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Just ordered on Saturday may 9. Got my shipping label today may 11. I'm in so cal and will ship tomorrow to Ryan. I'm excited to see how the process and the product turn out.
 
Yeah, wearing a presumed $10k+ Watch not even in stores is like walking around with $10,000 cash in an open bag.

In the first week, when resale prices were double retail, I was very aware of hiding the watch under a sleeve. Now I'm more comfortable, especially since I have the cheapest 42mm model.

It will be interesting to see what happens crime-wise; iPhones are routinely snatched in London. I suspect that I will be less likely to be targeted, since I'm using the watch for things like directions (rather than walking around with my iPhone in my hand), but wearing the watch also announces to the world that I almost certainly have an iPhone in my pocket.

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They'll cave eventually. For now, I like the SS model. :)

Even if they do cave, Apple will likely charge a lot more for the watch than the cost of a stainless steel watch + 3rd party plating.

I wonder if insurers will cover the watch including the cost of plating. That would be a good alternative to the non-warranty provisions of Applecare+.
 
I guess women should never walk out of the house with wedding rings on.

I don't see the need for the sarcasm, having valuable items visible obviously increases the risk of theft or mugging (as well as loss). It's something that should be considered in relation to any possession, including expensive jewellery (thus celebrities who borrow jewels for events are often accompanied by a minder), and in many cases it makes sense to take out insurance against the item(s).
 
Hi Guys,

I was one of the first customers that opted to try out the new gold plating service that user RianFlynn started. The website is www.watchplate.com. His original post can be viewed here. After his post, he got bombarded with orders and interview requests. But throughout the process he was very informative and kept me up to date. I am sure this will change once his orders increase, the last figure he told me was that he had 100 watch orders. When I first made my order, I was skeptical and worried. But with research and his responses to my questions, it allowed me to feel at ease with his process and final product.

My first issue, and it seems like the biggest concern to most people, was how long the plating will last. Watch Plate does give a replating within the first 30 days, and then charges a flat $199 after the 30 days. I did not want to have to pay an extra $199 to have it replated 5-6 months down the line. What I found was that you wear away 1 micron of gold ever 2 years. Watch Plate puts on 35 microns of gold. That’s 70 years!! Rings and necklaces where you usually see tarnishing and wear only get around .5 microns. Obviously it can last longer with great care.

My second issue was that this was a brand new business. He has experience electroplating fenders and guitars, but jewelry was a new venture. But his willingness to involve me in the process was more than enough to make me realize that he wants to make the perfect item. He has hired a team to perfect the gold, upgraded his equipment so that he could meet his 3 day turnaround, and even kept me up to date for some delays. Just from what he told me, it seemed like a delay was inevitable. It seems like he was expecting to do maybe 1-2 watches a day, instead of the 100 orders he got in the last week. While he may be new to the jewelry business, he is not a new businessman. With his upgrades, he should have no problem fulfilling his orders. I believe he told me his machine can now do 15-20 watches at a time.

My last issue was that the photos on his website seemed to be a bit blurry. I kind of wanted to see how the watch looked in person before ordering. Obviously that is not possible. This is the risk I took of being his first batch of orders. (I was actually order #10) They were actually having a photo shoot the day I got my watch, so new high res photos should be up pretty soon. Along with a shot of the new the Rose Color.

When my watch finally came, I was blown away. It was even better than I had imagined. The BSB works perfectly along side the gold plating. One issue that I had was the digital crown when I first turned it. It stuck a little, but after a few turns, it smoothened out. I don’t know if mine happened to be subject to the sticky digital crown that everyone else is having, but it has not stuck since I first turned it.

In my opinion, Watch Plate is a great option to have that high class look without the price. I own 3 Rolex’s so price was not the issue. I could not justify paying $10,000+ for a watch that might depreciate by a few thousand once the new version comes out. So Watch Plate was the prefect median for me. And its not like its fake spray gold, this is REAL 24k gold they are putting on the watch.


If you guys have any questions or would like a better photo of a different angle, ill try to upload them when I can.

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Their website and photos look so damn good! Now my biggest dilemma...going back to a pebble for the next week.

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I don't see the need for the sarcasm, having valuable items visible obviously increases the risk of theft or mugging (as well as loss). It's something that should be considered in relation to any possession, including expensive jewellery (thus celebrities who borrow jewels for events are often accompanied by a minder), and in many cases it makes sense to take out insurance against the item(s).

I was just pointing out that wearing an apple watch is waaaayyy different than walking around with 10k in cash in an open bag.
 
Yeah, wearing a presumed $10k+ Watch not even in stores is like walking around with $10,000 cash in an open bag.

Its just the same as wearing a $12,500 Rolex that I currently own. If you are worried about that every time you wear something expensive, you are not the targeted demographic. Just like someone said, ladies wear 10k+ wedding/engagement rings all the time. Also, I would rather get mugged a $1000 Apple Watch than a $10,000 Apple Watch. Atleast, for now, we know they really cant reset the Apple Watch without the passcode.
 
Its just the same as wearing a $12,500 Rolex that I currently own. If you are worried about that every time you wear something expensive, you are not the targeted demographic. Just like someone said, ladies wear 10k+ wedding/engagement rings all the time. Also, I would rather get mugged a $1000 Apple Watch than a $10,000 Apple Watch. Atleast, for now, we know they really cant reset the Apple Watch without the passcode.

I suppose the only difference is pretty much anyone who has seen the apple watch linup knows the gold ones are 10K+. If I see a random wedding ring or even a Rolex (myself not being a rolex guy), I couldn't tell you if it was worth $1,000 or $20,000. Apple's prices and models I think are wider know.

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Thanks! I ordered Click too. Hopefully it looks ok with the gold.

I want to use click and a red leather band to mimic the Edition/red modern. If Click was shipping sooner, I would have held out and had them plate it as well... but I didn't want to wait.
 
I saw the video of this online and it really does look slick. However, I have AC+ plus on my watch and I went to a store to see if this VOIDs your warranty. The Genius told me that IT WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY, even with AC+. Even if I was out of warranty after my AppleCare+ expires they still wouldn't able to service my watch for out of pocket expenses. They compared it to someone modifying their iPhone. It doesn't matter what the warranty status was, they will decline service for an unauthorized modification.

For this reason alone, I won't be doing it. First Gen product, probably be issues down the road y'all. :0
 
I saw the video of this online and it really does look slick. However, I have AC+ plus on my watch and I went to a store to see if this VOIDs your warranty. The Genius told me that IT WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY, even with AC+. Even if I was out of warranty after my AppleCare+ expires they still wouldn't able to service my watch for out of pocket expenses. They compared it to someone modifying their iPhone. It doesn't matter what the warranty status was, they will decline service for an unauthorized modification.

For this reason alone, I won't be doing it. First Gen product, probably be issues down the road y'all. :0

I did this fully knowing it will void my warranty. I also know that I will most likely be buying a Gen 2 Apple Watch. If they release an Edition Gen 2, then I might plate it as well. But also, I believe (hope) the plating will actually increase the resale value. I know I won't get all of it, but if I can retain 80-90% it will be great.
 
I was just pointing out that wearing an apple watch is waaaayyy different than walking around with 10k in cash in an open bag.

If that was your point you could have made it thus.

Wearing a gold plated apple watch when the only official gold model costs ~$10k isn't that much different to carrying around said bag of cash. It's a little less conspicuous, not quite as easy to snatch (though substantially easier to 'pick') and more difficult to dispose of. The last point is the primary differentiator.

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I did this fully knowing it will void my warranty. I also know that I will most likely be buying a Gen 2 Apple Watch. If they release an Edition Gen 2, then I might plate it as well. But also, I believe (hope) the plating will actually increase the resale value. I know I won't get all of it, but if I can retain 80-90% it will be great.

The warranty issue is interesting. If you would never consider buying the Edition then the voided warranty is undoubtedly problematic, but if plating is a genuine alternative to the Edition then the voided warranty seems unimportant. Even a defective gold-plated watch will have decent resale value (for spares and repair), so it would take 10 or more defective devices to even approach cost parity with with the Edition.

It would be interesting to analyse it from a legal perspective in the UK too. I'm not convinced that the statutorily implied warranty would be entirely voided by this procedure.
 
While I was in the Apple Store over the weekend I was thinking, what if the gold and rose gold versions on display are actually just plated:rolleyes:
 
The warranty issue has yet to be tested, but I was told during my GB appointment that if any third-party modifications were removed, and the device had not been opened, AC+ is still in effect. AC+'s incidental $80 replacement fee covers everything including driving over the watch with truck, so it seems to me if you really got stuck you could remove the goldplating and exchange the scratched up result (plus a small fee) for a new watch. But as I said, this has yet to be tested and may not fly... They may consider it permanently modified even if the gold itself was scraped off
 
I saw the video of this online and it really does look slick. However, I have AC+ plus on my watch and I went to a store to see if this VOIDs your warranty. The Genius told me that IT WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY, even with AC+. Even if I was out of warranty after my AppleCare+ expires they still wouldn't able to service my watch for out of pocket expenses. They compared it to someone modifying their iPhone. It doesn't matter what the warranty status was, they will decline service for an unauthorized modification.

For this reason alone, I won't be doing it. First Gen product, probably be issues down the road y'all. :0

People considering this service would know not to buy AC+ in the first place and yes, it's a risk they would have to take with voided warranty.

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The warranty issue has yet to be tested, but....

Maybe not with the Watch, but it has indeed been tested with other iDevices.
 
I would be interested to see how it holds up to scratches and such. With the SS you can buff those out. What happens if scratches occur on the gold plated version?? Bound to happen at some point I would think.

My boss is ordering an Apple watch soon and looking into this. I don't wear gold but looks nice
 
I saw the video of this online and it really does look slick. However, I have AC+ plus on my watch and I went to a store to see if this VOIDs your warranty. The Genius told me that IT WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY, even with AC+. Even if I was out of warranty after my AppleCare+ expires they still wouldn't able to service my watch for out of pocket expenses. They compared it to someone modifying their iPhone. It doesn't matter what the warranty status was, they will decline service for an unauthorized modification.

For this reason alone, I won't be doing it. First Gen product, probably be issues down the road y'all. :0

For the out of warranty repairs you could just take a file to it and remove the gold plating. Apple will fix cosmetic damages for the out of warranty fee.
 
For the out of warranty repairs you could just take a file to it and remove the gold plating. Apple will fix cosmetic damages for the out of warranty fee.

Or you can ebay it with a defect and use the proceeds to buy a new one. Bet you someone will bid it up to at least the retail price even with a defect and you'll be left with an unplated watch either way.
 
Or you can ebay it with a defect and use the proceeds to buy a new one. Bet you someone will bid it up to at least the retail price even with a defect and you'll be left with an unplated watch either way.

Exactly. Im thinking that this plating will keep the value of my watch a lot better.
 
Exactly. Im thinking that this plating will keep the value of my watch a lot better.

Just if you put it on ebay make sure you are very clear about the fact that it is a plated watch and not actually an edition, otherwise the buyer might file a claim for it not being as described.
 
Just if you put it on ebay make sure you are very clear about the fact that it is a plated watch and not actually an edition, otherwise the buyer might file a claim for it not being as described.

Oh yea. I am aware of that.
 
Your watch looks great!

I was going to plate my watch until I found out it voids all warranties.
 
I guess women should never walk out of the house with wedding rings on.

Most petty robbers have no clue (nor gemological training) of how to tell a $99 cubic zirconia from a $25k F/VS1. Since their GF, if any, doesn't wear anything even that valuable, they're far more likely to snatch the purse and run, without wasting any time trying to take the (unknown fence value) ring as well.
 
Looks good, but how do we actually know he is using real 24k gold? He should release a video showing what the process is. Also, on the top right side of your watch screen, I see some specs of gold. Can u clean that off? Or is that dust? Thanks
 
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