First chance today to enter Selfridge’s watch hall to view the impressive Apple display. The staff members were knowledgeable and abundant. The guy I chatted to had previously been an Apple blueshirt and certainly had the full lowdown on the Watch and all its iterations. I suspect a number of Apple employees have been seconded to these displays in prestige department stores around the world.
The display table was impressive: I was told that Selfridge’s have the longest Apple Watch table in the world at 25 feet or even 10 meters, we couldn’t decide which. It is certainly a biggie but we can take the claim with a pinch of salt.
I detected a sense of frustration that there were no watches for sale, with all serious buyers being redirected to the web site
Lurking in the background was the expanse of Selfridge’s high-end watch hall. Switzerland’s finest were looking decidedly unloved in comparison with the hubbub of chatter around the Apple display. Significantly, while I was encouraged to take pictures in the Apple section, when I pointed my camera at the Swiss counters a security guy came running up to tell me to stop. There’s a moral in this story somewhere.
You can check out Selfridge’s Apple Watch collection here—the site appears to be a subset of Apple’s official on-line store and soon redirects you to Apple.
Back at the Apple Store in nearby Regent Street I had my second try-on experience and deliberated over the choice between the steel Link Bracelet and the Milanese Loop. If you recall, I ordered my 42in steel watch with the standard cheap Sport Band and left the choice of bracelet to another day.
Both the Link and Milanese Loop look enticing but I am tempted to go for the loop because of its extreme comfort and infinite adjustability. I worried at first that with a magnetic fixing on the loop, the watch could be vulnerable to snatch thieves. But in practice this doesn’t seem to be so. The end of the band is firmly anchored in the slot on the watch, thus adding to security.
The link bracelet is also beautifully made and surprisingly light (in comparison with the band on my IWC Swiss watch). It does not exude the same timeless quality as the hefty bracelets from IWC, Rolex, Jeager LeCoultre and other leading Swiss brands, so I suspect watch aficionados will feel a tinge of disappointment. It is just different and is very comfortable. The design and appearance is exquisite, in an entirely different way to the Swiss metal-link designs. I especially applaud the way in which links can be removed or added quickly and with minimum effort.
If you have ever worn a substantial metal link bracelet you will know that they get tighter in the summer and looser in the winter. Invariably I end up adding a link to the IWC band every August in the heat of Greece. This brings problems, since it means carrying a spare link which is easily lost (and very expensive to replace). The same will undoubtedly apply to Apple’s link bracelet, so be prepared to travel with spares.
Another problem with link bracelets is that it is difficult to achieve a perfectly snug fit (unlike with the Milanese Loop). In some cases the link bracelets can be too loose or too tight with a single link representing too much adjustment.
I left the store still undecided which bracelet to order. I like both in different ways and it will be a hard choice. At £129 the Milanese Loop is £250 cheaper than the Link Bracelet, so that’s a huge consideration, especially when the Loop looks so good.