I have no idea what you mean by this. You do not need, and have never needed, to own an iPhone to use an Apple computer.

> I bought my wife a iWatch last week and briefly thought of getting myself one but you can't use it without an iPhone...

This, on the other hand, makes a little more sense. The Apple Watch is designed as a companion device to an iPhone. Much of its functionality relies upon the phone (e.g. displaying notifications from the phone, installing watch apps which pair with corresponding phone apps) -- it can't do much on its own.