Would 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition ever be collectible?

[iChernov]

Guys, what do you think? Would the one and only real gold product Apple have ever created be collectible? It is rare and hard to find already - no questions asked - but would it also be a collectible piece?

 

[CooperBox]

As a watch collector my immediate thought is "No".
Imho one would be far more prudent to invest a similar sum of money on several other known 'musts' in the watch collectors world. Just for starters what immediately comes to mind is an original Omega Moonwatch cal 321 ST105 012 or ST145 012. After long searches I purchased both some 15 years ago with never a regret. Condition of course is all important, and original documentation where possible for even additional investment potential.
Vintage Rolex Submariners and SeaDwellers should also be mentioned, but I have a personal love-affair with the Omegas, not only for their fascinating Moonwatch history and less bling-bling, but also it's hard to find a more perfectly designed chronometer.

 

[iChernov]

As a watch collector my immediate thought is "No".
Imho one would be far more prudent to invest a similar sum of money on several other known 'musts' in the watch collectors world. Just for starters what immediately comes to mind is an original Omega Moonwatch cal 321 ST105 012 or ST145 012. After long searches I purchased both some 15 years ago with never a regret. Condition of course is all important, and original documentation where possible for even additional investment potential.
Vintage Rolex Submariners and SeaDwellers should also be mentioned, but I have a personal love-affair with the Omegas, not only for their fascinating Moonwatch history and less bling-bling, but also it's hard to find a more perfectly designed chronometer.

Thanks for the valuable reply! Probably I had to formulate myself a bit more correct - I do collect rare Apple hardware, and I consider the Edition Watches the rarest of them all...

 

[CooperBox]

Thanks for the valuable reply! Probably I had to formulate myself a bit more correct - I do collect rare Apple hardware, and I consider the Edition Watches the rarest of them all...

No problem! Like yourself I also collect interesting vintage Macs and refurbish whenever possible.

Fwiw a 20th anniversary Mac (TAM), and Apple Newton 2100 give me more pleasure than any Apple watch could, both with a measure of investment potential, but each to his/her own as they say.
I hope you enjoy your collecting as much as I do. 🙂

 

[iChernov]

No problem! Like yourself I also collect interesting vintage Macs and refurbish whenever possible.

Fwiw a 20th anniversary Mac (TAM), and Apple Newton 2100 give me more pleasure than any Apple watch could, both with a measure of investment potential, but each to his/her own as they say.
I hope you enjoy your collecting as much as I do. 🙂

For sure I do! Interesting, that I do collect limited edition Apple Watches and iPods, and there is ONE piece in every collection missing... (42mm rose gold Watch and Beck's signed iPod). Seems like my collections would never be "complete" 😀

 

[647156]

I would think for an Apple collector (perhaps not a watch collector) it would be of interest given that pretty much all Apple products that didn't sell in large numbers and/or are difficult to find have become collectible - however the price of them won't be anywhere near what they originally cost given the extremely high original price (as is the case even with more reasonably-priced Apple products, though an as-new preferably unused original iPod or iPhone can approach its original purchase price nowadays).

 

[CPark98]

I believe down the road given its notoriety, it will become extremely collectable in the same sense a TAM is collectable. An extravagant, overpriced piece of technology that ended up as a showpiece rather than a blockbuster hit.

 

[mryingster]

I think it was a pointless thing for Apple to sell in the first place. However, I think it will become a collectors piece as time goes on. 10 years down the road, I don't think it would be unreasonable for them to be rare enough that a mint condition could command more than the original price plus inflation.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

That's a tough one - it's already "obsolete" from a computer-hardware perspective, as Apple no longer offers software updates for it; and I'm sure eventually it won't connect to "then-current" iPhones any more, which would make it near-useless other than to display the time.

As a "fashion timepiece" it kind of fails, too, since it's usability will be shot. One thing about high-end watches, they don't stop working just because computer technology has increased.

Then there's the battery. Eventually the battery won't hold a good charge, and it's possible/probable that no good replacements will be available. A big example of this is the "Pebble Time Round" smartwatch. It used a custom battery, and after the Pebble company went under, no replacement batteries are available. So Pebble Time Rounds are starting to fail (hold less than a few hours of battery life,) which makes them effectively useless. (And their software still connects to modern phones.)

So, that leaves only two major "collectible" points - raw gold value, and "important Apple artifact." In raw gold value, it's probably worth far less than the original cost. In "important Apple artifact," I expect it will end up collectible. Although I don't know if it will ever be worth more than its original high sales price. It was almost certainly a very low-production-volume product, and "unusual, expensive, low-production-volume" Apple products tend to become collectible, even if they are somewhat limited in their usefulness. (See Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh.)