Apple hasn’t yet announced prices for its 18-karat-gold Apple Watch Edition timepieces, but if you think the top-of-the-range wearable is going to cost anything under $5,000, you’ve got another thing coming.
Greg Koenig, co-founder of Luma Labs, recently performed a calculation to find out an approximate figure for the gold content of the forthcoming 42mm gold Apple Watch. While Koenig notes that his guess is a “very rough estimate,” it still makes for interesting eye-watering (iWatering?) reading.
His guess? 29.16 grams — which translates to $853.82 at today’s gold prices. And that’s without even taking the electronics into account.
Koenig also notes that his estimation is “missing some parts” including the crown, button, strap clasps and molding runners. His model is just an approximation — based on an average wall thickness of 1.15 mm between the thicker structural areas and the thinner sections — but it’s still enough to give some sense of how pricy this device will likely be.
For comparison (also from Koenig’s Twitter), a gold Rolex Sub costs $38,000, with a raw gold value of $4,000. A Tiffany & Co. pendant, meanwhile, costs $,1450, based on just $175 worth of gold. It really is no wonder Apple plans to keep them in safes at Apple Stores.
Hey, at least the rest of us can feel happy with our $349 basic models, while also making our house payments for the rest of 2015!
