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25th Apr 2015

Sir Jony Ive: Apple Watch can’t compare to classic watches

Sign of the times...

Nooruddean Choudry

Sir Jony Ive, the legendary Apple designer, has stressed his love of the mechanical watch and doesn’t see the Apple Watch as competition.

Speaking to Vogue at a Condé Nast conference in Florence, Ive and co-designer Marc Newson explained that their motivation was not to improve on the traditional watch.

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“When we started on the iPhone, it was because we all couldn’t bear our phones. The watch was different,” explained Ive, who is famed for designing such iconic products as the iMac, MacBook, iPod and iPhone.

“We all loved our watches but saw that the wrist was a fabulous place for technology, so there were different motivations.

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“I don’t know how we can compare the old watches we know with the functionality and the capability of the Apple Watch.”

These are very referential words from Ive, and the whole interview is an interesting contemplation of function and aesthetic design.

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But we’re not sure how the Apple Watch isn’t in direct competition with the humble wristwatch…unless we wear two – one to tell the time and the other for everything else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afYnwnCp_D8