Roger Fingas
Apple Watch this week picked up one of Red Dot's 2015 Best of the Best awards for product design, entering into a newly-created "Watches" category even though the device is only shipping to the public on April 24.
The only other watch to claim a Best of the Best title was the MB&F HM6 Space Pirate, a strictly time-telling piece that displays its inner workings in five separate domes rather than under one unified glass element. Only 50 units are being made, at a cost of $230,000 each.
Red Dot's criteria judges products according to qualities like functionality, ergonomics, durability, "ecological compatibility," and "symbolic and emotional content." In all 81 Best of the Best winners were announced this week, though a gala ceremony is only taking place June 29 at the Aalto-Theater in Essen, Germany.
For Apple the title may be useful in marketing, since Red Dot holders are allowed to place a logo on packages and in advertising material. Winners also get their products displayed in the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen for a year.
Apple products have won Red Dot awards in the past. Last year the company took home an award for the current-generation Mac Pro, which was actually released in December 2013.
Marketing for the Apple Watch has heavily emphasized its design. The campaign has included things like promotional diary by model Christy Turlington Burns, and a continuing series of spreads in fashion magazines. Apple has also relied on more familiar strategy of offering up designers and executives for media interviews.
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20 Comments
Design-wise, this is a product for the future. Elegant, solid, timeless. Even the Sport is nice.
The Apple Watch will be a huge product for Apple and the world.
I plan to preorder this baby:
42mm Stainless Steel Case with Black Sport Band
The Apple Watch will be a huge product for Apple and the world.
I plan to preorder this baby:
42mm Stainless Steel Case with Black Sport Band
Classy. I like steel cased watches with plastic bands, more practical. I had a leather band watch and I always had to worry about getting it wet/dirty.
Well done Tim. I was just thinking, I bet there will be an after-market gold plating service for the steel versions advertised anytime now. I'm sure the same technique used to do all those Lexus handles and badges that was all the rage back in the boom years could re-emerge. Entrepreneurs were going door to door in our neighborhood with the kits to do it back then.
I was just thinking, I bet there will be an after-market gold plating service for the steel versions advertised anytime now. I'm sure the same technique used to do all those Lexus handles and badges that was all the rage back in the boom years could re-emerge. Entrepreneurs were going door to door in our neighborhood with the kits to do it back then.
You know, I hadn't thought of that. Assuming the finish on the stainless alloy can be bonded to. That's one way to solve an issue for some customers who simply won't wear silver jewelry or accessories. I imagine the same thing will happen for the water-resistance issue, just like there's an aftermarket company that "waterproofs" the shuffle. Of course we'll know more about what's possible on the aftermarket after people start getting the watches and dissecting them.