how long was preparing to ship take

If you order when they have a good supply in the US then you usually get it in about two days. However, most newer items are being shipped from China. I currently have an Apple Watch 6 on order and I got a shipping notification with a tracking number but it's currently in China and won't be here for another week.

my experience has been that they use ~2 day shipping (I'm in the US near a major city). so when my new watch came that status changed just 2-3 days before I got it.

noting that your delivery estimate is actually a 1 week range. it could easily be December 9th before you see that status change.. just depends on how backlogged they are

It will probably change to Shipped about 10 days prior to delivery.

good to know!