

Apple Watch gold plating for $399 with a 3-day turnaround - rohanaurora
http://www.watchplate.com/#our-story-1-alex

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Involute
Or, much cheaper and a 4-hour turnaround:
[https://youtu.be/MMF9I_9DAcs](https://youtu.be/MMF9I_9DAcs).

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malandrew
I was really hoping for a really nerdy video explaining how to electroplate an
Apple Watch. Just masking off and spray painting the phone was disappointing.

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kaolinite
Whilst there's nothing _really_ wrong with gold plating an Apple Watch, to me
it feels on par with wearing a fake Rolex.

The difference is, whilst a Rolex is reasonably affordable, the Edition is
clearly out of the price range of most people - so wearing something like this
will be _so_ obvious.

However, I would love to see some companies coming up with custom Apple
watches. Not to make them look more expensive, just to make them look
different. For the first time, I might actually buy a customised Apple product
if it weren't too expensive (maybe a wooden Apple watch case might look nice,
for example.) We'll definitely see this with custom bands (really looking
forward to that) but it'd be cool to see new watch bodies too.

As an aside, whilst I understand (and mostly approve of) the reasoning behind
Edition, it's a shame that the only gold Apple watch is so expensive. I wish
that Apple had created a gold coloured watch in addition to the solid gold
Edition - similar to how many watch companies produce the same watch in
stainless steel and white gold or platinum. Or how watch companies sometimes
put a diamond on the back of the watch but none on the front.

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theluketaylor
How much do you think Rolex's cost? Submariner, Explorer II, and Datejust
(very classic go-to Rolex models) are about $7000-$8000. Daytona chronographs
start at around $10,000. And that's just for stainless steel. Gold Rolex
watches are much, much more.

Apple Watch Edition is actually one of the cheapest solid gold watches out
there

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kaolinite
I think you misread my comment. I wasn't comparing Edition with a gold Rolex,
just a low-end (perhaps second hand) stainless steel Explorer / AirKing / etc.
If you see someone wearing a fake stainless steel Rolex, there's a genuine
possibility that it's real (assuming you can't tell it's fake). But with
Edition, the chance of it being real is pretty low. Thus, wearing a gold
plated Apple Watch is pretty obvious.

I'm well aware of the costs of a Rolex (and most watch brands, I'm a watch
enthusiast). You can pick up a Rolex for a few thousand pounds in Britain.
New, they start at around £4000ish. Gold watches in general cost a lot more,
especially if they have a gold link bracelet, and you're right that Edition is
priced fairly competitively.

A stainless steel Rolex is, whilst quite a bit of money, affordable if you
decide that you want it. I don't live in a major city and yet I'll still see a
few on the wrists of people if I take a trip around town. Edition, however,
would be quite a sighting - similar (in terms of required wealth), in my
opinion, to seeing a complicated Patek on a wrist. (Whilst the prices are
different, I'm saying this because of the upgrade issue, i.e. a £100K Patek
will last many lifetimes, a gold Edition will be useless in less than 5
years).

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gonzo
I own a stainless Datejust (Rolex). The MetaWatch people gave me several (10+)
of various models of their watches. I wear neither, and have no plans on an
Apple Watch.

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guelo
If you're merely well off you too can pretend to be an obnoxiously rich
douchebag!

~~~
Dylan16807
When did using a different color metal become 'obnoxious'?

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dserkin
easy business! it reminds me fake rolex thing ...

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msoad
It's a nice offer but I wonder how people should trust them with their
watches?

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kleer001
I think it's a clause in the universal customer-business law that says "I want
to pay what you're asking just as much as you want to give me the thing I'm
paying for. My purchase and good will is more valuable to you than a series of
thefts."

That's not written down anywhere except the over-arching idiom, metaphor, very
ground of the relationship. Is the kind of relationship that can slippery
slide into parasitism. And therefor I think extant in many sentient species.
Great apes, many primates, birds, cephelopods maybe even.

I think it's a reflection of a few basic strategy for living in the world, in
a world with limited resources, trust and exchange.

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kev6168
My bold prediction about the whole Apple Watch phenomena:

 __It will be a big bust.__ After the initial hype, not many adults would want
to wear it.

This might upset some people (Apple fans?). But now, let's build a mental
image together: one day, in the middle of a meeting at your work place, many
of your colleagues rest their hands on the conference table (either using a
tablet/phone/laptop, or holding papers). You raise your head and glance over
the whole room, and you see there are so many Apple watches out there. They
look the same, blink the same way, sound the same. The square-ish shape
becomes kind of tiring and stupid, simply because you've seem them everywhere.
They are really out there. A funny idea pops up in your mind: is this a
robotic, dull and weird picture or what?

Watches are not like mobile phones, in terms of personal touches. Adults use
phones mostly for their practical functions, and phones can be kept out of
sight. Watches are different. Nowadays they are mostly for
images/styles/personalities/fun, so, do you want to wear the same watch as
everybody else and appear so average?

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sytelus
I've been wearing watch for its _utility_ for more than a decade. My watch
(Casio ProTrek PRW-3000-1) has compass, altimeter, world time, sunrset times,
alarms and so on. This watch is extremely robust in bad weather or even under
water. It self-charges itself (it doesn't even has any external way to charge
it). Sure, I've smartphone usually with me but ability to look up time in
split second with a slight turn of wrist is valuable. But the more important
is all these tools and reliability that they are available to me in all kind
of weather, places and without need to worry about charging it. Now let me
also make it clear that I do question this way of life where time matters so
much. However that's different discussion and until conclusion arrives, watch
is pretty useful tool.

If I'd all these features available in Apple Watch then I would buy it in
heart beat. I can imagine several apps that would be super useful. However
price tag is way too high and it needs charging _every day_. I think Apple
Watch isn't going to be smashing success right now but given their investment
levels, they might continue produce next versions that gets better and better
and hopefully cheaper. It's important to remember that iPhone 1 wasn't
smashing success either when it first came out given it's price tag and less
powerful batteries.

~~~
kev6168
I totally believe that your watch have served you extremely well, but dare I
say you are in a minority in term of _normal_ daily life usage of watches. I
don't know about you, but weekends/hiking trip/gym are a small part of my
waking time. These things ("bad weather", "under water", "to look up time in
split second", "all kind of weather", etc.) are the least I am concerned with.
Instead I am interested in dressing(including small personal items) with a
little personal touch, a little bit different. If so many people around you
wear a Casio ProTrek PRW-3000-1, that's a silly situation, isn't it?

I feel the functions of watches you mentioned can be easily performed by a
mid-range phone, and can be done better with a phone in terms of
configurations/flexibilities/features with a few apps here and there. So I
think with the prevalence of mobile phone, people put less and less emphasis
on utilities when shopping and wearing a watch.

My silly prediction is not about doubting Apple watch's dazzling new
utilities. It's about people's need for individuality/differentiations/style,
especially adults, they want and can often afford to wear different things
than the next person in the office.

