Inexpensive Apple Watch band adapter Adappt launches on Indiegogo

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With April’s launch of the Apple Watch on the horizon, we’re starting to see first adapters designed to let Watch wearers use their device with third-party watch bands, not just Apple’s.

Advertised as the first and patent pending adapter for standard straps for the Apple Watch, the Adappt by four Italian students, two of which are behind the inCharge, a tiny keyring USB charging cable, has now launched on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo.

The Adappt lets you wear your Apple Watch with any band. But don’t let this quite simple idea fool you, the Adappt is quite ingenious.

As a quick reminder, the Apple Watch case has a mechanism to enable straps to be interchanged. The Adappt has Apple’s proprietary plug on one side that slides into the Apple Watch band groove. The other side has a classic pin plug used by the vast majority of wrist watches.

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It’s available in two sizes, one for the 38mm and one for the 42mm Apple Watch, and comes in three finishes, each in two colors. They’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that the Adappt matches the style of your Watch in terms of build quality, the materials and manufacturing technology.

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“Our aluminum is anodized through an electro-chemical process that creates a porous surface, then coated with a dye, to look and feel exactly like the Sport edition versions, Silver and Space Gray aluminum,” they claim.

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The stainless steel version of the Adappt uses an alloy of stainless steel with the best strength/corrosion resistance ratio. It’s then carefully polished to give it a clean mirror look, just like the stainless steel Apple Watch.

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They’re also providing a darker elegant color to match the stainless steel Adappt to the Apple Watch Space Black variant. As for an Adappt finish for the Apple Watch Edition, they plate it with yellow or rose gold.

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I can totally see the Adappt becoming quite popular.

As you know, the price of an Apple Watch varies depending on your chosen band. Apple will be selling a handful of different bands that won’t come cheap (except for fluoroelastomer bands for the Apple Watch Sport) so adapters like the Adappt will help Watch owners save some money by using one of less expensive third-party watchbands with their device.

For instance, the least expensive Apple Watch Sport can now be matched with a classic band with the Adappt. Check out their promotional video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQdvJSnfBlU

“We are working with the best manufacturers of the field, to match the quality and attention to detail of Apple products,” project lead Ludovico Cianchetta ensured me via email.

“We found reliable manufacturers for each material, that will help us deliver a well finished product,” they said. The current models “are really precise.” As the exact dimensions are not known yet, they’ll have to wait until the Watch is released to finalize the accessory.

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The Adappt is the brainchild of Lorenzo Filiberto Ferraris, Ludovico Cianchetta, Carlo Edoardo Ferraris and Francesco Crema.

The accessory will be available in plastic, anodized aluminum and stainless steel finishes. Along with the Adappt itself, they’re also offering a combination of the adapter and a high quality rubber, leather or stainless steel band in a wide variety of colors, priced at $9 to $18 (adapter included).

The Adappt band itself starts at just seven bucks for the plastic edition and goes all the way up to $250 for a gold plated variant. The accessory along with the bands is scheduled to ship in June 2015.

You can pre-order yours from the Indiegogo campaign webpage.

Source: Indiegogo