Apple is having one of their product unveiling/press events tomorrow. Me and a couple of my Apple Fan Boys are getting together to watch. Everyone’s expecting to learn more about the upcoming Apple Watch. My buddies can’t wait to get one of these strapped to their liver-spotted wrists. I’ve never been a watch guy but then, I wasn’t a phone guy or a table guy, so who knows. I just don’t like jewelry on my hands. Never wore a wedding ring.

But don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about this new product category from my favorite company. And I’ve followed the tech press as it has speculated about features and price. And price is what I want to talk about today.

If the top-of-the-line Apple Edition carries a price tag of ten or twenty-thousand dollars (or more), a bunch of folks are going to lose their shit. Both fans and haters. I can’t imagine spending that kind of dough on a watch but a lot of folks will. And the fancy pants model won’t do anything that the low-end model can do, so why pay more?

I don’t know a lot of rich people so it’s really unfair of me to speculate about what makes them tick (get it?). But the only reason I can imagine wearing a watch that cost $100,000 (or more) is you want folks to know you are rich. I mean, nobody’s trying to sell “This thing keeps great time!”

And a watch has a few advantages in this regard. Yeah, if you saw me get out of my Lamborghini you’d know I was something special. Or if you visited me in my Malibu mansion. But if you want folks to know you’re a little bit special whenever you go out in public, you gotta wear it.

Now I can’t tell a five-thousand dollar suit from a thousand-dollar suit. But a watch is something you never have to take off (if it’s water-proof). It’s right there on your well-tanned wrist. And if it’s a Rolex or one of the other high-end time pieces… Whoa! Who the fuck is this guy with a 100K on his arm?

I’m starting to sound a little mean or envious here and that’s not my intention. I’m just trying to understand the thinking behind a luxury purchase.

Two — unrelated — thoughts about this article (The Shape of Things to Come) in The New Yorker: 1) This is, as far as I can recall, the longest magazine article I’ve ever read. 2) You will see more Apple Watches than you expected.

And a few excerpts:

• Apple employs three recruiters whose sole task is to identify designers to join the group; they find perhaps one a year.
• In fifteen years, only two designers have left the studio—one of them because of ill health.
• The data that Apple now sends to a manufacturer include a tool’s tracking path, speed, and appropriate level of lubricant.
• “What the competitors don’t seem to understand is you cannot get people this smart to work this hard just for money.” – Bono on Apple design team