The first Apple Watch was released almost 10 years ago, and one particular model still sells at a high price (????): the Apple Watch Edition. In 2015, Apple actually offered a solid gold variant, selling for several tens of thousands of euros. And in 2024, even if the watch is technically obsolete, it remains sought after by collectors.
The case of the Apple Watch remains special: the first model has not exceeded watchOS 4.3.2, but it remains usable in 2024. The watch continues to tell the time, its applications work and it is still possible to synchronize it with a modern iPhone. But on the other hand, it is (very) slow and modern additions to watchOS are obviously absent.
This is perhaps what makes some customers tick the most: a basic Apple Watch, with its aluminum case, offered the same functions as the gold version. And both are obsolete in the same way: the hardware platform is identical.
Apple shipped different bands with the Apple Watch Edition, and they all contained gold, like the watch. Officially, there is no such thing as a gold link bracelet, but Apple provided some to a few celebrities in April 2015, when the Apple Watch was launched. Beyoncé and Karl Lagerfeld were among the lucky ones.
In absolute terms, it was not necessarily a good investment: even if some try to sell the Apple Watch Edition more expensive than when it was launched (it was worth €11,000 to €18,000), the ads are usually a little lower all the same and they don’t necessarily find buyers.
Accessories are not left out: from time to time we find Sports bracelets with the gold stud, or a leather bracelet for Apple Watch Edition. They sometimes go for quite high prices, even though the risks of scams are quite significant. Likewise, the exclusive charger of this model, a storage case which integrates a charger and a Lightning socket, sometimes reaches quite high prices ($300 €400).
Finally, we must be wary of a model even rarer than the Apple Watch Edition: its demonstration variant offered in Apple Stores. While the classic version is 18k gold, this variant is just gold plated. What’s more, while the Apple Watch Edition (like the steel variant) has a sapphire window, the one intended for Apple Stores has a glass window. The reason is purely marketing: the glass window offers higher transparency than sapphire, and therefore a better image on the watch screen.
