Apple's latest Apple Watch ad shows timepece taking a licking

In the 1950s and 1960s, American watchmaker Timex used to advertise how tough its watches were by having newsman John Cameron Swayze say that Timex watches could take a licking and keep on ticking. Apple, the manufacturer of the most popular watch in the world, the Apple Watch, today released a television commercial developed to show off how tough its timepiece is.

The ad is titled "Hard Knocks," a perfect name for the clip which weighs in at 1 minute and 38 seconds. It probably will be edited down to two versions for television, a 60-second version and a 30-second version.

So how durable is the Apple Watch? In one example seen in the ad, a penalty kick in a soccer match results in the ball, traveling approximately 70 mph, smashing into a player's Apple Watch while it is being worn on his wrist. In another example that can be viewed in the spot, a chef cooking up something yummy on the stove is surrounded by flames with his Apple Watch not too far away, the timer counting down how long until dinner is served.

And the ad includes a scene, filmed during a competitive Badminton game, that shows a player diving in an attempt to return a shot, and his Apple Watch is driven hard into the dirt. In another example of its durability, a woman's Apple Watch is soaked by rainwater that comes from a puddle that a car drove through.

The ad shows the Apple Watch under attack. A figure skater falls on the ice and her Apple Watch has a tough landing. An Apple Watch worn by a tennis player takes a direct hit from a machine firing tennis balls from across the net. The smartwatch gets caught in the folding glass door on a bus, and in a dog's mouth. 

A child drops an Apple Watch into the toilet, and while Apple doesn't show the effects of any of these events on the timepieces, the commercial is supposed to lead you to the conclusion that the timepiece can survive any of these impacts without sustaining any serious damage. The tagline, the memorable phrase at the end of an ad that sticks in your mind, says, "the most durable Apple Watch ever."

The commercial will probably appear during this weekend's major televised sports events and compared to the old Timex spots, it shows you how far watches and the advertising for watches have come over the last few decades.

It's interesting that Apple is calling the Series 7 timepieces more durable since a new, more durable Apple Watch 8 for athletes is rumored to be one of three Apple Watch Series 8 versions being released this year. The regular Apple Watch Series 8 is rumored to sport a larger 1.9-inch display, up from last year's 1.78-inch screen, with thinner bezels.