Desk Clock (champagne color, etched logo, c. 2005)

This Apple-branded Desk Clock was likely purchased at the Apple Company Store at the Infinite Loop Campus in Cupertino, California. It is packaged in a gift box with a UPC code, the part number T5134LL/A, and is priced at $34.95.

The clock base is made from solid metal and is relatively heavy for its size. The metal base is polished stainless steel in a champagne color with a textured Apple logo etched into the front under the clock. The bottom of the base is covered in a black, non-scratch, velvet-textured fabric to protect the surface on which it sits.

The clock is battery-powered and mounted in a hole through the top-center of the base. The outer ring of the clock is polished silver. The clock face is a matte version of the champagne-colored base. The clock has silver hands and no numbers, but marks the 12, 3, 6, and 9 positions with thin, black triangles.

The front of the clock is rectangular with a gentle arch across the top. The back of the clock is elegantly curved from top to bottom. The metal clock base is 2.25 inches wide, 2.5 inches tall, and 0.75 inches deep at the base. The circular clock is 1.5 inches in diameter.

The colors, finishes, and overall weight give this desk clock a luxurious look and feel.

iPod (Generation 5, 60GB, 2006)

The iPod Generation 5, also known as iPod with video, was the first iPod model capable of displaying video. This device’s part number is MA003LL/A, and its model number is A1136. Apple describes this iPod:

“The iPod (5th generation) is a hard drive-based iPod featuring a large, widescreen color display, a Click Wheel, and the capability of displaying photos and videos. It uses USB for syncing.”

According to EveryMac:

“It uses a 30 GB or 60 GB 4200 RPM ATA-66 hard drive, capable of supporting up to 7,500 songs or up to 15,000 songs in 128-Kbps AAC format. Additionally, Apple reports that the 30 and 60 GB drives, respectively, can hold over 1000 or 2000 4-minute videos in H.264…”

Apple described the color of this iPod as “iBook white” (after its laptop sold at the same time), or “jet black” for the U2 version of this iPod. All iPod Generation 5 models had a chrome stainless steel back. The 30GB model of the Generation 5 iPod was 31% thinner than the 30GB Generation 4, and the 60GB model of the Generation 5 iPod was 12% thinner than the 60GB Generation 4.

This iPod had a 2.5-inch (diagonal) QVGA transflective color LCD display (at 320×240) capable of displaying over 260,000 colors. The backlight was both larger and higher-resolution than earlier iPod models.

EveryMac reported that:

“The iPod 5G can immediately display many types of photos transferred directly from a digital camera using the iPod Camera Connector (US$29), and can display photo slide shows on the internal display or a television using the included AV cable (S-video, data and audio output, and a variable line output port are provided by the optional Universal Dock (US$39) that also provides support for the Apple Remote (US$29). Unlike earlier iPod models, it also supports video playback on the internal display or on a television (at a maximum resolution of 480×480).”

Source: Apple (Identify Your iPod), EveryMac

Watch, www.apple.com (c. 1997)

This rare boxed watch was offered by Apple as a marketing piece, likely for Apple’s System 7.5 operating system that was released in 1997. The watch body is made from a matte-finished silver metal and has a black leather band. The watch face is white with red dots in the 12, 3, 6, and 9 positions; has red hour and minute hands; and is printed across the top with www.apple.com with the six-color logo printed at the bottom. Instead of a second hand, the watch has a transparent disc printed with eight color icons. The icons resemble System 7.5 color icons, but they do not match.

The icons are are printed top-to-bottom so the disc is only aligned at 0º once per minute—as opposed to having the icons printed at angles so the topmost icon is aligned to the 12 position. The icons resemble the following System 7.5 icons:

  • Puzzle (Application)—located under the Apple Menu
  • Dogcow—icon located on the Print screen to indicate the layout of the printed page
  • Color—Control Panel
  • Trash
  • Map—Control Panel
  • Users & Groups—Control Panel
  • Alarm Clock (Application)—located under the Apple Menu
  • Globe—similar to the Map Control panel

The watch measures 9 3/8 inches long from tip of the black leather band to the metal buckle. The metal watch case is 1 5/8 inches tall by 1 1/4 inches wide.

Another design inconsistency is that the www.apple.com URL printed in black on the watch face is not in Apple Garamond, Apple’s corporate font of the time. Rather, the font used appears to be a version of Times.

The original box shares many of the design quirks of the watch itself. The box measures 3 7/8 inches wide x 5 7/8 inches tall x 1 1/8 inches deep. Its base is glossy black, and it opens like a jewel box along the short edge.

The top exterior of the box has the six-color Apple logo printed in the center, and it is surrounded by a slightly different version of the eight icons shown on the watch. Although the box icons are slightly more realistic than the smaller watch versions, they also do not match the System 7.5 icons.

When opened, the interior of the box is primarily glossy black and uses a pop-up cardboard effect (similar to a “pop-up book”). The pop-up is a stylized globe in bright blue and bright green that is oriented upside-down (with the northern and southern hemispheres rotated and drawn in a manner inconsistent with an actual globe). The URL www.apple.com is printed in white in a quarter-rounded path around the globe in the same font as the watch face.

The box-bottom repeats the URL www.apple.com in bright blue across the top. A slot near the bottom and six-color Apple logo tab near the top are used to secure the watch at an angle on an in insert inside the box.

A Cult of Mac article was still available online at the time of this writing that featured this “Apple Watch” as the world waited for the release of the Apple Watch—referred to in the article as the “iWatch.” At the time, Cult of Mac (and other news sources) were incorrectly assuming Apple’s rumored smart watch would be called “iWatch.” The headline reads, “Forget The iWatch, Here Are 11 Apple Watches You Can Buy Right Now.” The article reads, in part:

“When rumors of the iWatch first surfaced, most insiders pegged its launch date for somewhere around the end of 2013 and everyone got super excited that our wrists are going to get blinged out by Apple really soon. However, lately we’ve been hearing that that might not be the case, and we won’t be able to slap Apple’s magical wrist watch on until 2014.”

I consider myself privileged to have this unusual and classic watch in my collection.

Sources: CultOfMac, GUIdebook (Graphical User Interface Gallery), Wikipedia

Final Cut Studio, Version 3.0, Install DVDs (NFR, 2009)

Final Cut Studio was a suite of video editing, production, and post-production software created by Apple and sold between 2005–2011. Version 3.0 was the final release of Final Cut Studio and contained the following applications:

  • Final Cut Pro 7—real-time video editor for DV, SD, and HD formats
  • Motion 4—real-time motion graphics design application
  • Soundtrack Pro 3—advanced audio editing and sound design application
  • DVD Studio Pro 4—application for encoding, authoring, and burning DVDs
  • Color 1.5—color grading application
  • Compressor 3.5—video encoding tool for exporting projects in different formats
  • Cinema Tools 4.5—application providing tools specific to film processing
  • Qmaster 3—distributed processing tool

Apple’s press release for this version of Final Cut Studio began with:

“Apple today announced a significant update to Final Cut Studio with more than 100 new features and new versions of Final Cut Pro, Motion, Soundtrack Pro, Color and Compressor. Final Cut Studio features Final Cut Pro 7 which expands Apple’s ProRes codec family to support virtually any workflow and includes Easy Export for one step output to a variety of formats and iChat Theater support for real-time collaboration.”

This set includes 7 DVDs. This version is NFR, Not for Resale.

Sources: Apple, Wikipedia

Apple Color Graphics Sampler CD (1991)

Back in 1991, working with color on a computer—even a Mac—was apparently a novel activity. So novel that Apple released this Apple Color Graphics Sampler CD to showcase the benefits of color. Although basic color had been displaying on Apple screens since the Apple II in 1977, it took until 1991 for color to become a feature that regular people could produce and control in documents.

The CD is “designed to help you easily see the benefits of using color on the Apple™ Macintosh™ computer. We’ve provided the sampler so you can quickly see color performance—right after you pull your Macintosh monitor out of the box.”

Among other assets, the CD contains two image folders, 24-bit and 8-bit, and demos of applications including MacDraw Pro, Pixelpaint Pro, MacroMind Director, and Photoshop 1.0. It also has screensavers Dark Side of the Mac, Flowfazer, and Moire 3.02.

Incidentally, this is the earliest Apple-branded CD-ROM in my collection.

Source: MacWorld

iPod classic (Generation 7, 120 GB, silver, 2008)

This Late 2018 iPod classic was very similar to the previous Generation 6 model. This iPod was available in 120 GB or 160 GB capacities, had a 2.5-inch color LCD display (320×240, 163 ppi), and was available with a black or silver anodized aluminum front and a chrome stainless steel back. This model is the third generation of the iPod classic.

The software included a Cover Flow option for selecting albums with three games bundled, including iQuiz, Klondike, and Vortex.

Source: EveryMac.com