Stats:
Wrist Circumference: 171mm
Width: 57mm
Watch Ordered: 42mm SS w/ black sports band (white ordered as well)
Order placed: 0301 EST
Email Received: 0302 (w/ 4/24 5/8 delivery)
Watches viewed during try on:
SS w/ stainless steel band 42mm
SS w/ brown leather loop 42mm
SS w/ black sports band 42mm
Notes: I am somewhat of a watch guy. I own five automatics and my daily wear is an Omega Speedmaster variant. I greatly appreciate the watches and their history. I consider automatics works of art. I am also an apple guy having owned every iPhone (except the 5c) on day 1. I have numerous other apple products (iPad, MBP, etc.).
The try on experience:
I set up my appointment online. I found it slightly inconvenient that you couldnt set it up through the app store. I also observed that they were only displaying appointments 3 days out. I entered the store and was promptly greeted and referred to another employee who asked what I would like to see. During the try on he did place the watches on my wrist but that was the extent of the personal contact. I read in another try on review that it had been over the top or touchy feely. This wasnt the case for me. I imagine it simply comes down to the individual person assisting you.
The watch:
The watch itself simply plays a demo and is fairly worthless if youve read any of the reviews. I never did get a good feel for the taptic engine as I think it played it almost immediately in the demo loop and wasnt very strong. I found the 42mm to be a great size. Since every other watch I own is 40mm or less I was concerned about this size but it was perfect. If the width of my wrist had been 4-5mm less I would probably have gone with a 38mm. Understand that I lean towards more classic watches. A fan of Panerai sized watches I am not so your mileage may vary. If anything I found the watch just slightly to thick but not enough to dissuade me from buying it. As to be expected the fit and finish are excellent.
1st Watch (SS w/ black sports band):
The band itself was very comfortable more so than my link bracelet on my Omega. I wasnt sure what to expect but found that I liked it quite a bit. The watch does not feel heavy to me at all but again my daily wear watch is significantly heavier. I wouldnt.
2nd Watch (SS w/ link bracelet):
I found this bracelet to be surprisingly light compared to my Omega bracelet. It is clearly high quality and well designed but to light for my taste. I had trouble deciding which band to order and was happy that I did not go for the stainless steel. There will be plenty of people who love it (and understandably so) but I would have liked a little more weight behind it. This may be because of what Im used to wearing.
3rd Watch (SS w/ brown leather loop):
This was my least favorite band. It is not a soft band as you might think but rather fairly hard. The magnets in the band are certainly strong enough for running in or other vigorous activities. I will be curious to see how this wears as the actual leather has to be very thin. I certainly would not order this if you do any sort of manual labor. I had hoped to find a leather band from apple that I liked since I wish to possibly wear this with dress clothes occasionally but it looks like it will be aftermarkets bands for me.
The demo units:
I did play around with one of the demo units for a little while. I found the UI to not be as intuitive as the iPhone or other apple products in general. It will take some time for me to get used to the tap vs. force touch as I found that I often accidentally used force touch when I meant to tap. I imagine this will be a relatively easy adjustment.
There was also some times when I would hit the side button in an expectation that it would function in a similar manner as the one on the iPhone but this is not the case. The digital crown was very nice and functioned like a home button when pushed.
Im not sure that I like their UI design as far as the app display screen goes. I really wish they had a label of some sort. That being said I can certainly see myself appreciating the lack of labels once I learn what each one is by site and space isnt wasted with the labels.
Overall I think most of the reviews are spot on although I did not find them as negative as some made them out to be. The fit and finish on this watch (even for the bands I didnt like) was as high of quality as anything else apple has put out (note: I did not try or even really look at the sport versions). I think that this watch has what it takes to be successful in the long run and Im still happy with my order. I think there will be some growing pains in the UI department but that this will smooth out. I did not notice any real lag although I probably didnt try any processor intensive apps and I imagine that apples wifi helps out in this area. There is certainly an immense amount of potential in the app category.
Wrist Circumference: 171mm
Width: 57mm
Watch Ordered: 42mm SS w/ black sports band (white ordered as well)
Order placed: 0301 EST
Email Received: 0302 (w/ 4/24 5/8 delivery)
Watches viewed during try on:
SS w/ stainless steel band 42mm
SS w/ brown leather loop 42mm
SS w/ black sports band 42mm
Notes: I am somewhat of a watch guy. I own five automatics and my daily wear is an Omega Speedmaster variant. I greatly appreciate the watches and their history. I consider automatics works of art. I am also an apple guy having owned every iPhone (except the 5c) on day 1. I have numerous other apple products (iPad, MBP, etc.).
The try on experience:
I set up my appointment online. I found it slightly inconvenient that you couldnt set it up through the app store. I also observed that they were only displaying appointments 3 days out. I entered the store and was promptly greeted and referred to another employee who asked what I would like to see. During the try on he did place the watches on my wrist but that was the extent of the personal contact. I read in another try on review that it had been over the top or touchy feely. This wasnt the case for me. I imagine it simply comes down to the individual person assisting you.
The watch:
The watch itself simply plays a demo and is fairly worthless if youve read any of the reviews. I never did get a good feel for the taptic engine as I think it played it almost immediately in the demo loop and wasnt very strong. I found the 42mm to be a great size. Since every other watch I own is 40mm or less I was concerned about this size but it was perfect. If the width of my wrist had been 4-5mm less I would probably have gone with a 38mm. Understand that I lean towards more classic watches. A fan of Panerai sized watches I am not so your mileage may vary. If anything I found the watch just slightly to thick but not enough to dissuade me from buying it. As to be expected the fit and finish are excellent.
1st Watch (SS w/ black sports band):
The band itself was very comfortable more so than my link bracelet on my Omega. I wasnt sure what to expect but found that I liked it quite a bit. The watch does not feel heavy to me at all but again my daily wear watch is significantly heavier. I wouldnt.
2nd Watch (SS w/ link bracelet):
I found this bracelet to be surprisingly light compared to my Omega bracelet. It is clearly high quality and well designed but to light for my taste. I had trouble deciding which band to order and was happy that I did not go for the stainless steel. There will be plenty of people who love it (and understandably so) but I would have liked a little more weight behind it. This may be because of what Im used to wearing.
3rd Watch (SS w/ brown leather loop):
This was my least favorite band. It is not a soft band as you might think but rather fairly hard. The magnets in the band are certainly strong enough for running in or other vigorous activities. I will be curious to see how this wears as the actual leather has to be very thin. I certainly would not order this if you do any sort of manual labor. I had hoped to find a leather band from apple that I liked since I wish to possibly wear this with dress clothes occasionally but it looks like it will be aftermarkets bands for me.
The demo units:
I did play around with one of the demo units for a little while. I found the UI to not be as intuitive as the iPhone or other apple products in general. It will take some time for me to get used to the tap vs. force touch as I found that I often accidentally used force touch when I meant to tap. I imagine this will be a relatively easy adjustment.
There was also some times when I would hit the side button in an expectation that it would function in a similar manner as the one on the iPhone but this is not the case. The digital crown was very nice and functioned like a home button when pushed.
Im not sure that I like their UI design as far as the app display screen goes. I really wish they had a label of some sort. That being said I can certainly see myself appreciating the lack of labels once I learn what each one is by site and space isnt wasted with the labels.
Overall I think most of the reviews are spot on although I did not find them as negative as some made them out to be. The fit and finish on this watch (even for the bands I didnt like) was as high of quality as anything else apple has put out (note: I did not try or even really look at the sport versions). I think that this watch has what it takes to be successful in the long run and Im still happy with my order. I think there will be some growing pains in the UI department but that this will smooth out. I did not notice any real lag although I probably didnt try any processor intensive apps and I imagine that apples wifi helps out in this area. There is certainly an immense amount of potential in the app category.
