First Impressions: The Apple Watch

Yesterday morning Mandy and I took a trip to the Apple Store in SoHo (NYC). The purpose of this mission? Try on the Apple Watch, of course. We walk into the store, smiles beaming on our faces, and I excitedly tell the front door associate that we’re here for our watch try on appointment. He brings us over to a fitting table where another Apple associate begins to help us.

“We want to try on what we ordered!” I exclaim. “I got the 42mm stainless steel watch with the white sport band and an additional band, the Milanese loop. And she [Mandy] got the 38mm stainless steel watch with the pink modern buckle.”

The associate opens a drawer and pulls out two Apple Watches, the 38mm stainless steel with pink modern buckle and a 38mm aluminum with black sport band. “But I got the 42mm stainless steel with the white sport band,” I say. Turns out they don’t have every single combination available for try on. Oh well. Black or white, it’s still made from the same material, which is extremely comfortable. “This will be perfect for exercise,” I think to myself.

The aluminum Apple Watch is extremely lightweight, it literally didn’t feel like something was on my wrist. The same couldn’t be said for the stainless steel with the Milanese loop, which left me to wonder what the stainless steel Apple Watch with a sport band will feel like. I guess I’ll have to wait to find out.

Meanwhile, a few inches away, Mandy is getting her watch put on her wrist. It looks amazing. The pink modern buckle is elegant and really easy to put on and take off (don’t worry, it’ll stay on your wrist). The color pink isn’t obnoxious either, it’s a subtle pink and I think that adds to the elegance. Mandy agrees.

“It’s a lot less chunky than it looks in the pictures online,” I say. “Yeah, it really is,” Mandy agrees. Honestly, based on the photos on the Apple website you would think it’s a lot bulkier than it actually is. When I saw the photos it looked very “first-gen” if you get what I mean. In person, I don’t get that feel at all.

The try on units are not fully functional, instead they have a demo loop play on the screen showing you all the cool things you can do with the watch if it were actually paired to an iPhone. I get why this is the case, clearly it probably makes stealing it less appealing. They do, however, have an Apple Watch paired to an iPad which you can play around with a little.

Some things I noticed when messing with the demo unit:

• The crown is very precise. I thought scrolling with the crown could be a potential drawback, but it’s actually a pleasure to use.
• Force Touch is going to be a very cool feature, but will take a little getting used to.
• The interface is new and will also take a little getting used to.
• The Apple Watch is going to be a big deal. Once the early adopters get them and show their friends, more people will “get it.” Hands on will be crucial for the Apple Watch which is probably a big reason why Apple is insisting on setting up 1-to-1 appointments.
• A friend of mine said, “I don’t know what kind of voodoo magic Apple is doing, but the interface looks exactly the same on both the 38mm and 42mm.” He’s right, the scaling is on the Apple Watch is amazing. The user interface looks stunning on both sizes.

While we were at the store one person came in (that we noticed) who had a try on appointment for the Apple Watch Edition. The SoHo store is one of the NYC stores where they are selling the Edition — not every store has it in stock. Apparently if you are there to try on the Edition, you are brought to a separate “secure” room where a guard will escort the watch in and out. Pretty insane, but hey, it’s a $10,000+ product.

I also got a chance to try on the 42mm stainless steel watch with Milanese loop. My main concern about the Milanese loop was whether or not it would be able to stay on my wrist, that concern was alleviated once I went to try and pull apart the magnet — it sticks really well. It’s also very comfortable and looks amazing.

The only thing that I wish was slightly better was the Apple associates knowledge of the product. I can’t fault them though, they have had limited amount of time to really try it themselves. If I had to equate that part to something, it was like when you go to a new restaurant the first week it opens, you know, before everyone really knows what they are doing. Overall though, operation Apple Watch try on was a success and I can’t get wait to get mine.