If I purchase an Apple Watch in March will it be ok to keep it in the box until Christmas?

I am not disagreeing with Idris or Philly because they are really smart. This is from a maximizing performance battery page and I used this as a basis for my answer.

Link to the excerpt that follows - Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple

Store it half-charged when you store it long term.

If you want to store your device long term, two key factors will affect the overall health of your battery: the environmental temperature and the percentage of charge on the battery when it’s powered down for storage. Therefore, we recommend the following:

• Do not fully charge or fully discharge your device’s battery — charge it to around 50%. If you store a device when its battery is fully discharged, the battery could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding a charge. Conversely, if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may lose some capacity, leading to shorter battery life.
• Power down the device to avoid additional battery use.
• Place your device in a cool, moisture-free environment that’s less than 90° F (32° C).
• If you plan to store your device for longer than six months, charge it to 50% every six months.

Depending on how long you store your device, it may be in a low-battery state when you remove it from long-term storage. After it’s removed from storage, it may require 20 minutes of charging with the original adapter before you can use it.

***I did not do the math and late June is the earliest you should buy a device so that it is fine for Christmas.

I am not disagreeing with Idris or Philly because they are really smart.

I never mind being disagreed with or corrected as long as the person doing it is civil. Or complimentary. ;-)

It's quite possible nothing would happen. However, if the OP is purchasing the watch and not opening the box, there would be no way of knowing how long the watch had already been in the box or how much charge it still had on it. The possibility that the battery would be affected combine with the possibility that the OP might be spending more money than they need leads me to recommend against it.

It should be fine. The watches are stored with a certain battery charge that protects them.

If I purchase an Apple Watch in March will it be ok to keep it in the box until Christmas?

I agree with Philly that there is the potential for battery issues.

Also, consider that Apple has released a new model watch about every year since the initial release. When they have released the new model, the price of older ones has dropped. Now, we have no way of knowing what Apple will do between March and December and speculation is prohibited. But it's still something to think about.

I disagree with welafever. I have a Bose product that was pretty much brand new but I didn't have the use for it that I had expected. I charged the battery to 100% and put it on a shelf and forgot about it. I remembered last week (after a year on the shelf). The battery was completely shot. Instead of six hour of usage, it gives me absolute zero.

I am not disagreeing with Idris or Philly because they are really smart.

Awww... You're embarrassing me!

You have helped me since I joined and I really appreciate it.

We all do what we can. Cheers!

FWIW, I agree with Idris. 😇