Not sure... I saw estimates that it would contain ~$1,500 worth of gold, and I'm speculating it's closer to ~$1,000.
You're not really giving me much reason to put any stock in your prediction. Your complete lack of detail or explanation makes it sound like you're pulling a number out of the air.
The people making much higher estimates of the gold watch's price (most notably, John Gruber) are backing their estimates with analysis and citations.
Gold bullion (99.9% or finer, or 24 karat) is around $1200 an ounce currently. 18 karat gold is around 75% pure, so an ounce of the gold Apple would have been using is only worth around $900.
So with this process it's $450?
No, 900$ per ounce still... But it would take up a larger volume so you'd need less mass per watch.
Right sorry, I was reading it as $900 for gold per watch not per ounce!