine Loop on it.
 
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Piscestg said:
My response is different depending on which watch I'm wearing.

My SS gold S8 is 70% jewelry, 30% gadget.
My aluminum S7 blue is 60% jewelry, 40% gadget
My aluminum S8 silver is 10% jewelry, 90% gadget

They all have specific purposes and uses for me. Sorry for the twisted response. 😄
Click to expand...
why multiple watches? I don't get it
 
mrsmith1 said:
I’ve never thought about different bands. Perhaps I should.
Click to expand...
I recently purchased my first Apple watch, a new SE model. I purchased two bands: a sports loop and a sports band. The sports loop is very very comfortable and it enables me to get a great fit as I am not limited to pre-made holes. I got the sports band for a bit of variety and to use when doing more sporty activities.
 
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