Apple Watch Hits A Snag in Switzerland

Interesting! A twist of fate, but just a matter of time.

Apple had finally announced it’s entry into the smartwatches space, and now the world is waiting for the product to become available at an Apple Store near them. Prices start from USD 349 for their Sports version and go up to USD 17,000 for their 18k yellow gold version called Apple Watch Edition.

But one of the most watch-passionate and most complacent countries in the world will have to wait a little longer to get their hands on this prized piece of jewellery.

The Swiss will have to wait a few months for the Apple Watch to officially make an appearance in Switzerland. Reported by a Swiss publication and later picked up by all — a small glitch in the launch plans for Apple.

A local company, Leonard Timepieces, apparently have exclusive right over the use of the word “Apple” on their jewellery, which includes watches.

These rights had been acquired by the company about 30 years ago, and had gone unnoticed up until now.

There’s a silver lining in the whole situation though — the exclusive rights expire in another 6 months — specifically on December 5, 2015.

So, as the plans unfold, initially Apple Watch would be available in 9 countries — U.S., U.K., Australia, China, France, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong and Canada.

The Basel Apple store in Switzerland should see Apple Watches arrive in their stores by the year end, hopefully in time to take advantage of the festival season.

And that should make it interesting as many Swiss luxury brands are also said to be readying their own versions of smartwatches. Brands like Alpina, Breitling and Swatch amongst others are throwing their hats in the lucrative ring of the smartwatch arena.

Let’s wait and watch.

Originally published at Chip-Monks.