There has been a lot of talk about the Apple Watch following its presentation on Monday 9 March 2015, and in particular about the 18-carat gold Apple Watch Edition whose price starts at $10,000. At first sight, that sort of price puts it into the luxury product bracket, where Apple would like to be.

Photo courtesy of Apple

The cable makes it just a tool

I have already written about the interesting features of the Apple Watch (back then I was still calling it an iWatch), and there are many positive points. Even the Swiss brands are starting to take note and making their own versions of smart watches. But there is one negative factor that, in my opinion, makes the Apple Watch not a luxury product and just a tool, and that is the cable and charger that you’ll have to connect at least every 18 hours and perhaps even more frequently when the stamina of the battery begins to drop. A mechanical watch is special because in its automatic version, it will go on doing its job day in, day out, for years, even decades, without having to be plugged in and recharged. In the hand-wound format, you have to wind it yourself at intervals ranging from a minimum of about a day and a half to up to eight days or more. A little ritual that for many watch lovers becomes a pleasure.

Photo courtesy of Apple

Not a dream

It’s this little miracle, of functioning anywhere and any time, all the time, that gives a mechanical watch an aura of a dream (in my opinion of course), and it’s this that the Apple Watch will never be able to tap into. A mechanical watch can accompany you into the wild, on your hikes or treks or swims or safaris, and it relentlessly keeps going. You’re going to have to leave the gold Apple Watch at home. And even in ordinary life, you’re going to have to be looking for places to charge the thing up, wondering whether it’s safe where you’ve put it while it absorbs enough current to see you through to your house or hotel. Switzerland can sleep easy.