When the biggest name in the watch industry decides to get into the smart watch/fitness tracker business, you expect a watch that is made for the masses. What you don’t expect is a watch made for a niche sport; but then again, Swatch does not do things in the normal way. The Swatch Touch Zero One is, as the name implies, the first watch in a planned ecosystem of fitness watches tied to the sports that Swatch supports.
When it comes to smart watches, there is no denying the amount of weight the name the Apple Watch carries in the segment (even if there is some question as to how well it is selling). For me, wearing a second device (or something that completely displaces a standard watch) is just about a non-starter. When you get into things that add a phone connection to the strap (like we saw on this TokyoFlash), then the argument becomes a lot more compelling. I have a feeling that we will see more of this sort of combination, and the Javelin Dayrunner is one of the latest to come to my attention.
The Kisai Link has gone from a stand-alone bracelet to a device integrated directly on watches from ToykoFlash.
Happy Father’s Day, and thanks for popping over and checking out the week’s Watch Video Rewind, our weekly feature where we bring to light watch related videos from the web that we think are interesting. Today, I have a bit of a hodgepodge of videos that I stumbled across this week.
There is no denying that smart watches are a very popular segment these days. We here at WWR (and over at ABTW) have kept a close eye on these products, as they do seem to be a harbinger of something coming – we are just not quite sure what, as of yet. While most of the attention has gone to higher-end smart watches (say, $300+), I think that it’s worth checking out what the lower end has to offer. With that, we have a review of the U8 Pro Smart Watch.
Mother’s Day is coming up, and as a service to those gift challenged male readers out there, I though I would highlight a few watches that you may want to get for the woman (or women) in your lives. I am mainly going to focus on watches that we have reviewed relatively recently, though there are a few extras tossed in here. So without further ado, here is out Mother’s Day Gift Guide.
When it comes to the world of smart watches, one of the big complaints I have heard (and read about) is that they simply are not designed to be appealing to those who appreciate watches. Many of them are gadgets first, and just happen to be able to be strapped to your wrist. That argument is losing a lot of steam now, especially with the announcement of the Frederique Constant Horological Smartwatch.
Ahead of its world premier at Basal 2015, The Swiss Railway Watch Company (and the company that sued Apple over it’s iPhone clock tile design) has announced a smartwatch. The Mondaine Helvetica No. 1 Smartwatch will be a connected analog watch with a sub dial used to track progress toward a goal.
I don’t really care for smartwatches. The ones that most interest me, thus far at least, have been ones like the Withings or Hoptroff that integrate a smartwatch feature into an analog watch. Well, the LG G Watch flipped that technique, taking the look of an analog watch and integrating it into a full blown smartwatch. It is, in my opinion, the best looking smartwatch out there.
I am not a fan of the direction of most smart watches. I don’t need another screen on my wrist to give me my texts and emails. If the notification is so important, then I will look at my phone or computer. But I do see the utility in getting some notifications, especially if it is in a fairly unobtrusive manner. And this is where connected analog watches enter the field. Devices like the Nevo Watch connect to your smart phone and display limited information in the background, while the primary look of the watch is an analog watch.
