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This is what it’s like trying on a $10,000 18k gold Apple Watch

Published Apr 10th, 2015 11:56AM EDT
What Is The Apple Watch Edition Like
Image: Apple Inc.

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Chances are you won’t be buying the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition, which is priced starting at $10,000. In fact, the only way many people will experience the Apple Watch Edition will be to make an appointment at their Apple Store to try the device on. Both 9to5Mac and Business Insider have posted first-hand accounts of what it’s like to go into an Apple Store and requesting to see the Apple Watch Edition and they both have very distinct takes on the experience of trying on the device.

DON’T MISS: Watch fanboys bask in the Apple Watch’s glory

We’ll start with 9to5Mac’s account, which was sent in from a reader who went to check out the device at Apple’s flagship store in Berlin. The reader writes that Apple likely needs to do a better job of training its employees on how to deal with Apple Watch Edition customers because they didn’t make him feel “special” enough. As for the watch itself, he said that it felt significantly heftier than other versions of the device and he concluded that he’d likely buy a Sport edition of the Apple Watch at a later date.

 Business Insider U.K.’s Rob Price, meanwhile, also thought went to try on the gold Apple Watch and similarly found the Apple Store employee — or the “helper,” as he puts it — was unprepared to really be of assistance. Price made some fair points about how the Apple Store staff needs to be more knowledgeable but the device but he also very much came off like an entitled upper-class twit.

“I asked if he had the rose gold Edition model with the fluoroelastomer strap — he didn’t know, and had to check the website (they don’t),” he wrote. “These are precisely the details that someone in the market for a luxury watch would be interested in, and you expect a higher level of customer service when you’re shopping for a product that carries a such a huge price tag… He also put the watch on my wrist upside-down at one point, and when it came to putting it away, he couldn’t work out how the box worked.”

He put the watch on your wrist upside down? Egad, how ghastly! We do hope you had a fainting couch handy, old bean!

Even though Price found The Help severely lacking, however, he had some very good things to say about the device itself.

“The devices themselves are fantastic,” he concluded. “The Milanese strap Apple Watch is just lovely, and the fluoroelastomer strap of the Apple Watch Edition feels surprisingly luxurious, despite the fact it is the exact same material utilised in the Apple Watch Sport model. It’s just a shame that the customer service when trying on the Apple Watch Edition left so much to be desired in my experience.”

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.