The Apple Watch Ultra was announced at last night's Apple Event, bringing with it a new bold design and a wide range of features built for endurance, exploration, and adventure.
These exciting new features include a durable titanium case, purposeful straps for extreme sports, an action button, and improved connectivity that'll help if you find yourself lost in the wilderness.
After the event I said the Apple Watch Ultra is very impressive, but it won't be for everyone, but, in the subsequent 12 hours, I've come to change my opinion – I think the Apple Watch Ultra is for everyone, especially suckers like me.
I love the durable look of the Apple Watch Ultra and desperately want one, despite never having run an ultramarathon, gone diving with sharks, or climbed a mountain.
You see I, like a lot of other stupid men, like the idea that the objects we own can withstand extreme tests of endurance, and rest safe in the knowledge that if, for some reason, we were dropped into the wilderness at a moment's notice it's not our kit that would fail us (just whether we'd watched the relevant episode of Bear Grylls Survival Story or not).
That's why I own a stainless steel dive watch that's capable of being submerged 200 metres into the sea, but the wettest it's ever got is when I wore it in the shallow end of a swimming pool once on holiday.
It's also why people (myself included) love Land Rover Defenders, Mercedes G-Wagons, and Jeep Wranglers – they're going to spend most of their life driving around Kensington and Chelsea, but their owners can sleep safely with the knowledge that if there was a zombie apocalypse, they have the right vehicle to evade being bitten.
This is why Garmin has done so well with its range of extreme sports watches, namely the Fenix models. If you've spent any time on a London train at rush hour, you'd be forgiven for thinking that much of the Capital finish work and then immediately go base jumping, waterskiing, or mountain climbing. All whilst still wearing their suits, of course.
I'll admit it, I even bought the Garmin Tactix Bravo when I leant it has a special screen that can be read with night vision goggles. Do I own a pair of night vision goggles? No. Do I want to be the type of person who could own night vision goggles? Absolutely!
What I'm trying to get at is that these objects built for extreme purposes, whether it's smartwatches, cars, or mechanical watches, command a price premium and Apple wants a slice of that sucker pie.
During its livestream, Apple showed the Apple Watch Ultra being used by Ray Zahab, an extreme explorer who crossed the Sahara Desert, Antarctica, and the Arctic; or Nadia Al, an acclaimed underwater photographer; or Scott Jurick, one of the most dominant ultramarathon runners in history.
Will it be used by adventurers like this? I think it undoubtedly will, but like the Land Rover Defender and Rolex Submariner before it, I think most Apple Watch Ultras are destined to live their lives in cities and office blocks around the world, occasionally getting wet in a plunge pool in the Maldives or being used to check the altitude of a piste in Courchevel.
