Yeah people dig their Apple stuff lol. Even iPhone cardboard boxes sell pretty decently (or used to back when I sold stuff semi often haha).I see your point. But for me, I own multiple Apple Watches and the plastic box is really nice to have for traveling and protecting the Watch when not in use. Ironically, these plastic boxes sell for a minimun of $20.00 on eBay in the past. The one thing I like about them, is they're very well made and I also converted one into a Charging dock.
There was a similar complaint about EarPods cases (not saying it’s the same thing but some folks were upset), though that’s one of those things that everyone with an iPhone probably has a few dozen of lol.
Personally I’m more bummed about the shortened cord, though I don’t buy stainless steel inless it’s at a steal (last year I upgraded my wife since Best Buy had them for something like $250 and was able to sell her aluminum watch for slightly less). It even had the original firmware on it so that had been sitting for the whole year!
I agree it’s a nice case but I can also very much get behind the end result of less waste overall. Now if they could just sell watches without straps pre packaged in I’d be set.