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High-End 18-Karat Gold Apple Watch Could Cost Up to $1,200

peterdevries said:
Buying a Rolex is a bit different than an Apple Watch. An Apple Watch dies after about 10 years. A rolex runs for 100 years at least.
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Well, nobody knows how long the Apple Watch will last. I'll bet most rolexes get lost before they hit 100 years.

Both of them say "I'm richer than most," which is what's important here.

I suspect that in the watch food chain, Rolex is equivalent to Bose in the audio food chain: overpriced mass-market dressed-up dreck.
 
This is a problem

This is a problem with "high-end" technology devices. The technology improves so fast that the "really nice" chassis you paid for is severely depreciated by the outdated electronics.

From the reviews i have seen, watch guys are saying that the apple watch is built as nice if not better than other watches in it's price range ($350)

HOWEVER; those other nicely built $350 watches are good for a LIFETIME. and while apple's watch appears that it too will "last" for a lifetime, it will NOT be USEFUL for a lifetime, it will be outdated in just a few years...

I'm not sure how apple is going to rectify this...
 
nope7308 said:
Congrats, but this isn't a sport watch. It's the "Edition". If someone is going to drop over 1k on a gold watch, they probably want the ability to wear it with formal attire :rolleyes:
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Come on mate.
The edition is an interesting looking smart watch not a dress watch.
Are you really going to wear this thing to a formal event with its silly emoticons and notifications?
12.5mm probably can fit under the shirt for some people as well.
Nobody wearing a cuff link will be wearing this with one.
 
1. Red and gold is ugly

2. it's silly to buy an expensive piece of jewelry that will become obsolete.

And old rolex still serves it's original purpose.. this won't.
 
charlituna said:
i won't be shocked if it actually turns out to be less. Folks were saying the iPad would be at least $800 and it was almost half that.

so if this 'high end' watch turns out to be say $800-900 I am not going to be surprised.
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The iPad is like $929 I think.
 
Jvanleuvan said:
This is a problem with "high-end" technology devices. The technology improves so fast that the "really nice" chassis you paid for is severely depreciated by the outdated electronics.

From the reviews i have seen, watch guys are saying that the apple watch is built as nice if not better than other watches in it's price range ($350)

HOWEVER; those other nicely built $350 watches are good for a LIFETIME. and while apple's watch appears that it too will "last" for a lifetime, it will NOT be USEFUL for a lifetime, it will be outdated in just a few years...

I'm not sure how apple is going to rectify this...
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No $350 watch will last you a lifetime except maybe a gshock that will need new batteries every five years.
 
Moonlight said:
So, Strengthened Ion X glass, a Composite back (instead of ceramic), and lighter 7000 series aluminum are cheaper materials?

The band doesn't count because you can get the sort band for the regular watch.
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I'm pretty sure they are cheaper.
 
Wow, only $1,200 for 18K Gold...not bad at all! That's actually pretty damn cheap!
 
mbh said:
Maybe Apple will have a trade-in program to recapture some of that gold. Offer a reasonable amount off the next version upon surrendering your old watch and that takes the sting out of the upgrade. Gold is gold. They're going to need to buy gold for the new cases from somewhere anyway.
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You know.... This might actually make some sense... :cool:
 
usarioclave said:
Well, nobody knows how long the Apple Watch will last. I'll bet most rolexes get lost before they hit 100 years.



Both of them say "I'm richer than most," which is what's important here.



I suspect that in the watch food chain, Rolex is equivalent to Bose in the audio food chain: overpriced mass-market dressed-up dreck.
Click to expand...


Wrong.
Rolex is like a Porsche; reliable robust sport watches without the fuss of a true high end watch (Ferrari, Lamborghini, rolls Royce and bentleys would be the true high end cars).
 
Woodcrest64 said:
BOOM! Going to be super expensive Christmas this year! 4 Gold watches (2 for the kids who are 1 and 2 years old, one each for the wife and I, 4 new 128gb iPhone 6 Pluses, 4 new iPads and 2 new iMacs and 2 new MacBooks. Damn. :D

Image

Image

Wait a min... where did third kid come from!! :eek:
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I want to know the story behind these pictures. xD
 
Andrei90 said:
The iPad is like $929 I think.
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At the highest yes. But before it was originally announced the experts all said it would start at that amount and go even higher.

When they announced it would start at $499 you could almost hear the collective WTF from the analysts that simply couldn't believe what they were hearing.
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
People offload $3K macbooks all the time for the newer version.



Much of the value if a year-old Apple anything is any indication.
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Most people buy new MacBooks every 3-5 years … at the very least.

The type of person to spend $1K+ on a watch will upgrade every year. The rest of us will buy the cheapest one.
 
TheLisnakFactor said:
I agree. I highly doubt this thing is anywhere close to pure gold. It's def an alloy or plated. Plated is cheap - always is. An alloy would explain the comments about twice as hard. Either way I think your math kind of sums it up - not going to be solid gold.
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It's probably using the PVD coating which makes it a lot stronger and it's sputtering a VERY fine amount of gold with Titanium Nitride, but they sputter enough gold to be able to market it as gold plated.

The PVD coating systems are ion bonding and they use a magnetron. You know what a magnetron is? It's something that screws up a Greko. (just a little joking around).

All kidding aside, there are companies that make PD coating machine that sputter gold with titanium nitride or whatever they are using and it's super durable, a lot cheaper and a thinner coating. They just have to polish the crap out of the stainless steel first to make it look good as it takes on the surface of whatever you are coating.

Do some research on gold sputtering with PVD technology. It's cool stuff.
 
nope7308 said:
I have a manual wind mechanical watch with a power reserve complication and that is only 6.6mm thick.

The Apple Watch is so thick you can't fit it under a cuff. That's a pretty horrendous oversight for any watch collector.
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Obviously, a non-automatic mechanical dress watch is going to be thin. The point is that automatic sport watches are very popular, even with suits, and 12.5mm isn't all super thick in that world.

We'd all love this thing to be 5mm thick, but it's not realistic, and lots of people are already used to wearing something like a 12.5mm Submariner with a suit, so it's not THAT big of a deal. Please, a couple of millimeters of that depth is from the sensor on the back, which kind of embeds into the wrist when worn.
 
Hieveryone said:
I'm a guy but I'm going to buy one. What's wrong with wearing a gold watch? I love it.
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If I decide to get the Apple Watch, I'll at least get the Stainless steel model, if the Gold isn't too much more I might spring for the Gold. I don't like Rose Gold, I think that looks a little too feminine, but 18k Gold is cool.

It would be cool if they had Platinum, that would be cool.
 
I can't think of a solid gold, 18K watch less than $3K new. If the EDITION model is solid and only $1200, I'd be amazed, unless there just isn't much metal in the watch.
 
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