If it's true, as Marilyn Monroe once sang, that diamonds are a girl's best friend, well then Apple is banking on lots of 'best friends,' buying girls a diamond-studded Apple Watch with reseller Brikk whom most Americans have likely never heard of.
Brikk, a luxury couture brand likely familiar only to those in the one percent, is getting ready to sell a line of $75,000 Apple Watches called Lux Watches. Yes, there will actually be more than one $75,000 version of Apple's initial wearable. In fact, there's a line of 30 models that, in Brikk's words, "will afford unmatched opulence to an exclusive clientele worldwide."
There will be a 24-karat gold, an 18-karat pink gold and a 950 platinum option and three editions: standard (a single road of diamonds), deluxe (multiple rows of diamonds) and 'omni' (a 24 karate yellow boasting 12.3 carats of diamonds).
"For the ultimate in exclusivity," says Brikk which took a very similar marketing approach with Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. (For those who don't know, someone somewhere paid $8,395 for an iPhone 6 diamond-encrusted device.)
This is what a press announcement stated:
"The Lux Watch line stands out thanks to its meticulous production processes. Each piece is disassembled inside Brikk's state-of-the-art laboratory in Los Angeles by a team of skilled engineers. They are hand polished, then plated with five layers of diverse metals before their final plating in either two layers of gold or platinum. High quality diamonds (color D, clarity VVS1) are set with a microscope in a custom-machined bezel. Each piece is then reassembled and tested before shipping to clients."
For Apple, and Brikk obviously, all this diamond strategy means mucho bucks. One report estimates Apple's take as $5 billion per quarter from sales of its highest-end gold version. Reseller Brixx' top-of-the-line model will cost a bit under $70,000.
Brikk promises each Watch reiteration will feature a "Zero Halliburton aluminum case with carbon fiber interior," and will come with a user manual, "expected accessories," and even a diamond-studded certificate of authenticity. Oh, and yes, a one-year warranty.
It's now available in pre-order so get the checkbook out or, as others might have to do, file for that home equity note now.
Or you could wait until April when the $349 Watch is supposedly going on sale.
While Apple is supposedly going to debut Watch officially in April, word came Thursday that Apple will hold a product event on March 9, supposedly about its Watch. The event may also prove insightful about Apple's reportedly refreshed MacBook Air and Apple TV.
