Original Apple Watch is Now Obsolete, Including $17,000 Gold Model

[Return Zero]

Honestly the jokes are all well-deserved, but at the same time I love that this actually existed. The aftermarket had long before created ridiculous diamond-studded iPhone casings and stuff like that, and Apple said, OK, let's just do it ourselves with this one. This product perfectly represents a lavish, roaring '20's-esque era in technology that may never exist again between environmental scrutiny, post-COVID economics, and other factors. We will look back in 20 years and tell our kids we remember well when Apple made 18k gold watches and genuine leather accessories (probably not mentioning the butterfly keyboards and touchbars, lol).

 

[alexandr]

Wasn't it obvious that I was agreeing with you? Which is why I said ONLY in my health... 🤦‍♂️

Sorry, I was just done replying to someone who wasn't agreeing and you got the end of it)) Forgive me

 

[zorinlynx]

It always seemed absurd to me that the Apple Watch case wasn't designed to allow swapping out the innards to upgrade. Especially at that price.

 

[JosephAW]

That's one of the reasons I don't spent $800 on a watch, I don't want to have to throw it out after five or six years.

 

[Analog Kid]

Probably, I’m not sure some people understand how this isn’t even pocket change to many many people out there. At one of the local universities not far from me it’s common to see kids that attend there cruising around in 300,000 dollar cars their parents bought for them. 17k for a watch is nothing to these people.

If they put the cost of the car into a 5% bond or CD, they'd get $17k a year in interest.

 

[Dormammu]

My sympathies for anyone who purchased one of those. Then again, for those that did I’m guessing money is a non issue.

 

[votdfak]

I used my launch day Series 0 SS 40MM for almost 7 years until Feb 2022.

It was a tank and to this date the screen is scratch free while my Series 7 Titanium has a scratch on the display even though it’s also Sapphire like my Series 0 SS.

Apple would go bankrupt if every Apple customer was like you.

 

[Macalway]

Seems a bit excessive. Then again, 17k is nothing to some people, bess them.

 

[mrbrown]

At $12-$17K, Apple should have offered internal component upgrades for some time. But if you were stupid (and/or rich) enough to buy one of these things, that's on you, I suppose.

 

[triton100]

The $17,000 gold model that they gave away to a few select celebrities and probably sold none of at retail.

Ah I see you’ve never heard of the rich barons of the Middle East

 

[curnalpanic]

If you melted the watch down, how much actual gold do you think you could extract?

Maybe enough to buy an Ultra. So all is not lost.

Assuming the amount of aluminum in the watch (by volume) is the same as the amount of 18-karat gold (which is 5.7 times denser than aluminum), the weight difference (69 g vs. 30 g) should come from replacing 8.3 grams of aluminum with 47.3 grams of gold, out of which 75% or roughly 35 grams is pure gold.

So that might be 2000 dollars worth of gold.

Meanwhile, if you melt down your aluminum watch you get about 2 cents. So the gold actually depreciated less (proportionally speaking)!

 

[rhaezorblue]

The Jony Ive Experience, ladies and gentlemen.

There were only two Apple bigwigs I'm glad left or were let go of Apple. 1: Jony Ive for his rediculous obsession with thinness at the expense of battery life and functionality. 2: Scott Forstal who made iOS icon look chunky with wood grain textures or the similar type. Also remember the Apple Maps launch? Ya.

 

[CalMin]

None of my watches need to be put on a charger, non of them nags me even more than email and text messages and other notifications on my phone and computer do already. Had to change the battery on my Timex once. The others are either solar or self-winding.

Hey look, if it's not for you, it's not for you. I have some self-winding nice dress watches too, but none of them let me answer the phone when I my iPhone is in another room, track my workouts, unlock my MacBook when I sit down to work, find my iPhone when it has slipped between the couch cushions, etc..

It's not for everyone, so you do you.

 

[GeoStructural]

Yep, pretty much. In another 30 years, some joker will auction one of these off for $250K...

…worst, someone will pay for it.

 

[AgeOfSpiracles]

I have one accessory left that came with the solid gold watch and that is the leather charging box that it came with. It’s so nice And still works perfectly.

View attachment 2286712

Wow, I had totally forgotten about the case. That's pretty cool.... I wish I had a use case for it, but I sleep in my watch and really only charge it at my desk for an hour a day. Maybe if I ever decide to buy a fancier "dress" AW, like a Stainless/Titanium/Ceramic in addition to an aluminum workhorse.

 

[AgeOfSpiracles]

Hey look, if it's not for you, it's not for you. I have some self-winding nice dress watches too, but none of them let me answer the phone when I my iPhone is in another room, track my workouts, unlock my MacBook when I sit down to work, find my iPhone when it has slipped between the couch cushions, etc..

It's not for everyone, so you do you.

There's always somebody who comes in to flex about how much more they paid for a watch that does less than an AW. You could almost set your watch by it... (if your's still needs that, of course).

 

[Banglazed]

I would've spent that money to invest and buy some gold bar from Costco or take a long vacation traveling somewhere

 

[HowardLive]

The solid gold Apple Watch was ludicrous from the start. But as long as Vertu phones exist, this will only be the *second* most ridiculous electronic device in my lifetime. 😉

 

[PhillyGuy72]

Welp, at least you can still sell the gold parts for scrap money!

14K purity = $34.37/gram
Apple Watch shows 69g of 14K ( https://support.apple.com/kb/SP737?locale=en_US )

Roughly $2,372.00 in scrap (according to Oct 2nd $1832.73 price of 1 Troy Oz. gold)

 

[Juicy Box]

Well, AW is a piece of technology, a tool, not a piece of jewelry …

Back during it’s launch, the AW was marketed as a fashion accessory rather than a piece of tech.

It was a marketing failure, which is why the marketing changed from fashion to health and fitness.

 

[TheNewLou]

It's too bad AW "Series 0" Edition cannot be retrofit with newer AW components, not even AW Series 3.

One of my friends (works for Apple) gave his wife a Gold Edition with employee discount. It does look more "yellow gold" than stainless gold, but it is not even eligible for battery replacement service, making it largely useless.

It's too bad. Apple could be a real innovator for Climate Action (beyond what they're already doing), and show that technology doesn't have to all be recycling.

As we all know, re-use is better (less waste, less energy) than recycling.

In nine iterations, has the frame of the watch really changed that much, physically? Why not engineer it so that the screen, sensors, & innards could be replaced? Then it might be worth spending extra $$$ for a stainless steel or titanium or ceramic shell.

And better for the planet. And better for your kids.

What a lost opportunity.

 

[lm57400]

The people which paid $17,000 for an Apple Watch don't care much about prices. But for that price you should have received life time service and upgrade options. I never believe the amount of gold in these Apple Watches was worth $17,000.

 

[PhoenixAnhart]

The $17,000 gold model that they gave away to a few select celebrities and probably sold none of at retail.

I feel like this is the reason Jony Ivy got disillusioned and quit Apple (the failure to sell it as a fashion accessory), along with the reaction to the 2016 MacBook Pro.

 

[TokyoKiller]

Apple would go bankrupt if every Apple customer was like you.

Haha. I bought my first one for 50% as an employee at the time and got my Series 7 at F&F pricing with 15% off.

I love them but I don’t upgrade unless there is a need or reason to do so.

Apple Watch has also been a very slow upgrade YOY.

 

[PhoenixAnhart]

Honestly the jokes are all well-deserved, but at the same time I love that this actually existed. The aftermarket had long before created ridiculous diamond-studded iPhone casings and stuff like that, and Apple said, OK, let's just do it ourselves with this one. This product perfectly represents a lavish, roaring '20's-esque era in technology that may never exist again between environmental scrutiny, post-COVID economics, and other factors. We will look back in 20 years and tell our kids we remember well when Apple made 18k gold watches and genuine leather accessories (probably not mentioning the butterfly keyboards and touchbars, lol).

I can't believe you're serious. $1,000, maybe. But $17K? lol