It was always going to cost a lot of money, but the news that Apple would be charging £8,000 for the gold 'Edition' model still made tech editors across the land spit out their Mountain Dew. That's not just a lot of money for a smartwatch, it's a lot of money for any watch. Even a really, really nice one.
Apple says that numbers will be strictly limited. At that price, yes, they will be. People who will buy one will inevitably include 50 Cent, Kanye West, Kanye West's kid, Kanye West's wife, Justin Bieber and some other musicians. Apple didn't say how limited though, and there's a good chance that all footballers in the UK will also get one.
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But it's never going to be a wise purchase - hence the likely interest from rappers and footballers - because it will simply not last forever. Or even very long. Even if you spend £100 on a watch, you're going to be mightily annoyed if it ends up being near-useless after two or three years. And it's hard to see how Apple is going to get around this.
For one thing, the batteries in these devices aren't going to last forever, and will cost a fortune to replace on their own. And those batteries won't be produced forever either, so sooner or later the watch will just be a lump of gold worth £800.
So, you've got loads of cash and you want a watch - can we suggest you just go for an Omega Seamaster Pro. Those cost about £2,800 and look stunning. They'll also last 100 years (possibly) and will retain their value, and possibly even go up as time goes on.
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If you want to spend close to Apple's high price then the Rolex Daytona, which costs £7,690, is a good choice. If you're a lady, then great news, you can get the Lady Datejust for just £6,660. A smashing price, for a beautiful watch.
Also, if you're not in the market for an £8,000 watch, you can buy a brand new car for the same money. Check out the Suzuki Alto 1.0 SZ if you fancy having something that will both last longer, and be more useful for going shopping than the new Apple Watch Edition.
