While the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition is a gorgeous wristwatch, its starting price of $10,000 in the United States is simply out of reach for many customers. But if you have a stainless steel Apple Watch, it is possible to gold plate your device without breaking the bank. Take a look at the comparatively inexpensive services and methods for turning your Apple Watch gold below.
WatchPlate
MacRumors forum member RianFlynn has shared photos of a stainless steel Apple Watch with Milanese Loop with what he says is a thin coating of 24-karat gold that costs just $6. The finished product looks quite impressive, and the user has since launched a website called WatchPlate where he plans to accept Apple Watch gold plating orders for $399 with an estimated three-day turnaround. Most of the price is based on the time and labor involved. While we have not confirmed the authenticity of this service, gold plating the stainless steel Apple Watch is technically feasible.
The Time Preserve
Watch restoration specialist The Time Preserve recently announced that it is accepting gold plating orders for the stainless steel Apple Watch. The company, which has been restoring watches since 1995, uses custom-formulated gold electroplating for durability, and ensures that the 5 to 6 microns thick plating will not peel from daily wear. Prices range from $550 to $650, with cheaper prices for bands only, and the service has an estimated one-week turnaround.
Gold Spray Paint
YouTube creator Casey Neistat shared a video last week where he applied gold spray paint to his space gray aluminum Apple Watch Sport. Beyond the obvious fact that spray painting your Apple Watch probably isn't the wisest idea, given that the paint could easily chip or get stuck in the Digital Crown or other parts of the watch, the end result actually looks much like the Apple Watch Edition.
Of course, the thin gold plating is not the same as the 18-karat solid gold used on the Apple Watch Edition, but the difference is hard to tell visually and these services are available at a fraction of the price. Before placing an order, keep in mind that modifying your Apple Watch with gold plating may void your standard warranty or AppleCare protection plan for the device.
Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by Juli Clover
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing.
Test Settings
I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1.
Release Date
Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
Monday October 27, 2025 12:51 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors.
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Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 could feature 50% more memory than its predecessor, according to Korea's The Bell.
With its latest iPhone lineup, the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature 12GB of memory. This is a significant increase of 4GB more their predecessors, largely driven by the demands of on-device artificial intelligence processing.
The iPhone 17 is the only new...
Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
The first preview release of the Swift SDK for Android was published this week, allowing developers to build Android apps in Swift with official tooling and making it easier to share code across iOS and Android.
The SDK enables Android apps to be built in Swift using officially supported tooling rather than community workarounds. In June, it was announced that Apple's Swift programming...
Friday October 24, 2025 7:18 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
At least some new iPhone models launching next year may support full 5G satellite internet, according to a report this week from The Information.
"Apple plans to add support in upcoming iPhones as early as next year for 5G networks that aren't tethered to Earth's surface, which includes satellites," the report said. "That would give the iPhone full internet access over satellite," it added.
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I'm seriously considering offering a service where Edition owners can have their Watches space grey anodised. They're still rich, just not flaunting it.
