Early Apple Watch Edition orders begin shipping with custom delivery times
The first Apple Watch Edition orders should arrive as soon as Saturday, although unlike most Watch models, buyers are being given the option of when they'll have their device delivered, a report noted on Friday.
Throughout the week Edition buyers have started receiving shipping notifications and credit card charges, MacRumors said. Emails sent to the customers ask them to pick a specific delivery time, as long as it fits within courier hours -- for instance excluding major holidays.
The extra attention is due to the cost of the Edition, which uses 18-karat solid gold in its chassis, controls, and some band components. Even the least expensive Edition models are priced at $10,000, and costs can soar as high as $17,000 despite the Edition's functions being no different than those of a $349 Sport.
Many other Watch orders have been shipping since April 24, but until now the earliest preorders of the Edition have still been waiting for delivery. The delay is again presumably because of the use of gold, which requires different manufacturing processes than aluminum or steel, including hand polishing.
The special treatment of Edition customers extends to other areas. Edition try-on appointments are typically longer and segregated from the rest of an Apple Store, and each Edition comes with a unique box that doubles as a charging dock.
Throughout the week Edition buyers have started receiving shipping notifications and credit card charges, MacRumors said. Emails sent to the customers ask them to pick a specific delivery time, as long as it fits within courier hours -- for instance excluding major holidays.
The extra attention is due to the cost of the Edition, which uses 18-karat solid gold in its chassis, controls, and some band components. Even the least expensive Edition models are priced at $10,000, and costs can soar as high as $17,000 despite the Edition's functions being no different than those of a $349 Sport.
Many other Watch orders have been shipping since April 24, but until now the earliest preorders of the Edition have still been waiting for delivery. The delay is again presumably because of the use of gold, which requires different manufacturing processes than aluminum or steel, including hand polishing.
The special treatment of Edition customers extends to other areas. Edition try-on appointments are typically longer and segregated from the rest of an Apple Store, and each Edition comes with a unique box that doubles as a charging dock.
Comments
my friend just got his black SS model with link bracelet. (~$1000)
His charging puck has chrome hilights and his box is square
vs. the all plastic charging puck and elongated box the Sport Ed. ships with.
We could also say '%u2026despite the ROLEX's functions being no different than%u2026"
It's not the functions that raise the price. It's the fact that the Edition is 18karat SOLID GOLD, not gold plate, or gold colored, or sorta looks like gold. 18k gold is a heck of a lot more expensive by weight than aluminum or stainless steel. Roger Fingass, stop denigrating something you know nothing about, or are you purposely trying to show yourself to be an a$$.
The late delivery could also be Apple wanting to have had the Watch in the field for a while to work out any issues. And now that there's been a software update to correct issues they did find, it's time now to deliver the Gold models. This makes a lot of sense, I think, as you do not want you highest paying customers running into early-release problems.
I found this today on YouTube. Looks like they already arrived! 18K Gold to boot..
Beat me to it. "costs can soar as high as $17,000 despite the Edition's functions being no different than those of a $349 Sport"
...could say the same regarding a gold Rolex vs steel -- the case material doesn't change the functional aspects of the watch. so any troll who complains of that doesn't know what they're talking about.
"Experts" have estimated that the Edition contains no more than about $2,000 worth of gold on the high side. So that's not the reason, any more than it is for a gold Rolex over a stainless one, though Rolex probably incorporates a lot more gold than Apple. http://leancrew.com/all-this/2015/03/apple-gold/
The reason it costs more is because of the substantial additional engineering put into the gold model, patented custom alloys and hand finishing, while being manufactured in a LIMITED edition (possibly even taking the regular tooling machines offline while the gold editions are crafted) ... thus unable to make up the additional R&D manufacturing costs by volume sales. So Edition customers are paying for the privilidge to buy an exclusive product. It's the same reason a limited edition print costs more than the poster of the same work of art.
My regular SS, which arrived on April 24, also came in a 'square box' (actually, a cube) and the chrome highlighted puck.
I wonder if the Edition watches come with color coordinated charging cradles, in gold or, as a minimum, yellow gold or rose gold anodized aluminum????
Disregard. Just saw the unpacking video. Charging cable(s?) is much different than the one for the sport and the 'jewelers box' doubles as the cahrging cradle. Nice touch, even if not a gold cradle. Hard ot tell from the video if the charging puck is plastic, steel embellished, or gold toned. Does anyone know for certain?
My experience with gold and my knowledge of Apple leads to two conclusions. Apple is paying the best prices available for its gold. The price of gold has almost nothing to do with the price differential between the Sport and the Edition.
The notion that the Edition is so much more expensive than the Sport or the SS ?Watch is due to engineering is laughable. I don't yet have my Watch, but all credible reports allow no other assessment than that all ?Watches are superbly engineered. The miracle Watch material is not gold, it is aluminum. Human beings have worked with gold for thousands of years. Aluminum was first isolated in 1825--just 190 years ago. I am aware of no previous use of aluminum as a watch material before the Sport.
As for polishing, again that is ridiculous. The workers building Watches are very low paid Chinese factory workers. You make it sound as though each Watch is hand polished by Queen Elizabeth.
The reason that ?Watches cost what they cost is the same reason that other manufacturers charge as much as $350,000 for their watches. You simply can't justify as the same price as a Rolls Royce sedan for a watch using the costs of materials, engineering, and promotion. The prices are what they are because these are the prices that the market expects.