When Apple first showed off the Apple Watch, I was stunned. It looked glorious and larger than life. Shiny and precision-machined. Like an object from the future that time-traveled back to the present just to blow everyone away.

This past Friday, the first day that the public was allowed to handle and play with the Apple Watch, everyone who had been obsessing over videos and photographs finally got the chance to use one firsthand. I made it to the Apple Store on Friday and was one of those people.

I came away underwhelmed and a little disheartened.

These are my thoughts on the Apple Watch after actually using one.

Some Background

I have owned 8 iPhones. I’ve been using a Mac since 1996. For my birthday when I was a kid, my Mom took me to the MacWorld Expo in Boston. I write iPhone apps. I’m a die-hard Apple person.

I used to be a serious watch person until I started carrying an iPhone in my pocket and typing at a desk every day (buckles on watches scraping against a keyboard are not my favorite thing.) I own a beautiful Panerai chronograph, a nice pilot watch, a bunch of Swatch watches and a bright orange Nooka digital watch. I’m deeply fascinated by mechanical watch movements and have (briefly) attempted to design my own in 3D software before realizing it’s extremely hard. I aspire to own a Lange Datograph some day.

Now that you know my Apple and watch cred, let’s get into it.

Inconvenient Truth #1:

The Apple Watch Is Really Small

I was shocked at how small and slight the Apple Watch felt on my wrist. I’m a larger guy (6' and built like a linebacker who retired and got a little fat) and when I tried the 42mm Apple Watch Sport on, I thought it was the 38mm. I thought it was tiny and there was some mistake. It is the smallest watch that’s ever been on my wrist.

But wait! The 42mm Apple Watch isn’t that small, right? I mean, it’s 42mm and lots of mens’ watches are around 40–44mm nowadays. Here’s the problem with that, and I think Apple has put a little marketing smoke and mirrors into play here.

Most watches are round. When a manufacturer says that their watch is 42mm, it’s the diameter across the case of the watch. Depending on the exact type of watch, it’s usually 42mm all the way around. However, when Apple says that the Apple Watch is 42mm, they’re measuring it from top-to-bottom. From side-to-side it’s only 35.9mm wide which is tiny in the world of men’s watches and actually closer to a woman’s watch size. Here’s a true-to-scale comparison between the 42mm Apple Watch Sport and some other popular men’s watches.