The biggest and most important watch fair in the world is taking place as every year in Basel. This time many next generations of last year’s show’s watches were on display. Swarovski planned to announce their first smartwatch but ended up postponing the presentation. In the past, they had already teamed up with Samsung for the Gear S or with Huawei for the Watch Jewel to present some of their pieces. This time they got us all excited after the announcement of their smartwatch at CES 2017 to be presented at Baselworld, but only 2 months later they announced their plans to postpone the launching stating that they were not ready yet.
Diesel (one of the Fossil brands who also unveiled more watches such as Q Venture and Q Explorer) joined the smartwatch race with their first smartwatch, the Diesel On, an Android Wear 2.0 watch that comes with some special features such as a cracked-screen effect that increases as more notifications come through, and a building fog that covers the screen when you’re not active.
Movado Connect is also a new Android Wear watch that will come with a variety of “faces” hitting the market later this year.
Michael Kors came to Baselworld to present a few new smartwatches: The Access Grayson for men and the Access Sofie for women and the Access Hybrid. These watches come with an AMOLED touchscreen display, Android Wear 2.0 and stylish looks plus you will be able to use an Instagram image as your watch face for a totally unique look.
Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45 was not really launched during Baselworld but all the looks were on them. The Modular 45 is the follow-up to the original 2016 Connected. It’s also compatible with analog watch faces, so if you’re bored of the connected experience, you can disconnect.
Another fashion brand launching a smartwatch was Hugo Boss with the Touch which will offer NFC functionalities. Also, Tommy Hilfiger who was already formerly involved in wearable items such as solar jackets came out with a watch named rather complicatedly…the TH24/7You. The TH24/7You is cheaper than the Touch, at $299, although it lacks NFC. They both do run Android Wear 2.0.
To continue with fashion brands launching smartwatches…..Emporio Armani Connected is the first Emporio Armani Connected Android Wear smartwatch. Armani Exchange entered the wearables market with a collection of hybrid smartwatches: the Armani Exchange Connected.
We see as a pattern that every year more and more fashion brands are joining the smartwatch crowd. In the near future, will we all own a smartwatch? Only the future will tell. Or Fossil, as the company keeps unveiling more and more watches under its several brands such as Michael Kors, Diesel, Misfit, Emporio Armani, Skagen, Michele or Kate Spade… all of which unveiled new pieces of smartwatches at Baselworld this year…
