The ceramic Apple Watch Edition is the best Apple Watch that exists

Apple Watch Edition doesn’t seem to fit within Apple’s usual strategy of price differentiation, in which as you pay more, you get a better product. Certainly, this was the case in the first iteration of the Apple Watch Edition when it came in 18K gold.

However, with the Series 2 Watch, Apple Watch Edition switched to a white ceramic case, and with that made the Watch fit their model. Apple Watch Edition is the most expensive Apple Watch you can buy, but it’s also the best.

Now, it still doesn’t have better specifications or performance or a better display than the cheaper watches. Where it particularly excels is in the area that really matters for a watch: style.

The aluminum watches look fine with nylon bands and sport bands, but they don’t match well with the bands that have steel lugs or buckles. They particularly fail with metals of the opposing color (stainless with space gray or space black with silver aluminum). The gold and rose gold aluminum doesn’t match with any standard Apple band outside of the sport bands. I encourage you to go to this site and play around with the band/watch-case combinations. The mixed metals are really ugly.

I’ve ranted before about the severe lack of support for dark colored metals, and that still hasn’t been fixed. That leaves the space black and space grey watches very lacking in matching band options. And they look particularly bad with non-matching hardware. That isn’t to say, however, that the raw stainless steel Watch looks any better with the dark metal bands, just that it does have more options across all of the band lines and from third parties.

The Edition Watch, however, manages to look good with any color lugs. I have included some of my standout favorites here in this post, but I encourage you to check out the reviews here and here for a bigger gallery of band combinations.

The other critical factor is that the Edition Watch looks good while active and dressy. It ships with a sport band, and pairs well with all of the other sport band colors, while also fitting in with most fitness gear. Fitting in well with sport bands and sportswear is something that the aluminum watches are particularly good at, but something that the steel finishes were particularly bad at. The shiny metal finish stood out too much. While the ceramic white is polished, it doesn’t flash as shiny as the steel finishes do, which make it fit in better.

Of course, when it comes to fitting in with dressy clothing, the shine that the steel finishes offer are an advantage. They look classier than the aluminum watches, which look much more like a sport Watch or a Fitbit that a dress Watch. The ceramic finish, however, is shiny enough to give you that classiness, while also evoking the rich history of ceramic watches. It stands out in a good way.

Now, I mentioned fitness, and I’m sure ceramic and fitness don’t sound like they go together. While ceramic is a brittle material, and thus prone to shattering, it is incredibly scratch resistant, meaning that no matter what you hit it with at the gym, it won’t scratch or dent. As far as shattering is concerned, it seems that Apple has chosen a particular chemistry of ceramic as well as a specific case shape which minimizes shatter potential. Additionally, the reviews that I have read have said that “it can hold up as a fitness watch no problem.”

The Watch even includes an $80 charging dock in the box. That puts it more in line with the cost of the entry level Hermès watches, when you account for that value.

So, all things considered, I think the Apple Watch Edition Series 2 is the best bang for the buck available, even though it’s the most expensive. It’s well worth the $1300.