As the leaves change with the seasons, so do the colors of the Apple Watch Sport. There are two new anodized aluminum finishes for Apple's entry-level smartwatch, gold and rose gold—and yes, they do conveniently match the colors of the gold and rose gold iPhone 6s.
Rene took the rose gold Apple Watch for a spin, while I took a look at the new gold finish.
Though you may not be surprised to hear it, the new Sport colors are flawless: They may not have the polished allure of the 18-karat Apple Watch Edition, but in many ways I actually prefer the matte colors—chief among them that they're $9651 cheaper.
The gold Sport is much paler than its Edition counterpart, matching more closely to that of the gold iPhone than real 18-karat gold. And I'm glad for it: Stylistically, I vastly prefer this shade to the yellow-gold of the Edition watch.
The coloration is close enough to the silver casing of the standard Apple Watch Sport that it makes matching bands an easy process. Almost every band I tried looked fabulous—even those with different-colored lugs or finishes.
By default, the golden 38mm Apple Watch Sport comes with the Antique White Sport Band (the pin is color-matched with the gold casing, for extra matching pizazz). In daylight, it's hard to tell the difference between a traditional white sport band and the new antique white—several friends commented on as much during CocoaLove. But that faded white offers a subtle but a nicer overall pairing with the gold watch, as you can see in these comparison pictures between antique (left, middle) and white (right). Also, gold pin.
The gold Sport looks pretty good with the Modern Buckle, despite clear coloration differences in the lugs: With both, it looks almost like a stylistic choice rather than a mismatched band. It does look a bit strange when you hold the watch in profile, as the silver Modern Buckle is clearly of a very different coloration than the casing, but this is really only an issue when the band is off your wrist, on display. When wearing the combination, you either see gold watch or silver buckle—rarely, if ever, at the same time.
I'm not so big of a fan of it paired with the Milanese Loop—it's too much silver for me on that gold frame.
If you want color choices, however, the Sport bands continue to shine: The various colors pop even more when paired with the gold watch. I'm particularly fond of the gold and black color combo—it's a fabulous look for evening wear, especially.
In all other aspects, the gold Sport is a Sport by any other name: It's made out of the same 7000-series aluminum case, Ion-X glass screen, and composite glass rear screen.
Are you considering a gold Sport for your next (or first) Apple Watch? Think it's awesome or the ugliest thing Apple's ever produced? Let us know below.