Smartwatches are slowly becoming everyone’s preferred means of telling the time! Gone are the bulky and gawky smartwatch designs of the past, they’re slowly being replaced by smart, nifty and not to mention fashionably stylish successors! They’re going beyond simply telling the time, these multifunctional timepieces can now keep a check on our health, update us on the weather, function as an alarm clock, give reminders, cater to the blind, and are even being used by firefighters to save lives! When it comes to innovative smartwatches, designers are leaving no stones unturned, and we’ve curated a collection of unique, inventive, and highly functional watches that will look super cool on your wrist!
Embodying Google’s playful-serious aesthetic, the Pixel Smartwatch concept comes in a traditional round format, and in a variety of quirkily named colors. The Android Wear OS logo displays clearly on the always-on display of the watch, transforming into a colorful set of watch hands every time you look at it to read the time. The watch comes with Google’s top-notch voice AI, all of Google’s native apps, and a heart-rate monitor on the back, which ties in well with Google’s plan of acquiring Fitbit and their entire fitness-tech ecosystem. I wouldn’t be surprised if this wearable concept were entirely waterproof too, just to fire shots at Apple!
The VOIXATCH made waves on the tech circuits especially after a demonstration at the Mobile World Congress last year. Grabbing eyes as the first smartwatch with a built-in Bluetooth headset, the VOIXATCH helped unveil a world where watch and earphones were part of a tight ecosystem as one single product that did practically everything your phone could, without you needing to take your phone out. The VOIXATCH smartwatch comes equipped with LTE and GPS, has its own SIM card slot, a Google voice assistant, a heartbeat sensor, a gyroscope, and a battery life of 48 hours. That, however, isn’t the most impressive bit about the VOIXATCH, because embedded within its bezel is a detachable ring that turns into a Bluetooth headset.
The Nubia is to smart-watches what the plus-sized displays are to smartphones. The watch comes with an impressive 4-inch display that wraps around the upper half of your wrist, giving the Nubia the largest display on a smart wearable BY FAR. Designed to help lay information out in a way that’s easy to see no matter the angle, Nubia’s vertical display is instantly eye-catching and is conveniently long enough so that you don’t need to scroll away on a tiny screen. It comes with a real-time heart-rate tracker, 4 dedicated sports/fitness tracking modes, the ability to accept and reject calls, find your phone if it gets lost, and summon your phone’s native voice assistant.
The Circle Watch’s body sits on the watch-strap at an angle, leaning towards the user. Designed to make it easier to read the time without tilting your wrist too much, the Circle watch’s own inherent 15° tilt gives you a clear view of the watch’s always-on display at all times. This tilt also creates space for a button right behind the Circle’s body, allowing it to remain otherwise thin and minimalistic. The button hides from view (unlike in the Apple Watch, where the crown forms a significant part of the watch’s aesthetic), giving you a smartwatch that just feels clean and sophisticated, and focuses on the good stuff with a convenient, tilted UX and a boundless, edge-to-edge UI.
Sony’s Wena allows those true-blue analog timepiece lovers to accept technology without surrendering their favorite timepieces. The Wena is a tech-filled band that can fit on any timepiece that sports an OLED screen of its own that can show you notifications straight from your smartphone. The beauty of the band is the fact that it doesn’t replace analog artistry with state-of-the-art tech but allows them to coexist. The Wena comes with a screen that pulls notifications from your smartphone, along with the ability to make contactless payments. The band can easily fit on any pre-existing analog watch you have, allowing you to hold onto your precious timepiece but still have the future and its perks right under your sleeve.
The Dot Watch Braille Smartwatch has been designed especially for the visually impaired. It showcases the time using tactile clues, instead of visual ones. Weighing at a light 33 grams, and with four active braille cells powered by a li-polymer 400mAh battery, the smartwatch makes time-telling extremely easy for disabled individuals. It is compatible with both iOS and Android, and is the perfect integration of form, functionality, and style in an inclusive design!
PDF Haus has taken the concept of smartwatches one step further by creating the Pantech and Curitel Smartwatch. Inspired by the principles of the Pantech and Curitel Camcorder Phone, they decided to apply it to a new form factor- a Smartwatch. Armed with a thermal imaging camera, the Pantech and Curitel Smartwatch; a design by Kikang Kim is all set to transform the conventional thermal imaging experience into a more hands-free one. The result: a sleek smartwatch with a metallic finish and a strong rugged look, enabling firefighters to find an ignition point and save countless lives! The introduction of User Interface allows for the instant and easy capturing of images, without occupying any upper limb movement.
For the fashion-conscious wearer, there’s the Coalesce C_001. It fuses the time-tested style of analog timepieces with the smart tech of today’s modern wearables. The pristine face is kept beneath a sapphire crystal glass dome, however, it’s not touch-sensitive. The idea is that the less contact the wearer has with it, the longer it will last. I’ve broken my phone enough times to know this is true! Instead, the crown serves as the primary interface. Similar to a classic watch, users can access and control a myriad of features by pressing, spinning, or tapping. The display screen itself is quite straightforward, keeping the watch face minimalistic and dapper. The face and hour/minute hands can also be color coordinated to match or contrast with a variety of leather bands in different hues.
The Esiva looks nothing like a traditional smartwatch, but does the job of one, delivering notifications, telling you the time, and tracking your fitness. The band comes with an all-metal design, featuring a minimal 3-part arc-shaped display. The display’s slim shape means a simple, bare-basics interface with only relevant information, along with a minimal interaction involving just tapping and swiping. Two crowns on the rim help you perform a host of other tasks like summoning your phone’s Voice AI. Ultimately, the Esiva forms an extension of your smartphone, delivering information to you in a crisp, concise, and charming manner… and even though it doesn’t have a large, square-shaped interface that you’d get lost in, its elegant design will ensure all eyes are on it!
The unique aspect of this smartwatch design is how the screen wraps around the wrist comfortably. Unlike similar products, which use a swipe feature to access the various widgets, this concept displays all of them on the same screen. How can they fit comfortably? Well, the display for this concept happens to be extra long, stretching past the width of your wrist. Also, instead of swiping through the different pages, the interface works by scrolling up or down. This is a newer design concept that works better for this type of device. You don’t have to swipe back and forth between multiple pages (everything is right there in your eye’s view).
The Drop Cache Display Valet EDC Case is perfect for storing your beloved smartwatch collection! Not to mention, it can also hold your other nifty EDC products like knives, wallets, pens and etc. Not only does it carefully stores your EDC items, but it also artfully displays them! A faux-leather exterior is accentuated by a clear acrylic top, allowing everyone to catch a glimpse of your EDC collection. It can hold up to three watches (pop in your favorite smartwatches!), seven knives, two pens, four flashlights, and your wallet. An added bonus is the USB cable pass-through channel, which ensures that your smartwatches are charged and ready for use!