Explaining the Chinese New Year limited edition Apple Watch Sport
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Explaining the Chinese New Year limited edition Apple Watch Sport
Hold up, why are we starting this article with an image of two Rolex watches? Most people would say these two watches look very similar. They were both manufactured in within a year of each other; both come with original papers, have black dials with three white sub-dials; bezels with a tachymeter scale; and both have the word ‘Daytona’ in red above the 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock.
They are both vintage Rolex Daytona chronograph watches and the one on the left recently sold for US$435,014. How much do you think the one on the right went for? US$500,000? Or maybe if it was in really good condition, US$600,000 or US$700,000? Nope. The watch on the right sold for a whopping US$1,089,186, or two and a half times as much. But why?
As the saying goes, the devil is in the details, and this is especially true for watches. To begin, the dial on the right watch reads “Rolex Cosmograph Oyster”, which is special because the more common designation is “Rolex Oyster Cosmograph”. According to experts, only about 20 to 25 such examples exist. Also unusual about this particular watch is the font used for the Rolex designation on the dial. The “R” is ever so slightly larger and has more accentuated serifs. As they say, chimpanzees share 99% of our DNA but it's the 1% that counts. Likewise, it’s these little differences that matter.
The same is true for Apple’s newest Chinese New Year limited edition Apple Watch Sport. Created specially for Chinese New Year, there will be four models in total: two 42mm models in aluminum gold and aluminum silver, and another two 38mm models in aluminum gold and aluminum silver. What makes these watches stand out is that they are paired with red sports band. With that in mind, I think the gold models will be especially popular as gold and red are colors synonymous with prosperity and good fortune in Chinese tradition.
Now, you may wonder what’s so special about these watches. After all, even though the Apple Watch Sport is not offered with red sport band, one could always run out and get the PRODUCT (RED) band right? Well, yes and no. You see, while you could get the PRODUCT (RED) band, the red band that comes with the gold Chinese New Year limited edition model has a matching gold pin. The sport bands that you purchase without the watch itself only comes with a silver stainless steel pins. And while it is unlikely that the Chinese New Year limited edition Apple Watch Sport model will ever be as sought after as the special Rolex we showed above, it is these little details that make the Chinese New Year limited edition Apple Watch Sport model that little bit more special.
In terms of other features and functions, these new limited edition Apple Sport models are identical every other way to the Apple Watch sport models. This means you have a brilliant display, tons of apps to use the watch with, a built-in heart rate monitor, and it's also comfortable to wear. Unfortunately, it also means that non-native apps can load slowly and that battery life still isn't too great (it'll last a day no problem, but you have to charge it every night). If you want to know more, check out our earlier review of the Apple Watch.
The Chinese New Year limited edition Apple Watch Sport is available now with the smaller 38mm models priced at S$518 and the larger 42mm models costing S$598. These watches are available in stores and online only until 22 February. Another cool thing is that they are available only in Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
