Words: Charlie Thomas
The ‘year of the smartwatch’ is turning out to be slower than we thought. Apple’s release is just around the corner, yet other brands haven’t managed to produce anything else that’s grabbed our attention. Traditional Swiss watch brands are beginning to invest in smart technology though, as we saw with Montblanc’s innovative E-Strap that we first saw towards the end of last year. Now though, Mondaine are getting in on the action with this, the Mondaine Helvetica No 1 Smart watch. It’s the smartwatch you’ll actually want to wear.
At first glance you wouldn’t know this was a smartwatch – that’s what’s so great about it. It looks very similar to the rest of Mondaine’s Helvetica range, yet it’s far more than just a time-only piece. Behind the familiar sapphire crystal and analogue dial lies an activity tracker, monitoring your steps, distance travelled, calories burned and the like. This data can then be analysed on a complementary mobile phone app, or in real-time on the watch’s innovative sub-dial.
Indeed, that is no mini-seconds register you see at 6 o’clock, like a regular timepiece. It’s actually the analogue alternative to an LCD screen you might find on a rival smartwatch – that is, it displays the relevant ‘smart’ information. It’s the overall design that appeals to us most though. Until now, smartwatches won’t have appealed to traditional watch wearers, likely because their primary function isn’t telling the time. Mondaine have reversed this now, producing a timepiece first and a life-tool second. We have to commend them for that.
For more information, visit Mondaine.
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