First, there’s this nugget:

According to a designer who works at Apple, Jonathan Ive, Apple’s design chief, in bragging about how cool he thought the iWatch was shaping up to be, gleefully said Switzerland is in trouble — though he chose a much bolder term for “trouble” to express how he thought the watchmaking nation might be in a tough predicament when Apple’s watch comes out.

If anyone can change the perception of wearables and ugliness, it’s definitely Apple. The company’s iPod turned the once-geeky MP3 player into a fashion accessory, the iPhone made smartphones into a status symbol, and the iPad took tablet computers, once the nerdiest gadget of all, and made them coveted and sexy accessories.

And this one:

Last year Credit Suisse issued a report that estimated the wearable industry could become a $30 billion to $50 billion industry over the next three to five years. But yet another report, by Beecham Research, warned that in order for wearable tech to become sought-after by consumers, tech firms need to figure out the fashion side of the equation.

“Unless there is a holistic morphing of technology and aesthetics, we will not harness the full potential of wearable tech innovation,” Claire Duke-Woolley, Beecham’s fashion technology analyst, said in the report.

This is one of Apple’s hallmarks. Enter a business still trying to invent itself (MP3 players, digital music sales, smart phones) and bring aesthetics and simple focused functionality to the mix.

If that designer’s leak is to be believed, Jonathan Ive might be right on the money here. Fine watches are a passion for many people. It’ll take something really special to get those people to turn away from Tag Heuer and the like. If Apple does indeed deliver the goods here, the traditional watchmakers may well be in trouble.