On the fifth anniversary of Apple’s first smart watch, Imran Chaudhri (@imranchaudhri), one of the designers of the original device, has shared interesting facts about Apple Watch on his twitter account that you probably didn’t know about the development of this famous wearable.

Imran Chaudhri, an Apple alumnus who now serves as the co-founder of a stealthy startup called Humane, shared a number of “fun facts” about the original Apple Watch and some items; like the interface of him in a Twitter thread on April 24.

For example, in this Tweet, Chaudhri posted a reproduction of the original sketch for the Apple Watch home screen and added some details about the interface, as we can see below.

here’s a reproduction of my original sketch for the home screen. the shape of the circular icon was driven by the clock that lived in the center of what i originally called the dock. the crown gave the home screen a dimensionality, allowing you to scrub through layers of the ui. pic.twitter.com/w2QITncvHl

— Imran Chaudhri (@imranchaudhri) April 24, 2020

Something that stands out is the statement from the former designer where Apple said that its first Apple Watch prototype was actually a sixth-generation iPod nano attached to a watch band. Chaudhri used that prototype to display Siri and Notification Center on a worn platform.

my first prototype was built on a 6th gen nano strapped to this band. i had just wrapped up ios5 and took it down to show the ID team what notification center and siri was – and what it could be in the future. i never got to share it with steve. we lost him right after ios5. pic.twitter.com/j4JJYNIgIu

— Imran Chaudhri (@imranchaudhri) April 24, 2020

Here are some other interesting details about the original development process for the Apple Watch.

Curious facts about the Apple Watch

  • The Digital Touch was originally called “electronic touch”. Chaudhri said he named it so because of its “potential as a new form of emotional connections.”
  • Similarly, the “ink” sketch drawing of the Digital Touch feature was inspired by Chaudhri’s “graffiti days”—the “sphere was designed to communicate transmission while staying blameless”.
  • The various Apple Watch straps were inspired by the Velcro Speedmaster straps worn by Apollo-era astronauts, and were meant to be simple.
  • To achieve the butterfly effect used in the “Motion” sphere, no butterflies were hurt during the animation process, as they were lifeless from the start. Chaudhri managed to keep the blue one.
  • The “sundial” dial was created as a way for Muslims observing Ramadan to quickly see the position of the sun and for everyone to understand the sun’s relationship with time, Chaudhri said.

    • Without a doubt, Apple’s Apple Watch has come a long way since the original, launched in 2015. Current rumors also suggest that an upcoming version of the Apple Watch could include new features such as blood oxygen detection, tracking function built-in sleep aids and larger, improved batteries.

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