Aren’t Apple Watches stylish? This viral couple who banned them from their wedding seems to think so
Would you wear a smartwatch to a wedding? That’s the question flooding a certain part of the internet this week. A viral post on
It has almost 10 million views, countless comments, and an outpouring of responses from both sides of the aisle. Some accounts seem to believe that wearing even the best Apple Watch (like the one on our list) is considered tacky at best and disrespectful at worst, and they are right to initiate the ban, while others say criticized and called it controlling.
Received a wedding invitation that specifically said “No Apple Watches Please” on the dress code lineDecember 10, 2024
Regardless of how you feel about specific dress codes that fit a theme (fair game for the bride and groom, or unfair for the guests?), all disagreements revolve around the usefulness of Apple Watches for monitoring health issues, serving as a wallet function or merely a general opposition to the concept of prohibition. One trend I noticed as I looked through the piles of answers is that virtually no one had a problem with it from a style perspective.
It seems like Apple Watches aren’t considered particularly stylish, even in the expensive stainless steel colorways adorned with even more expensive Hermes straps. Of course you can decorate them with all kinds of dials, but they remain a homogeneous black screen, often combined with simple silicone straps.
I test smartwatches for a living, and while I may disagree with the blanket statement “no Apple Watches” for logistical reasons, even I can see the lack of appeal from a style perspective. Traditional analog watches offer so much variety in style, from sleek classic numerals to rotating dive watches, offering a desirable and (ironically) timeless quality for wedding photos. Apple Watches tend to date photos, and that may continue for the foreseeable future.
Other users replied with smartwatches other than Apple Watches, such as the best Garmin watches, Google Pixel Watches and others, but share similar concerns. Particularly distractions of the day with ping notifications and frankly unstylish, angular black screens.
I’ve long complained about the lack of a stylish design ethos for smartwatches. Attempts to make the smartwatch category ‘sexy’, such as the Garmin Marq range, are either ridiculously expensive or don’t marry form and function well enough. If you’re going to a formal event, I can’t think of many smartwatches I’d want to wear with a three-piece suit.
One solution is to wear one of the best smart rings, if you need to continue monitoring your health with a smoother-looking analog number. Another option is to invest in one of the best hybrid smartwatches, analog-looking models with hidden optical heart rate sensors and smaller screens, which act as a bridge between two worlds.
Unlike smart rings, hybrid smartwatches are not particularly well-known in this category, but for me they represent the perfect compromise: timeless analog aesthetics combined with up-to-date health and fitness tracking. Perhaps Apple should follow Garmin and Withings and look at a hybrid, or at least a more stylish Apple Watch model. After all, you’d get so many steps on a wedding dance floor, it would be a shame to waste the chance to close your rings.