$17k solid gold Apple Watch goes from Beyoncé's wrist to the obsolete list

If you're still wearing an original Apple Watch, we have bad news: the Series 0 is being moved to Apple's "obsolete" category, meaning owners will no longer be able to get service of any kind for their eight-year-old wrist computers.

That includes the $17,000 solid gold Edition release that appeared on the wrists of celebrities like Beyoncé, Drake, and fashion mogul Karl Lagerfeld. That version only made a single appearance in Series 0, and by Series 2 (there was no Apple Watch Edition model in Series 1) was replaced with a fully ceramic body that costs $1,299 – still expensive, but not "solid 18-karat gold" expensive. The cheaper aluminum, steel, and Hermès versions of Series 0 are also obsolete.

News of the move is based on an internal Apple memo viewed by MacRumors, and Apple has yet to announce the decision itself, or update its vintage and obsolete hardware page to add the Series 0 Apple Watch.

We've asked Apple to verify the news, but haven't heard back.

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While it hasn't confirmed the decision, moving the Apple Watch Series 0 to the obsolete category would jibe with Apple's timelines for categorizing old products as vintage or obsolete. According to its site, Apple considers products obsolete when they haven't been distributed for seven years. Having come out in 2015 and leaving sale in September 2016 with the release of the Series 1, the Series 0 has just moved beyond the seven-year hardware support period that Apple maintains.

Apple products that were discontinued between five and seven years ago are considered "vintage," which means Apple isn't issuing software updates, but will still repair the device if something happens. Once a device is obsolete, Apple discontinues hardware service, gets rid of parts, and makes them unavailable to service providers.

The Series 0 Apple Watch was shuffled into the vintage category in September 2021, but stopped receiving software updates in 2018 with the release of watchOS 4.3.2. Hopefully, we needn't remind El Reg readers that using such an out-of-date OS is a bad idea, solid gold housing or not. ®