>>ortusd+(OP)
I doubt this ever mattered, especially to folks like Karl Lagerfeld, who never even set his up (or appears to have charged it).

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/karl-lagerfeld-audemars-pi...

>>tcbawo+4a
the GP's example of WWI is actually sufficiently modern that you could very well just be firing normal center fire .45 which is readily available https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.45_ACP

>>geoele+yc
Reminds me of the Swiss brand H Moser that makes a mechanical wristwatch which looks like an Apple watch

That said, it's a custom case & their movement wouldn't slot into an actual Apple watch without a lot of machining. But it would be a cool way to immortalize one of these Series 1 watches https://www.h-moser.com/product/swiss-alp-watch-5324-1205/

>>glhayn+la
Well, if you count making a new stock and barrel to mount the original 17th century clockwork gubbins to, may I present:

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=40...

>>sakex+bN1
>Well, my Rolex and my Hublot

Nice flex, but you don't need to spend Wolf of Wallstreet money to enjoy the fun and diversity of traditional analog and digital watches.

You can build an entire watch collection for every occasion, of high quality Casios, that will last ~forever, for the price of one new Apple watch who's lifespan will be less than the CR2016 battery on those Casios, while having more features that a Rolex.

Casio even had the audacity to build an analog knock-off of the Apple watch and IMHO they nailed the design better than Apple (the moon phase indicator is a functioning complication, not a design element): https://down-th.img.susercontent.com/file/th-11134207-23030-...

>>office+MQ1
Not even that hard, there are many jewellers who will gold plate an Apple Watch for you: https://quickjewelryrepairs.com/articles/what-you-need-know-...

Almost certainly much less than 17k.

>>friend+qV1
Hmm. According to Civ 2, the products of The Wheel have been obsolete since we discovered the secret of Polytheism.

https://civilization.fandom.com/wiki/Chariot_(Civ2)

>>lopis+SS1
I think it mostly didn't survive the smartphone era, but this was A Thing back in the day. This was the main player; it still seems to exist to some extent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertu

>>sakex+bN1
Doesn't have to be expensive! You can find a Bulova Hack [0] (the modern remake) for ~400$ usually. (Well under 400 on sale) I love mine: looks different with it's military styling, durable, repairable (by a jeweller, the watch glass is special but that's it), and accurate enough. A casio is going to last a lifetime too (with battery changes) if you want something under 100$.

[0] https://www.bulova.com/us/en/product/98A255.html

>>ortusd+(OP)
Time to install a mechanical movement into them:

https://hackaday.com/2023/06/08/apple-invent-the-mechanical-...

>>potmat+bU1
To be fair, the gold Apple Watch was not just gold plated, a substantial part [0] of it was actual 18k gold.

[0] https://twitter.com/gak_pdx/status/568310194406469632

>>sakex+bN1
Electronic watches can last a long time too. My 40+ year old Casio scientific calculator watch still works.

The biggest problem with longevity of modern portable electronics (watches, phones, etc) is that they usually use the internet. That generally means they need security updates when bugs are found, protocol updates as the net evolves, and sometimes they depend on specific network services that the provider drops.

Sometimes the electronics themselves fail. For example I've got a Casio MG-510 guitar [1] that I bought in the late '80s. It still works great as an electric guitar, but its MIDI functionality no longer works.

From what I've read this is almost certainly due to a bunch of bad electrolytic capacitors. Someday I'll have a go at replacing the capacitors, which other people have reported fixed theirs.

[1] https://spinditty.com/instruments-gear/The-Casio-Midi-Guitar...

>>gregor+cZ1
But you said that one "cannot" do it.

Oddly enough, I think this - wearing both a smart and an analog watch - is actually a trend [0], which I think makes sense, since analog watches could nowadays be considered purely attire complements.

[0] https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/double-wristing-a-guide-fo...

>>__loam+oC
55g (1.940068 oz) of gold, worth approximately $2,425 at spot price in 2015: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP737?locale=en_US