I think you misread my comment. I wasn't comparing Edition with a gold Rolex, just a low-end (perhaps second hand) stainless steel Explorer / AirKing / etc. If you see someone wearing a fake stainless steel Rolex, there's a genuine possibility that it's real (assuming you can't tell it's fake). But with Edition, the chance of it being real is pretty low. Thus, wearing a gold plated Apple Watch is pretty obvious.

I'm well aware of the costs of a Rolex (and most watch brands, I'm a watch enthusiast). You can pick up a Rolex for a few thousand pounds in Britain. New, they start at around £4000ish. Gold watches in general cost a lot more, especially if they have a gold link bracelet, and you're right that Edition is priced fairly competitively.

A stainless steel Rolex is, whilst quite a bit of money, affordable if you decide that you want it. I don't live in a major city and yet I'll still see a few on the wrists of people if I take a trip around town. Edition, however, would be quite a sighting - similar (in terms of required wealth), in my opinion, to seeing a complicated Patek on a wrist. (Whilst the prices are different, I'm saying this because of the upgrade issue, i.e. a £100K Patek will last many lifetimes, a gold Edition will be useless in less than 5 years).

I own a stainless Datejust (Rolex). The MetaWatch people gave me several (10+) of various models of their watches. I wear neither, and have no plans on an Apple Watch.