“If anyone could make gold jewelry fashionable to Americans and Europeans, it’s Apple Inc.,” Eddie Van Der Walt reports for Bloomberg.
“U.S., U.K. and Italian demand for baubles made from the metal has been cut in half over the past decade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from the World Gold Council, as shoppers favored white-colored metals such as silver and platinum,” Van Der Walt reports. “Apple’s status as the arbiter of cool means its new $10,000 gold watch and yellow iPhones and MacBooks may entice consumers to buy other gold ornaments, said Neil Meader, a precious metals consultant at Metallis Consulting Ltd.”
“‘If you were to gold plate a Ferrari, it would just end up tacky, but if you use gold in a high-technology product like this, it makes it seem more relevant to the younger customer,’ Scott Thomson, the managing director of Astley Clarke Ltd., which sells jewelry in retailers including Harrods and Selfridges, said by phone from London. ‘This is definitely a positive development,'” Van Der Walt reports. “Popular culture has influenced jewelry fashions in the past. Colored gems got a boost after celebrities such as Kate Middleton, Jessica Simpson and Halle Berry wore engagement rings with sapphires, rubies and emeralds. High-quality emerald prices rose almost 15-fold from 2009 through 2014, according to Gemfields Plc.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Watch Edition doesn’t just make gold cool, it make Apple Watch and Applw Watch Sport cool, too.
Apple is brilliant. These gorgeous 18-karat gold Apple Watch Editions will begin showing up on the wrists of celebrities, famous athletes, and captains of industry very soon. And they will influence the rest of the world to lust after Apple Watch, too. And, here’s more Apple brilliance, unlike a $51,500 Piaget watch, your average Joe and Jane… will actually be able to partake in the same exact user experience with the Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport. — SteveJack, MacDailyNews, March 9, 2015
Related articles:
Apple Watch Edition’s 18-karat gold is twice as hard as standard gold – March 11, 2015
Incensed over the $17,000 Apple Watch Edition? You must be poor – March 9, 2015
Have my 42mm Space Gray WATCH SPORT queued in my Apple Store app for pre-order midnight April 10. 💥😃🚀💵😍😜
I think that will end up being the most popular model by far, in terms of units sold..
Apple’s PR machine does help all of the golden jewellery, that is for sure — simply because people think of gold much more often now thanks to Apple Watch.
However, I am not sure that “cool” is the right word since the price is obviously prohibitive for usual type of “cool” which is not elitist.
So Apple makes gold “cool” not in a way Apple has made iPod cool in the past, but “cool” as owning a Mercedes AMG or a yacht.
I thought anyone wearing an Edition is now being considered an AppleWatch “Douchebag.” It’s really odd how when Apple comes out with something it ends up getting a whole lot of negative connotations. I don’t see why Apple shouldn’t be allowed to introduce upscale products. It’s just another market to go after. To me, it makes more sense for Apple to go further upscale than downscale. There are little profits down at the bottom of the barrel.
I won’t be buying any gold products because I don’t have any interest in jewelry but I certainly don’t begrudge those who do. There are certain cultures who are heavily into gold. I suppose it’s a nice asset to have but for me it’s rather useless. Besides, I don’t fancy being a robbery target on the streets of New York.
I remember a few decades back when gold rope chain-snatching was rampant. I knew quite a few people who did get their chains snatched and it just seemed too dangerous to be flaunting something like that in public. I’ll just wear an AppleWatch Sport and that will be good enough for me.
As one who will NOT be buying a watch but have some investment on physical gold, it would be nice to see anything that drives the price up.
There is a lot of paper gold out there and not as much physical gold. Maybe Apple’s demand can expose the fraud of paper gold.
Shoppers favored white-colored metals? RACISM!!! (I’m being sarcastic, but you know there is some small part of the population who would mean those words seriously.)
Walk into any jewelry store and look at the WHITE gold on display. I assume the author is referring to YELLOW gold and ROSE gold as opposed to the whiter gold alloys. Gold has not lost any market share in the American and European market due to anything other than cost. . . which has forced people to lower cost Sterling Silver jewelry plated with gold called vermeil. . . However most jewelry stores still stock lots of gold. Taste however has been for WHITE gold.
and the 10 year Gold price chart shows an exact opposite chart
http://www.kitco.com/charts/popup/au3650nyb.html