Former Apple designer takes us through the history of the Apple Watch

The Apple Watch is probably the most recognisable wearable in the world today, despite the fact that—like many Apple products—it only works with other devices in the ecosystem. In fact, where other rival smartwatch OS-makers (like Google and its Wear OS) have faltered, Apple has continued to grow from strength to strength with the continued popularity of the Apple Watch.

To mark the 5 year mark since the first generation of the the Apple Watch was launched, a former Apple designer recently posted a series of images on Twitter to share the journey that the wearable has been on. Imran Chaudhri was a former employee at Apple, where he worked on products such as the iPhone, iPad, Mac—and the Apple Watch.

Among other tidbits, Chaudhri shared that “digital touch”, the feature that allows you to send your heartbeat readings to a friend, was initially called “E.T.”.

There are also early-day sketches of the Apple Watch in development, while the Tweets also revealed that the first prototype of the Apple Watch was built on 6th generation iPod Nano strapped to a watch band. Sadly, this prototype was never seen by Steve Jobs, the former Apple CEO who passed during 2011.

Chaudhri says that the loop bands of the Apple Watch strap were inspired by the velcro speedmaster straps worn by Apollo astronauts.

The designer also talks about the solar watch face, which he created himself to help muslims quickly tell the position of the sun whilst Ramadan. There’s a photo of a perfectly-preserved butterfly, one that was apparently used int he butterfly motion watch face for the Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch is currently in its 5th generation, with a Series 6 expected to arrive sometime during September 2020. The wearable has generally enjoyed huge success in t he 5 years since launch, despite the growing competition in the smartwatch market.