can I buy a watch and give it to someone as a gift?

Gosh, I can't believe this. I think giving a watch as a gift is totally great. But, what an issue about linking the serial number to my account. I was so disappointed when I realized I couldn't get any of our adult children Iphones since they are linked with a phone plan. Now, Apple has made it not so easy to buy a watch for someone else. Wow! What are they thinking? Anyway, thanks for your help. Maybe I'll get her a sweater instead! :-) I wonder what would Apple do if I walked into an Apple Store and told them I was buying a watch for someone else. Would they still link that watch to me???

One of the other members of the community said that when he tried to register a watch to his Apple ID, the system said that the serial number was already linked to another Apple ID. The watch had not been activated and was totally packaged. This is nuts.

Thank you for this. I thought that buying a watch for someone other than yourself might be a problem. I thought Apple sent the watch icon to you when you bought the watch; but, I learned that is not the case. So, if Apple links your purchase of a watch to your Apple ID, then, I don't know how anyone else can activate and use the watch if they are not the purchaser of that watch. Apparently, Apple must record the serial number of the watch and link it to your Apple ID. I don't know what to do about this. Seems silly that I can't buy a watch for my daughter-in-law and have her link the purchase to her Apple ID and not mine. Where do we go from here?

If I understand you correctly -- if I buy this watch for my daughter-in-law, Apple will think I bought it for myself. So, I go to the link you sent me and delete this watch from my profile. So, what does my daughter-in-law do about linking the watch to her Apple ID???

Its not a big issue.....if it works like you state. However, my experience with Apple and its many products has been confusing, at best. There seems to be a constant issue where my devices are listed that shouldn't be, old devices that have been removed still on my account, even old computers that have been discarded years ago. I just don't want to get into an issue with this watch and have it linked to me forever.

But, when I purchased a watch for myself, Apple sent a Watch icon to my phone. I was just wondering if I purchased a watch for a family member, will Apple think I made this purchase for myself???

Great! That's all I needed to know! :-)