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BREAKING: Apple partners with Luxury Goods Manufacturer Hermès for Apple Watch straps...
and you get a custom wach face on top. Now you have have one style both as a traditional luxury watch as well as a modern luxury smart watch. Great move from both sides (I told you they knwo what they re doing...)!
Cheers,
Magnus
This message has been edited by Ornatus-Mundi on 2015-09-09 13:08:05
Cheers,
Magnus
This message has been edited by Ornatus-Mundi on 2015-09-09 13:08:05
$1,100 for the Hermes Apple watch strap
And $1,500 for the full leather cuff strap.
Cheers,
Anthony
This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2015-09-09 13:57:42
Cheers,
Anthony
This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2015-09-09 13:57:42
Hmmm...
I still feel that there is only one proper place for a Hermes watch strap, and that is on a Parmigiani Fleurier 
... or on one of these wonderful mechanical Hermes watches
such as the Hermès Arceau Le Temps Suspendu :
Best,
Magnus
This is very impressive!
The pricing, that is: $1100 for the watch on a conventional strap.
Let's see. That's $600 for the watch (this we know), and $500 for the strap + the three additional software watch faces + the etching.
I'm not up to the moment on strap prices but I would have guessed about $300 at retail for the strap based on the prices of H leather bracelets, so that's...hmmm...another $200 in the faces and the etching.
Assuming reasonable quantities to cover the cost of designing the watch faces and the tooling for the etching, this will be nicely profitable for A+H.
best
E.
It was always assumed that the Apple Watch has the highest margin...
of all Apple products, so why should this differ here? And luxury watches definitely have solid markup as well, so I see nothing special if viewed from a watch industry perspective.
Best,
Magnus
Absolutely...
Magnus,
Indeed!
What I find interesting is the extension of the margins here - the Apple Watch at $500 already is making Apple a healthy profit (and that retail price includes a strap, so removing the strap from the package increases Apple's profit); the Hermes leather wristbands sold at $300 (which I am assuming have a similar production cost as the simple strap for the Apple Watch) are doing the same for their maker as well, I'm sure. And it seems pretty obvious to me that the production cost of the three software watch faces and the etching on the case are minimal.
So what we have here is an already-profitable (very much so, as you say) product and another already-profitable product - and then a substantial additional margin added on top of both those existing profits!
As a consumer, it's eye-opening; from the corporate perspective, it is brilliant.
Best
E.
PS ...but do you know what really slays me? If I were in the market for an Apple Watch (I'm not; but let's say Mrs E wanted one), even though I think its pricing is beyond the pale...I would *still* consider buying this version!!!
Indeed!
What I find interesting is the extension of the margins here - the Apple Watch at $500 already is making Apple a healthy profit (and that retail price includes a strap, so removing the strap from the package increases Apple's profit); the Hermes leather wristbands sold at $300 (which I am assuming have a similar production cost as the simple strap for the Apple Watch) are doing the same for their maker as well, I'm sure. And it seems pretty obvious to me that the production cost of the three software watch faces and the etching on the case are minimal.
So what we have here is an already-profitable (very much so, as you say) product and another already-profitable product - and then a substantial additional margin added on top of both those existing profits!
As a consumer, it's eye-opening; from the corporate perspective, it is brilliant.
Best
E.
PS ...but do you know what really slays me? If I were in the market for an Apple Watch (I'm not; but let's say Mrs E wanted one), even though I think its pricing is beyond the pale...I would *still* consider buying this version!!!
The Hermès - Apple collaboration - unprecedented for Apple, unforeseen difficulties!
In an interview published by the Wallstreet Journal (open only to subscribers), both Apple's Chief Design Officer Jony Ive and Hermès Artistic Director Pierre-Alexis Dumas discuss the partnership between the two companies.
This message has been edited by Ornatus-Mundi on 2015-09-12 01:22:21
(left, Hermès Artistic Director Pierre-Alexis Dumas; right, Apple's Chief Design Officer Jony Ive)
The interview interestingly sheds light into what it does mean for both brands. For Apple, its the first time they let the logo of a partner take over their own product - the Hermès Apple Watch has no Apple logo on the front, there is just a small Apple logo engraved on the back.
Allowing Hermès symbols to upstage Apple's is a first, Mr. Ive said. "I've been at Apple 23 years and this is conspicuous and singular. I've never known anything like this," he said. And the partnership will be expanded to include other products next to the watch.
Second, Apple's Jony Ive stresses the notion that the Hermès collaboration would not make Apple an "exclusive" company. We don't think in those terms, Mr. Ive said in an interview Wednesday, after the Apple Watch Hermès was unveiled. I'm not comfortable with words like exclusive. Ive exemplifies this with the analogy to the base Apple Watch Sport model, stating that the same amount of time and effort went into designing both models.
Second, Apple's Jony Ive stresses the notion that the Hermès collaboration would not make Apple an "exclusive" company. We don't think in those terms, Mr. Ive said in an interview Wednesday, after the Apple Watch Hermès was unveiled. I'm not comfortable with words like exclusive. Ive exemplifies this with the analogy to the base Apple Watch Sport model, stating that the same amount of time and effort went into designing both models.
For Hermès, the partnership is a turning point: "We are a new tradition and an age-old tradition, and we meet at the center of the arch," said Mr. Dumas.
In respect of challenges in creating the products, Jony Ive mentions the Double Tour, a strap which wraps twice around the wrist. In testing, Ive says the second loop would slip on the skin and move underneath the Watch, obscuring the heart rate sensors. This caused the Watch to lock as the disruption made it think the watch was no longer being worn. The final watch designs include extra padding on the bands to stop them from slipping.
BTW, the decision on the partnership was made during a lunch in Paris a year before Apple Watch was announced. There you have it: Even American mega-enterprises can succumb to the allure of finest French Haute Cuisine... ;-)
Best,
Magnus
This message has been edited by Ornatus-Mundi on 2015-09-12 01:22:21