What's better than wearing a $500+ Apple Watch? Attaching it to a $9,000+ designer watch and wearing them both at once, of course.
California-based watchmaker Nico Gerard released on Monday the Pinnacle watch, a Swiss-made, 41-millimeter by 10.3-mm, water-resistant timepiece with a strap that fastens onto the Apple Watch.
"The chronometer is situated on the outside of the wrist; the smart watch is situated on the inside of the wrist," the watchmaker's website reads.
There are three models to choose from: the Pinnacle, which at $9,300 has a stainless steel strap and a black watch face; the Skyview Pinnacle ($9,500), with a stainless steel strap and a navy watch face; and, finally, the Sunrise Pinnacle ($112,000), which is made of 18-karat gold and has a red face. An Apple Watch or an Apple Watch Edition is also included in each purchase.
You must reserve a model before buying it: Only 99 Skyview Pinnacle and 88 Sunrise Pinnacle watches are available for reservation; there is no limit on the number of standard Pinnacle models available. Reservations, by the way, cost another $200 -- $500 if you're buying the Sunrise. Customers then have to wait between six and 12 months (depending on which they bought) before they can get their hands -- or their wrists -- on the timepieces.
Adam Pluemer, president of Nico Gerard, told The Huffington Post that the "Apple Watch has a bunch of functionalities that people want to use," such as the heart rate monitor. The Pinnacle bracelet "allow[s] someone to wear that classical timepiece and have all the benefits of the smartwatch as well."
He also noted that by having an Apple Watch on the inside of the wrist, the wearer could more discreetly view his or her notifications --"If you're in a board meeting, you don't want someone across the table reading your text messages" -- though why one needs to drop over $9,000 for something that can be done with the regular Apple Watch is beyond us. Maybe it's another way to hide your Apple Watch from your "mainstream" friends.
Nico Gerard is not the first watchmaker to invent a fasten-on for the Apple's latest gadget. Watchmaker Original Grain also started a crowdfunding campaign in June for The Duo Watch Adapter, which allows users to link the band of their Barrel watch to the Apple Watch on the same clasp.
However, the Original Grain watch is priced at $269. Why do the Pinnacle watches cost at least $9,300, then?
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Pluemer says it's because the devices are certified by Official Swiss Chronometer Testing, the organization responsible for verifying the accuracy of Swiss timepieces. He also noted that "only 3 percent of Swiss watches actually qualify for [this] certification -- so it is actually an elite watch."
Pluemer was not able to tell us how many watches had been reserved, as of Tuesday.