The iWatch thread.

[Phong Vu]

How can we pass our watches to our grandchildren then if mechanical watches die off? My brother didn't even want my 3-year-old iPod just because he thought it's too ancient. All digital devices will end up in the trash bin after 3-4 years.

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[TheWalrus]

How can we pass our watches to our grandchildren then if mechanical watches die off? My brother didn't even want my 3-year-old iPod just because he thought it's too ancient. All digital devices will end up in the trash bin after 3-4 years.

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I sense a shift in the marketing department at Patek.

"Look. Just buy our damn watch for yourself. And get buried wearing it. Your kid won't want it. He'll be too busy fiddling with his latest generation iWatch to care. And do you really want to leave any inheritence to someone like that?"

[tony20009]

How can we pass our watches to our grandchildren then if mechanical watches die off? My brother didn't even want my 3-year-old iPod just because he thought it's too ancient. All digital devices will end up in the trash bin after 3-4 years.

There's nothing stopping one from passing them on, regardless of the future popularity and usage of mechanical watches. Lots of folks have antiques that they never use.

As with any antique, they will become more and more scarce -- because many folks will toss them in the trash, toss them into a box forget about them as they sit in an attic or basement, etc. -- and after declining in value, they (digital, mechanical, combo, high end, low end, whatever...) will eventually begin to escalate in value again. The escalation will most likely be relevant for one's grand or great grandchildren but that's beside the point. They can still be bequeathed to one's heirs.

All the best.

No matter how grand an item is in the present, it cannot assert itself above the priorities of human existence. Everything has its day, and eventually the sun will set on that day.
- tony20009

[tony20009]

I sense a shift in the marketing department at Patek.

"Look. Just buy our damn watch for yourself. And get buried wearing it. Your kid won't want it. He'll be too busy fiddling with his latest generation iWatch to care. And do you really want to leave any inheritence to someone like that?"

LOL

[Phong Vu]

Another impact I would think of iWatch is probably the birth of a new kind of communication. The feature where people can send "touches" to each other has so much potentials. It's fast and discreet as people dont even have to look to communicate. With a system similar to Morse code, it would relace SMS easily. It would be wonderful for people who want to gossip in a meeting or in classes :D

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[anaplian]

Robert Cringley (influential tech journalist) on the Apple Watch and the luxury market:

I, Cringely Fear and loathing in Rolex-ville - I, Cringely

[BarracksSi]

I watched the presentation at the Apple store at Tysons Corner. Just prior to it, I stopped by the higher-end watch store (Lenkersdorfer, whose range goes from TAG thru Rolex to PP) for a few minutes to browse near my price range. They got some nice stuff in there.

Then, after the Watch/iPhone announcement, I swung by again, and all the same stuff seemed older. Not less beautifully constructed, mind you, but definitely from another century. I went downstairs and glanced at the Watch Station (fashion watches, mostly Fossil-produced brands) and, instead of just "regular stuff", their offerings suddenly appeared archaic, junky, and possibly irrelevant.

Well-designed tech gear tends to have that effect on older objects. Wristwatches have been around since my grandparents were born; quartz technology is nearly fifty years old. Newson and Ive and their crew got the chance to try an entirely different approach, from software to case design and even the straps themselves, and you can tell that they left the past right where it should be: in the past. It's not the twentieth century anymore.

Oh yes, you're going to see smartwatches everywhere within five or ten years. They'll run several different platforms, and they will dispense with nightly recharging, but you won't be able to swing a dead cat without hitting one. The question every watch manufacturer should be asking themselves (and if they're not, they're idiots) is, which part of the market will be gutted? The entire sub-$1000 range needs to check their retirement accounts, so to speak.

[93EXCivic]

I am in the age group that the Apple watch is supposed to be a big seller in. I am 25 and most of my friends are around that age within a year or two but only one of them has any interest in the Apple Watch and another has any interest in smart watches at all. Most of my friends are engineers and generally interested in technology but there is no interest in smart watches. The lack of ability to use the watch without a phone was a major turnoff for people I have talked to. Several of them are fitness buffs and they like the idea of the fitness apps but don't want to take a smartphone running. Many of them don't wear watches and don't have any interest in wearing one.

Also I post in F71 about what they thought of the Apple watch and there was even less enthusiasm there in the market bracket the Apple Watch is supposed to destroy.

[hantms]

Poll doesn't include my option:

4: No, but I'll get a watch-only watch in the same style as soon as Parnis get around to making one. Gold color please. :)

(Which to be honest may be sooner than the actual Apple one being released.)

[ManMachine]

I am in the age group that the Apple watch is supposed to be a big seller in. I am 25 and most of my friends are around that age within a year or two but only one of them has any interest in the Apple Watch and another has any interest in smart watches at all. Most of my friends are engineers and generally interested in technology but there is no interest in smart watches. The lack of ability to use the watch without a phone was a major turnoff for people I have talked to. Several of them are fitness buffs and they like the idea of the fitness apps but don't want to take a smartphone running. Many of them don't wear watches and don't have any interest in wearing one.

Also I post in F71 about what they thought of the Apple watch and there was even less enthusiasm there in the market bracket the Apple Watch is supposed to destroy.

I'm pretty sure you can take the Apple Watch for a run and record the relevant information, or check the time, without the iPhone tagging along.

As a communication device, it'll need the phone.

Most people have not seen it in person. Reserve judgement until then.