The Apple Watch was officially presented on September 9, 2014. Ten years of history. Previously, Apple already offered a watch in the form of an iPod nano, on which you could put a bracelet and which included several dials. But if we go back furtherIn 1988, Apple launched a product that was as unique as it was surprising.
A 1988 Apple Watch whose main function was to tell the time “differently”
Thanks to a post that went viral on X, many of us have discovered an Apple product that most people don’t know about. Sam Iglesias works at Apple Park as a designer and software engineer for over nine years. His passion for Apple is what you would expect from an employee of this company. So it is, a friend managed to surprise him with an almost museum-like piece and an Apple product: an Apple Watch that they presented in 1998 as part of a marketing campaign.
One of the first marketing campaigns after Steve Jobs’ return
As you may know, Steve Jobs founded Apple only to be fired by the board of directors. After experiencing serious economic and innovation difficulties, Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997. One of his first campaigns was “Think Different,” two words that still stick in the minds of many of us. As part of this marketing campaign, Apple I wanted to develop a minimalist watch and elegant but, at the same time, makes you feel special and different. This is how the first Apple Watch appeared in 1988.
The watch arrived in a cardboard box and the strap and dial were black. Above all, two things stand out: the Apple logo in the central part and the fact that the the needles went counterclockwise. In other words, where there are nine, there are three and where there should be one, there are eleven.
This watch was battery-powered and in itself, it was not smart. On the back you can see different engravings: the Apple logo, the manufacturing material (aluminum) and its waterproofness. It the product has never been sold since it was part of a marketing campaign and was given as a gift to different personalities. The units manufactured are unknown and obtaining one today is difficult but not impossible.
A 1988 Apple Watch sold at auction for over a thousand dollars, and there are similar models on eBay for around five hundred dollars. In addition to the Apple Watch with the white Apple logo, there are a version with the rainbow applewhich was the official Apple logo for over twenty years.
Apple Watch Auctions from 1988
The world of vintage Apple products is surprising and There is always room for an unknown product. For example, we have Knowledge Navigator, which was decades ahead of what we have today with Apple Intelligence. Today, we add to that list an Apple Watch, which, just because of its name, makes it very exciting to know that it existed in 1988.
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