Meta Watch's Meta M1 premium smartwatch is now available for preorder starting at $249
Meta Watch's ‘premium’ smartwatch is now available for pre-order — The Meta M1 can be had in a variety of colors and band options — Smartwatches are everywhere this year, but with few exceptions …
Context & Ripple Effects
Meta Watch's last big preorder push was the $3,000 Meta Pro AR glasses in December 2013 — a niche developer-priced device. The Meta M1 at $249 moves the company down to a consumer price point, with multiple colors and band options doing the 'premium' work.
The pickup was unusually wide for a hardware preorder: Engadget, BGR, Fast Company, Electronista, PhoneDog, App Advice, Connectedly and Meta's own site all ran the story on or about August 8, 2014, reflecting how crowded the smartwatch category had become that year — The Verge's own framing was that smartwatches were everywhere in 2014, with few exceptions.
First-order effects
- Buyers can reserve the M1 starting at $249 with a choice of colors and bands, handing Meta Watch preorder revenue and demand signal before it commits to full production runs.
- The M1 gives Meta Watch a mass-market product alongside the Meta Pro glasses line, letting it occupy both a $249 wrist slot and a $3,000 face slot simultaneously.
Second-order effects
- In a 2014 field where every vendor shipped a watch, the M1's premium framing via materials and band options pushes rivals to compete on fashion and customization rather than spec sheets alone.
- Retailers and carriers watching preorder volumes get an early read on whether a sub-$300 'premium' watch converts, informing shelf space decisions for the rest of the season's wearable launches.
Third-order effects
- If preorder-first launches keep working for small hardware makers, wearables consolidate around companies that can fund production through customer cash rather than retail inventory risk — a structure that favors design-led entrants over distribution-led ones.
- The color-and-band strategy points toward watches being merchandised like fashion accessories, where the strap lineup matters as much as the silicon inside.
The trend: Smartwatch makers in 2014 are using preorder campaigns and fashion-tier pricing to carve out premium positions in a category flooding with commodity entries.