There are fans of Apple products that buy them for the innovation and craftsmanship while others just want to have what’s new, hip and expensive. Both crowds are sure to be among the first to grab up the Apple Watch when it finally makes its appearance sometime next year. Still, there are conspicuous consumers for whom even a $5,000 gold version of the Apple Watch isn’t pricey or bling-y enough.
That’s the well-heeled customer that jeweler Mervis Diamond Importers is tempting with this mock-up of a diamond-encrusted Apple Watch selling for $30,150. This opulent and ostentatious timepiece combines 18-karat rose gold with eight rows of high-grade diamonds having a total weight of over 15 carats bedazzling the band. Place your pre-order now, cough up the cash and this baby could be on your wrist by June of 2015, providing Apple actually has the basic watches ready by then.
This kind of luxury-meets-tech item has become a trademark for Mervis, which has also created a gold-plated racing bike for $400,000 and an iPhone 6 bearing an enormous pink diamond for $48.5 million. It’s doubtful that the jeweler will find a buyer for that iPhone before the next model comes out but it does draw attention to the slightly less outrageously priced items that wealthy folks might actually by—like a $30,000 Apple Watch.
So who is likely to put in an order for one of these blinged-out beauties? Obviously, someone who’s willing to spend big bucks for the most extravagant accessories available, the type who enjoys flaunting his or her wealth and status. This person probably already bought a $40,000 Rolex and then had his personal jeweler tack another 50 grand in sparklers all over it.
$30,000 for an Apple Watch won’t be nearly impressive enough for this customer, who will demand that even more precious jewels will be piled onto his or her one-of-a-kind custom chronograph so that it will sparkle in the lights of the red carpet—and get lots of photos in the celebrity rags.
By next summer, those tabloids will be full of tales about which celeb has the most expensively customized version of the Apple Watch and who received one as a present. Hey Kanye—guess what Kim is getting you for Father’s Day! (Provided they’re still married then.)
Not that any of this hoopla will be negative for Apple. When you have a new product to promote any PR is good PR as long as it doesn’t involve your item catching fire or blowing up. Viewing the Apple Watch on the wrists of their favorite athletes or real housewives of someplace will lead fans to lust after one of their own, even if it has to be the pedestrian $350 model.
And the regular Apple fanboyz who stand in line outside their local Apple Store to be the first with whatever new gadget comes out of Cupertino next? They’ll buy the $350 version—in basic black.
