Despite a year of bubbling rumour we are no nearer to knowing whether or not Apple will indeed produce an iWatch. Recruitment of luxury brand experts, including TAG-Heuer’s marketing boss, has led to renewed speculation in recent weeks. But is there really a place for a watch on the wrists of the millenials? Ben Bajarin, writing for Techpinions, sees problems in persuading today’s youth to wear a device on their wrists.
If you are super observant, you may notice fewer people under 40 wear watches than those over 40. Fewer under 30 than those under 40. And much fewer under 20 than those under 30. All of this is to say the majority of people have a naked wrist. This is the fundamental challenge any wearable must first overcome. The masses must feel it valuable enough to put something on their body where they have specifically chosen to not place something before.
I hadn’t thought much about this but Ben has does raise a very valid point. My generation tends to wear a watch as a matter of course. I feel totally naked without the IWC Fliegerchronograph on my wrist but I can understand the waning interest in a device that does just one thing, tell the time. I also suspect that older watch enthusiasts, with their Rolexes, IWCs, Jeager-LeCoultres and Omegas, will be hard to win over, however keen they are in technology. An Apple iWatch will have to be a stylish, well-made and desirable wrist watch in its own right before it can supplant these traditional luxury brands.