Apple Watch “has just edged out Rolex (and Tag Heuer, Cartier, and Patek Phillippe) to become the most obsessed-over ‘luxury’ watch brand, according to a luxury brand report by analytics company NetBase,” Hannah Ongley reports for Details. “It sounds a bit ridiculous to put the Apple Watch in the same category as tourbillons that frequently fetch over $1 million. Evidently luxury, in this context, is less about price tags and more about the fancy ‘vibe’ conveyed by collaborations with high-end French fashion houses and retail stores run by a former Burberry CEO.”
Ongley reports, “It is the only smartwatch to make the cut.”
“The report measured social media mentions and consumer sentiment from more than 700 million posts between 2014 and 2015,” Ongley reports.
Read more in the full article here.
“Overall, Apple made a strong showing on NetBase’s list, which awarded the overall top spot of best luxury brand to Chanel,” Luke Dormehl reports for Cult of Mac. “Apple as a company came in at #4, while the iPhone was ranked #11, and the Apple Watch came in at #13. The iPad, meanwhile, dropped off the list completely compared to previous years.”
Dormehl reports, “Recently, trendy lifestyle magazine Wallpaper* named the Apple Watch Hermès as 2015’s ‘Life Enhancer of the Year’ in its annual design awards.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: And that’s only in the first year!
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s Angelea Ahrendts makes her mark on Apple Stores by going ‘ultraluxe’ – December 8, 2015
Apple and Hermès collaborate on luxurious Apple Watch Hermès collection – September 10, 2015
Apple Watch is making the luxury watchmakers uncomfortable – May 29, 2015
As Swiss watchmakers dismiss Apple Watch, Swiss National Bank increases Apple holdings by 60 – May 10, 2015
Apple Watch Edition is poised to disrupt the classic Swiss watch – April 16, 2015
Jean-Claude Biver changes his tune, calls Apple Watch ‘a fantastic product, an incredible achievement’ – January 20, 2015
TAG Heuer plans smartwatch as honcho Jean-Claude Biver changes mind as Apple Watch looms – December 16, 2014
Apple Watch starts countdown on face off with Swiss industry – October 31, 2014
The fashion elite crowd around Apple Watch at Colette in Paris – September 30, 2014
Jean-Claude Biver: ‘The Apple Watch cannot compete at all with European watches’ – September 15, 2014
Jean-Claude Biver: Apple Watch ‘too feminine; looks like it was designed by a student in their first trimester’ – September 16, 2014
Barclays: Apple Watch could crush companies like Fossil – September 16, 2014
Jean-Claude Biver: ‘The Apple Watch cannot compete at all with European watches’ – September 15, 2014
Old school watch makers don’t get Apple Watch – September 12, 2014
Apple Watch, the world’s first real smartwatch, will be a massive hit – September 9, 2014
Apple iWatch designer Jony Ive: Switzerland is in deep shit – September 4, 2014
Oh Apple, they just don’t “get” you!
Bet you’llnever know how many Apple watches Apple sold till its a milestone. smart move Apple.
It’s unbelievable what people will pay for a big name luxury watch, so this doesn’t surprise me. But an Apple Watch is a disposable gizmo, just like an iPhone, and anyone who’d pay more than the cost of a basic unit is just throwing away money. Personally I’d put the money into an Omega, something that can be passed down from one generation to the next. And, yes, I think that wearing a real watch will make a comeback.
You may be right. Though….
Why do you pass a watch from one generation to another. There is a perception of value that has been built up….which is eroding now, going back years there was nothing to replace it.
What might happen now is that value of the luxury watch may reduce significantly to the extent that future kids may refuse to wear it saying Dad is just old fashioned.
Just my 2 cents.
You’re right, that’s entirely possible, and that’s a shame. Passing a prized possession from father to son, or mother to daughter, used to be a common thing. Now with the decadent throw away society we live in that tradition might totally disappear. It goes along with a lack of respect for those who came before, and no knowledge of history.
Imagine if the first watch ever was the Apple Watch. Then some idiot came out with one that ONLY told the time. On top of that it was mechanicals.
Hey I got an idea. Let’s replace the iPhone with a gadget that only makes phone calls. Not only that…..lets make it purely mechanicals. It only works if it is connected by a piece of string to the other end. It is a wonderful piece of machinery that you can pass on to your grand kids.
You pathetic, ignorant fuck. Long after your Apple Watch has been melted down by some poor bastard in a third world country, those mechanical watches will still be running. Look up the word “horology” and try to comprehend the concept. Smart watches are just electronic gizmos that also can tell the time, and aren’t watches in the real sense, any more than an iPhone.
Trying to get through to schmucks like you is like trying to teach algebra to a hamster. Now go back to licking your genitals.
And while you’re at it – get off my lawn!
Why so sensitive, so personal. It’s nobody’s fault. We’re just exchanging our ideas, stories and opinions
Passing down a luxury watch that does little more than tell time will be viewed by your grandkids as if you gave them a prized sextant or something. An interesting heirloom, but useless in the days to come in which the wrist space will be too useful and valuable to waste on a mere clock.
“That’s nice, Grandpa, but how do connect it to the net?”
It’s about time a watch does more than just tell time. It’s called a watch for a reason. Watch what? Watch whatever you need to be watching. Myself I do like an old fashion basic watch every now and then. But in the era we’re in with so much, much technology it’s only right to advance the watch too. what do you think
Yes, the first Apple computers were overpriced in many people’s minds and you couldn’t hand them down either. They were just junk too, right?
By definition luxury items are not products purchased by the vast majority of consumers.
The report measured social media mentions? Seriously LMAO.
The Apple Watch is not a watch.
It conveys little or no class, style, or watch design excellence.
It is a gadget. It is a silly gadget that does nothing much except bleep you messages from your iPhone. It is functionally nothing more than an iPhone peripheral.
It’s a chip with a little screen on it.
It is not the sort of thing you’d see a well heeled gentleman wearing.
Maybe a dumb rapper with too much money for his own good. I.e.its bling for Kanye, I suspect if you said the word horology to Kenye he’d think it had to do with the science of how to smack his hoes.
To suggest that this gadget is in any way comparable to the elite traditional instruments from Cartier, Patek, Tag, Rolex, or Omega is simply ridiculous.
What you have here is a situation that might be more akin to when the Hollywood types all thought they needed Priuses to be cool. Now they’re mostly cabs. It in no way equated the Prius to a Mercedes, BMW, Audi, or Aston Martin. It was just a fashion flash in the pan.
I actually agree with you. I love don’t get me wrong, but I also love my Sonic The Hedgehog wristwatch that I got on my 10th birthday in 1992. That little watch reminds me of the good times I had during my childhood. The Apple Watch is cool, but it does not have the nostalgic value my Sonic watch has.
These comments are analogous to an admirer or luxury horse drawn carriages, claiming that the automobile was not a mode of transportation.
When I think of watches, I think of the idea conveyed in this:
World is full of those heirloom items that even they are nice they have very little value except some rare models, and those only for collectors. We tried to sell old taximeters, gramophones, tape decks, LP players, pocket watches, alarm clocks, cashier machines, typewriters, etc. but after they got replaced by new technology nobody wanted them. Wrist watches will be the same, only the most exotic ones will have value, they are a bit like antique coins.
Do yourself a favour and download the Watchville app on your iPad, you won’t believe what kinds of watches there are. As I often hang around in Hong Kong Causeway Bay where there are tons of watch shops, I’ve been asking what’s the future is going to be like. They predict that most watches will be replaced by smart watches and you will start seeing up to 90% discounts on 200-1000USD regular watches to get rid of them. Your wrist will belong to data, not time. Apple Watch will step up interest in regular watches for a little while, but only to remind people that they don’t have much value.
I have my Panerai, Rolex and Rado wristwatches on a shelf but I haven’t used them since I got my Apple Watch. Those rare occasions I would wear them are the ones nobody can’t use any phone device, so now almost every iPhone user has Apple Watch. What is very interesting the announcements come to the AW, so people move around like magic: “Dinner is being served, please go to the dining hall”, “Official program will start in 15 minutes, please find your seats”.