The ‘First Apple Watch’ was the Seiko WristMac from 1988 #Apple #AppleWatch #Mac @9to5mac

The “WristMac” was billed in 1988 as the most advanced technology you could wear on your wrist and predates the first Apple Watch by 25 years. It was issued by Seiko and came with Wrist Mac software to sync with a mac, a HyperCard stack. And that cool logo.

The WristMac does have a cool piece of history:

When the astronauts aboard the Atlantis Space Shuttle sent the first email from space on August 28, 1991, they wore WristMac watches to coordinate with the Macintosh Portable and Apple Link software aboard the shuttle.

A recent auction highlighted this piece of history.

The auction is being run by Comic Connect, which, as the name suggests, mostly specializes in selling comics.

Complete in box; Includes original (opened) box, registration card, reference manual, software floppy disk, packaging, and unopened Seiko WristMac watch; Serial No. 70216.

Extremely rare 1988 Seiko/Ex Machina WristMac; first Apple Watch (released in 1988 – over 25 years before 2015’s Apple Watch!); One of the first pieces of wearable computing technology.

This 1988 Wrist Mac comes in its original packaging and has never been sold in the over thirty years since its first release. The box advertises the revolutionary features of the watch, and contains the original sticker noting the Serial Number (70216).

The box has been opened and shows little wear, retaining its original white appearance despite some stress. Inside, the box contains the original Wrist Mac Registration Card (never filled out!), the Wrist Tutorial and Reference Manual (complete with white pages and no writing inside it), the Wrist Mac 1.2 floppy disk containing the official Wrist Mac software, the Wrist Mac’s holder for stability when plugged into a computer, and the original Seiko box containing the WristMac itself in pristine condition, with its original cables.

The watch sold for $7,500, much more than was expected. Less pristine examples can be found for less, as one Instagram poster notes.

You can read more on 9to5mac and Comic Connect (auction site).

 


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