Zero Space Black Stainless Apple Watches Shipped?

Here’s a weird one: According to multiple sources, it appears that Apple hasn’t shipped a single black stainless steel Apple Watch.

Now, this doesn’t mean that nobody bought one, even though purchasers are oddly limited to the most expensive thousand-dollar-plus bracelet combination. Instead, it seems that the model simply isn’t ready for primetime. Space Black buyers have told us that they have yet to receive their Apple Watches despite ordering within minutes of availability on the original April 10 pre-order date. Worse, nobody has any idea when they’ll get them (although the Apple Store shows that new orders will ship in July).

While we can’t be sure what the holdup is, common sense indicates it has something to do with that gorgeous finish. Highly polished colored stainless isn’t particularly easy to manufacture, and that deep hue can show scratches even more readily than regular shiny stainless does.

Hopefully, Apple will get it together in short order, so these don’t turn into long orders.