14 DAY TRIAL // Hearing rumors about the Apple Watch Edition likely costing a fortune, Luma Labs co-founder Greg Koenig decided to fire up his 3D modeling software and recreate the device’s chassis digitally, in order to estimate its heft in grams, and therefore the price for just this material alone.
Koenig says that his model is basically net shape, meaning that the major features with a 1.15mm wall thickness. He admits it’s a very rough estimate of the 42mm model (there’s also a 38mm Apple Watch), but one that he considers plausible nonetheless.
Not exactly worth its weight in gold
Based on his estimate, the casing alone would weigh 29.16g, which translates into about $850, or roughly €744 for an 18 karat process.
The model doesn’t include the crown, the button, and the strap clasps. Then again, the case also doesn’t have cutouts, so these factors somehow cancel themselves out. However, the molding runners and polishing loss undoubtedly add a few extra figures to the manufacturing costs.
These calculations give many people hope that the Apple Watch Edition will sell for much less than the rumored $5,000 (€4,300). However, Koenig appropriately points out that “a gold Rolex Sub is $38k, with a raw gold value of $4k, based on a $8k watch.”
“In a way, the Edition watches require an eye watering price in order to ascend beyond tasteless bling,” he adds. While that seems vain, it’s also 100% true for a company like Apple.
Not just a bill of materials (BoM)
For those asking, a bill of materials (BoM) is a list of the parts required to build a product. In the case of the iPhone, examples of key components include the display, the processor, the flash memory, and the battery. This will also apply to the Apple Watch.
The BoM can provide a very rough estimate of what the vendor will charge for a product, as well as the profit margins for that product, but it cannot predict the costs associated with research & development, licensing fees, manufacturing costs, shipping, packaging, and many other aspects that a vendor needs to take into account before bringing a product to market.
In other words, expect the gold Apple Watch to sell for much more than the bill of materials adds up to.
For fun, I took my Apple Watch models and used SW and some basic assumptions to figure the gold content. 29.16g: pic.twitter.com/WGEnjtj1Yh
— Greg Koenig (@gak_pdx) February 19, 2015