foggyhill

Soli said:

timborama said:

The rotating bezel just makes way more sense.

The rotating bezel is nice, but does a round display over a rectangle for a device who's primary purpose in being "smart" is for quick glances of text? There's a reason why certain things have been made round over the years. With watches, it's because the hands turn in a circle from a center point, not because the design of the arm demands it to be round.

Actually, the main reason was cost, making a round watch was cheaper than making a square one, and also easier to make solid. Stamp out round bit of metal, use a band of metal. Less metal used, less manipulations in metal working.
A lot of early watches were simply pocket watches with a very slight redesign.

But, square and rectangle watches actually were quite popular from 1919 when the first watches to the mid 1930s. At that time, the watch was a luxury item for the rich.
Makes sense since the bracelet has been in existence for ages on the wrist as luxury items and links are squarish.

It's when the army started distributing them to first its aviators, and then during the war to officers, that the watch, the cheaper mass produced design favored by the US military, entered the mass market. Round watches, which had had this large scale diffusion, were seen as the standard watch, a symbol of virile successful manhood, essentially through this marketing.

That's why the square watch mostly survived in women's watch were the military/virile marketing argument held less sway and the original, decorative argument was just as important.

stephanjobs said:

sog35 said:

These are not meant to be fixed by consumers.

Agreed. Although my biggest concern is after having picked up a pair yesterday (they are pretty amazing) is how to get them professionally painted black and still have them working perfectly. 

I seriously can't stand the white q-tip look they remind people of. 

Black is the way to go but a google search only seems to turn up the fake mock ups. 

Anyone know if anyone is doing custom painting on these? 

Once you know what plastic they use, finding how to paint them shouldn't be too hard (using the kind of paint used for models)
The hardest part is probably getting the first coat to stick and maybe taping the places you don't want to paint, probably would need some light sanding.
If you can find out the type of plastic used, you could even test on a piece :-) first.

Making it sure to seal the paint with a finish that withstand the chemicals in sweat is probably the most important (or you'll get some discolorations pretty quick).

I'm a DIY person, but I understand most people don't want to experiment with their new toys :-).