For roughly 6 weeks, I have worn an iWatch alongside my Bremont. Why? Because a lot of my customers have asked whether I am concerned about smart watches taking over traditional watches, and I wanted to be able to answer this question truthfully from first-hand experience rather than pontificate.
So what have I learnt?
In truth, I think there is space for both smart watches and a traditional timepiece. I suspect you’ll know that the electronic watch is hardly revolutionary, digital watches have been around since the 80s. What sets smart watches apart from our traditional watches – the iwatch more so – is the added functionality. The second part of the term ‘smart watch’ feels like a misnomer, it’s simple a warm and recognisable word to make you comfortable wearing an electronic device on your wrist though granted 'smart wrist worn device' is much less catchy,
The iWatch only works properly with an iPhone, which is a problem given so many Android or Microsoft devices there are out there. Functionally, I’ve really struggled to find a ‘killer application’ for the iWatch – something that makes me think “wow, I’ve missed this all my life” or “this solves a problem I never knew I had”. I get alerts for my emails, texts, calendar appointments and I also often obey the watch’s instruction to look at my phone. It seems the simple capability is the ability to see a snapshot of what’s going on with my phone without the terrible strain of removing it from my pocket!
That said, I have oddly grown quite attached to it. I particularly like the exercise and fitness tracking, if only for curiosity as opposed to motivation! I’ve enjoyed declining phone calls without having to look at my phone (sorry), having sports results subtly relayed to me with a silent vibration on my wrist and dictated reminders to myself while on the move (and looking an idiot talking to my wrist at the same time).
In summary, it’s been a fun device to play with and I foresee a time when people may wear two devices. A classic timepiece that’s personal and individual plus on the other wrist, a communications device. It seems natural to me. Once the technology companies find a singular eye opening application this may become common. In the meantime, I’m glad the debate is open and people are talking about watches.