Rolex is a luxury watch maker. The cheapest Rolex you can get is more than 5000 dollars. To say they market to different audiences would be an extreme understatement.

While this is true, it in no way makes my point any less valid.

Pebble went out of business, the very opposite of commercial viability.

Apple went on to outsell a 4.7 billion dollar player in close to a year. If the choice of Rolex offends, insert the name of more or less any other watch manufacturer you like, the comparison usually stands, or at the least shows the exceptional sales the line achieved in a short period of time. If anything, it's even more impressive when one compares to 2016 revenues of cheaper watch makers such as Seiko, Fossil, Citizen etc.