The much-anticipated Apple Watch may not be available until spring 2015, according to Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of retail and online stores.

“We’re going into the holidays, we’ll go into Chinese New Year, and then we’ve got a new watch launch coming in the spring,” said Ahrendts in a video message to retail store employees, via a transcript that a source provided to 9to5Mac.

Though Apple initially planned to launch the wearable this fall, engineering difficulties forced the company to delay its release. Since then, Apple has consistently stated that the watch would be released in “early 2015.” A report in The Information this past September suggested that Apple “would be lucky” to ship the watch by Valentine’s Day.

According to the Telegraph, the Apple Watch will come in three versions: a “Standard,” “Sport,” and “Luxury” model. Each model will be available in either a 38 mm or 42 mm size. Sources revealed to 9to5Mac that despite the delays, Apple executives are already planning retail strategies for the smart watches. The sources claimed that at a retail employee meeting last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook told staff that retail employees would be trained to help customers try on the Apple Watches, including swapping out different sizes and bands.

In her video message Ahrendts emphasized the critical importance of customer service in the Apple Stores.

“Realize that every customer you touch… how do you make sure that they will walk away feeling very different, very positive, than before they walked into that store or they interacted with you?” she said.