Jony Ive: High-End Apple Watch Will Come With Its Own Leather, Suede Box

Apple(NEW YORK) —  The priciest of Apple Watches — the 18-karat gold Edition collection — won’t just come in any Apple packaging but will mimic five-figure luxury watch boxes. With leather and “ultra-suede,” Apple put a lot of thought into even the packaging.

“We didn’t want the packaging to be a sort of shorthand for value, where the box needs to be big and we have to include expensive materials,” Apple’s senior vice president of design Jonathan Ive told The Financial Times.

The Edition watch, which still has an undisclosed price tag, will have a box of “aniline-dyed leather” on the outside and a “sort of ultra-suede on the inside,” he told the Times. It will have a connector at the back that turns it into a charging dock when the watch snaps into place with magnetic technology, the Times reported.

“I like the idea that it’s all part of one experience, it’s all part of how we feel about something, and that each of these elements can play a positive and interesting role,” Ive said.

“We’ve always liked the idea that if we are heavy in our thinking, we can be much lighter in the implementation. So there’s huge virtue, I think, in keeping the packaging small: at least, it is the right choice environmentally, it’s easier to move things around and you don’t end up with your wardrobes full of large watch boxes that you don’t use.”

Ives revealed details of the product ahead of Apple’s highly-anticipated media event this Monday in San Francisco. What the public does know about the Edition collection is that it features six “expressions of Apple Watch.” Each will be made of 18-karat gold, which Apple says is twice as hard as standard gold, and sapphire crystal.

Ive’s description of the Apple Edition packaging sounds a lot like boxes that are sold with ultra high-end watches. For these watches, which can also have 18-karat gold and cost tens of thousands of dollars, the boxes can double as permanent storage.

“The whole presentation is integral to the sale,” Ron Groezinger of Westime in Malibu told ABC News.

Westime, purveyor of fine timepieces, sells products from watchmakers like Swiss Audemars Piguet. These timepieces are often sold with an inner and outer box that include not only the watch but include an extensive booklet about the timepiece. The inner box can be made from wood with gold lettering and interior black leather. Groezinger said these elements are “all conducive to the elegance of the piece.”

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

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