Beginning in 2020 Apple began offering Apple Watch band designs that were specifically sized to wrists. These bands included the Apple Watch Solo Loop and the Apple Watch Braided Solo Loop. These Apple Watch bands were available in sizes 1–12.
In order to allow individuals to determine their Apple Watch Band size, Apple provided three methods:
1. Printable Tool (online PDF)
2. Everyday items (using a “tailor’s measuring tape” or a narrow strip of paper)
3. Sizing Tool (in-store paper tool)
Options 1 and 2 were available online. After measuring your wrist, Apple provided an online converter that allowed users to enter their wrist size to a maximum of 10 15/16 inch (although the Solo Loop only fit wrists to a maximum of 8 2/16 inches).
This Sizing Tool was available to Apple Store Customers. The tools includes the directions on the outer package, instructing individuals through diagrams to open the package, peel back an adhesive dot, wrap the tool around the wrist, and determine the band size based upon the location of arrows printed on the Sizing Tool.
This example is unopened and was obtained at the Apple Store Michigan Avenue in Chicago in December 2021.
This dark gray mug features a matte finish and a white Apple logo. The mug is relatively tall and tapered from bottom to top. It is approximately 4.5 inches tall, and has a bottom diameter of 3.5 inches and a top diameter of just under 3 inches.
These multicolor Apple logos are made from embroidery thread and have an adhesive back. One set of embroidery stickers are on a transparent plastic film with the adhesive still tacky, and another set are separate with dried adhesive on the back. The adhesive on the separated stickers is yellowing.
Because the stickers are made primarily of thread, each has a slightly different shape, especially the individual stickers with hardened adhesive backs. The individual sticker dimensions vary, but the least-distorted example measures 20 x 25 mm for stickers on the plastic backing, and 18 x 23 mm off the backing.
I have estimated the date of these stickers as 1988 because a friend of mine had one of these on his hat throughout the mid- to late-1980s. I believe my friend acquired his sticker at an education event in Chicago. My set of stickers was purchased from the estate of a former Apple Education employee.
This thin plastic mousepad was made by the company Microthin and features the strawberry (red) Apple logo printed in a manner to simulate the translucent plastic Apple logo used in the iMac line of computers at the time. This mousepad is red to match the strawberry iMac. The iMac colors of the time included tangerine, lime, blueberry, grape, strawberry, and graphite.
The back of the mousepad is covered in a sticky material that provides traction to prevent slippage. The tackiness of the material is still viable after over 20 years and can be reactivated by rinsing accumulated dust with water. However, the entire mousepad is beginning to show signs of yellowing.
This lanyard is black with a red wooden bead accent. Its style appears to place it in the 1990s. This lanyard was acquired from the estate of a former Apple Education employee and was likely used in the 1990s at education events.
The cord of the lanyard features a white Apple logotype in Apple Garamond, Apple’s corporate font used between 1984 and 2003. The manufacturer is shown on a white tag printed with he name KOOCHY gear.
I have found similarly designed items by this manufacturer on eBay branded with other company logos. Although the company is no longer active, it now appears to be associated with the company PROMOVISION, specializing in custom lanyards.
This white ceramic tile was acquired from the estate of a former Apple Education employee. It is printed with a negative-space white Apple logo on a shimmering, metallic gold circle with the words “THE GOLDEN APPLE CLUB,” also printed in metallic gold. The tile’s border is surrounded with dark-green-printed shamrocks and the words “Ireland ’92” in an Old English typeface.
I was able to find a few references to the “The Golden Apple Club” in my research. One source in the Online Archive of California in the Department of Special Collections and University Archives at Stanford shows a listing in a collection archive titled, “Guide to the Apple Computer, Inc. Records M1007” (1998). The reference catalogs the item as “Vanity Press Items” with the entry: The Golden Apple Club: the best of the best., 1991. The complete record specifies that the university collection includes approximately 600 linear feet of items from 1977–1998 including: “organizational charts, annual reports, company directories, internal communications, engineering reports, design materials, press releases, manuals, public relations materials, human resource information, videotapes, audiotapes, software, hardware, and corporate memorabilia.”
A former Apple Regional Sales Manager on LinkedIn lists that he was a “Golden Apple Sales Award Winner” in 1998.
The long-running podcast RetroMacCast Episode 261 (October 21, 2012): “Frito Residue,” includes a reference to a 18K gold Golden Apple Club pin (selling for $1,049.99) and later included a conversation about the Golden Apple Club program. The podcast host discussed several Golden Apple Club items he had purchased in a kit, including a deck of cards, heavy-duty black plastic luggage tags, a neck pillow in a gray vinyl pouch, and a small portfolio—all with the Golden Apple Club logo. The “Club” was described as a program for sales representatives who had exceeded planned sales goals for a fiscal year. Reportedly, one of the “prizes” for Golden Apple Club members included a trip.
Based upon this information, this tile may have been received by a Golden Apple Club award winner on a trip to Ireland in 1992.
Perhaps worth noting, Apple has had facilities in Cork, Ireland, since 1980 and specifies that Cork “serves as Apple’s European headquarters, supporting customers across the continent and beyond.” There is no indication that this trip was to Cork, and this connection is pure speculation.
The tile measures 4.25 x 4.25 inches, 3/16-inch thick, and has a cork bottom.
This black leather portfolio was made by the company Hazel CID (America’s Case Maker). The corners of the portfolio are made from gold-colored metal, and the lower-right corner of the cover is embossed with an Apple logo and then words “Central Operations Executive Briefing Center.”
Apple’s “Central Operations Executive Briefing Center” was located in Chicago. It is now located in a different building in Chicago and is known as the Chicago Executive Briefing Center.
The interior of the portfolio includes a vinyl pocket on the left side and a slot on the right side to hold a pad of paper. The center of the portfolio includes a cutout tab to hold a pen.
This gray portfolio features a textured linen outer finish with a multicolor embroidery Apple logo on the upper-left front cover. The outer edges are stitched.
The inside of the portfolio is made from gray vinyl. The left side has a gray vinyl pocket, and the right side has a slot to hold a pad of paper. The left side also includes a curved slot to hold a business card vertically.
The left-bottom-center of the interior has a black tag with the words DART Manufacturing Co. Made In U.S.A. According to my research, DART merged with Senator USA in 2007. Both companies made promotional items and Senator is still in operation.
This Apple Watch box contained a replacement Apple watch. The box is sized to only hold the watch body and lacks space for the band, charging cable, and other items in the typical Apple Watch retail packaging.
The box contains a single sheet that shows the words “Need Help?” in several languages on one side and a QR COde on the other side that directs the user to a Support Article, “Use your Apple Watch after service.”
