18 carat gold is 75% gold 25% other metal. 24 carat gold is pure gold. The casing of the edition watch will be 100% 18 carat gold.
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High-End 18-Karat Gold Apple Watch Could Cost Up to $1,200
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18 carat gold is 75% gold 25% other metal. 24 carat gold is pure gold. The casing of the edition watch will be 100% 18 carat gold.
Margin
I'm really expecting this luxury edition to have "Beats" level margins. So when the watch expert says the body can be made for $600 and then backs into a $1,200 price from there, I think he is way off base.
This is a GOLD device from Apple. It will be a luxury device. Its target audience is the 1% who live in Dubai and Shanghai. They will buy it and it will be cool and it will be the "best". The price will be part of the point, with a high price just making the watch more exclusive.
I'm really expecting this luxury edition to have "Beats" level margins. So when the watch expert says the body can be made for $600 and then backs into a $1,200 price from there, I think he is way off base.
This is a GOLD device from Apple. It will be a luxury device. Its target audience is the 1% who live in Dubai and Shanghai. They will buy it and it will be cool and it will be the "best". The price will be part of the point, with a high price just making the watch more exclusive.
My guess is 10M watches
- 4M Sports ($350, 1.4B revenues) - CGS $150, gross margin $200, 58%
- 4M Stainless ($450, 1.8B reveneus) - CGS $225, g.m $225, 50%
- 2M Gold ($900, 1.9B revenues) - CGS $450, g.m $450, 50%
- 10M (5.1B in revenues, Average CGS $375, 2.65B G.M , 53%
The mid range could also be proced $500 with the top one being $950 (I think they'll keep it under $1000).
The gross margin would be the highest of all their products, not surprising since accessories usually have higher margins and high fashion items also have higher margins.
If they do these numbers for iteration one, they'll be very happy.
That's not the way advertising works. What they don't say is often as important as what they do say.
Apple is careful in its wording so as to avoid liability. They always tell the truth, but not always the whole truth. Instead, they know that people will fill in information gaps with things that were not actually claimed.
If they had meant twice as hard as the most common 18kt alloys, they would've specifically said so, and even made more noise about it, because that would be a bragging point. Instead they threw in "standard gold" (not "alloy").
It's typical advertising handwaving, counting on most people not knowing about 18kt vs 24kt hardness.
...except they are/were mature products, and even so Apple is gettimg a lot of stick for not updating them. The Pro was at the end of its life (the new Pro, love it or hate it, is a radically different product) and the Mini is either waiting for Broadwell or waiting to die. Wearables are the new sexy thing, and no way will we not be sitting here next year moaning about how the
Watch 2 only has one extra sensor, 20% better battery life and the same old sapphire face rather than the direct neural link, zero-point energy module and single-molecule graphine glass that the rumors suggested...In any case, if I wanted even the ghost of a chance of getting an
Watch for the ages, I'd certainly not buy version 1.0. Sorry, are we talking about the same Steve Jobs who presided over the thirteen flavours of iMac?
Apple hasn't ventured into the jewellery business before. People will be far more concerned about the cosmetics of the Watch than they are about phones or laptops (and some people with more money than sense will doubtless buy several Watches to match their outfits...)
Anyway, there's only really 1 significant technical choice - size - and everything else is cosmetics.
If you want to know what SKU overkill looks like, go try and choose a laptop from Lenovo or someone.
These people have probably never purchased watches in recent years or have never seen the measurements of typical watches on the market.
Nope, just noting the size to whomever it was that said no mechanical automatic sports watches (other than the two specific models noted) were less than 12.5mm thick.
Certainly there should be many sport watches that are thinner but for the most part, they are not.
Panerai: thicker
Most Rolex: thicker
Most Breitlings: thicker
Most hublots: thicker
Not sure how thick APs are but I'm pretty sure most are thicker than the Apple watch.
"...a watch expert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania said that a case the size and shape of the Apple Watch in 18 carat gold would cost about $600 to make."
No it isn't.
I'm also not sure how you thought you could tell how much gold is in it? No real way to tell the size, or it it's merely plated or solid.
Are you an expert?
At least the man who said the 600 dollar figure is basing it on experience; what are you basing your opinion on?
Clearly given the thickness and dimensions, a watch expert can tell how much gold would be used roughly.
Also it has already been said that the watch is solid gold, not plated so you haven't even read the publicly available information.
You're a watch collector but somehow never figured out that gold is an element?
18K gold is three parts gold, one part something else. This is why we can have "white gold" and "rose gold" and everything in between. Gold is always gold-colored. You can't have 24 karat gold that is any color other than gold. Again, gold is an element (Au). 24K is 100% pure gold. My mind is slightly blown right now.
Perhaps. Unless the price of gold goes up, of course-- 18K or otherwise XD
That said, a lot of Limited Edition Apple products with limited runs actually hold and increase their value quite well after a period of time. Though I'm not saying this is a good "investment."
You're a watch collector who's unclear on the definition of "gold" and yet you fail to see the irony in this statement? Lol
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I feel like this deserves multiple upvotes.
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>_> I'm basing it on what he said. I'm deferring to the expert.
How was that not clear?
What good is a $600 case of 18k gold when this thing is no longer a useable product in 4 or 5 years. A $1200 swiss watch will still be a watch 50 years from now. Trying to meld the idea of heirloom quality with electronics is going to be a tough sell. But so long as there are enough people with money to burn, I guess Apple will have a product.
What it needs is a supper low power mode so that once all of the other functions no longer work (with the release of iPhone 12) then you can still use it just as a time piece and have the battery last for weeks.
What it needs is a supper low power mode so that once all of the other functions no longer work (with the release of iPhone 12) then you can still use it just as a time piece and have the battery last for weeks.
Round display is silly. You don't read round books, you don't watch round TV's, round laptops, round mobile phones, desktops and so on. But yeah, it looks nice and it matches the round clock on it.
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You won't because it's almost certain it will get slimmed down.
Exactly. A watch is no longer just a watch. It does so much more. So why have the face stick to the convention of being round because of the hands. Besides, there have been square watch faces for a long time. It certainly works given that 90% of the functions on this watch have nothing to do with time keeping.
Not really. The replacement value on my Submariner is still more than twice what I paid for it 11 years ago. Anything that apple or anyone else does in the wearable tech arena is going to have absolutely no effect on what real watch makers do. I'm pretty confident the
Watch Edition is going to be a niche product at best. The other two lines should do reasonably well, however.And those wondering at the thickness of the
Watch need to go look at a Rolex Deepsea!
In the world of haute horology that's a pittance, assuming the case is solid 18k (not plated or filled). Not saying it is or isn't worth the $1200 Apple may charge, but it's decidedly a bargain compared to, say, a Tag Monaco in the same metal.