DETROIT, MI — Sometimes “smart” is simple, Shinola Detroit says in a new advertising campaign mocking Apple’s new smart watch. “Smart enough that you don’t need to charge it at night,” reads the ad copy that appeared in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, according to Ad Week. “Smart enough that it will never need a software upgrade. Smart enough that version 1.0 won’t need to be replaced next year, or in the many decades that follow. Built by the watchmakers of Detroit to last a lifetime or longer under the terms and conditions of the Shinola guarantee.”
The Apple Watches, available for online pre-order Friday and scheduled for an April 24 release, sold out in less than six hours, 9to5Mac.com reported.The Apple Watch aluminum models start off at $349, stainless steel versions at $549 and gold-cased at $10,000. The watches work like a smartphone strapped to your wrist. You can make and receive calls, text message, email, listen to music, access calenders and take pictures.
The Shinola ad, however, markets traditional watch simplicity, pitting its classic, two-handed Runwell timepiece, which starts at $550, against the computerized Apple Watch. “A watch so smart that you can tell the time just by looking at it,” the ad says.
Shinola, which also sells bikes, opened its flagship Detroit store in Detroit’s Midtown near Wayne State university in June 2013.