TRACK YOUR SCREEN TIME

IS IT A FITNESS TRACKER? IS IT A LUXURY TIMEPIECE? NO, IT'S THE LATEST TRANCHE OF CONNECTED WATCHES DOING A GOOD JOB OF COMBINING TECH WITH LUXE.

- CHRIS HALL, KELLEIGH KOREVAAR

IN THE NEAR-DECADE SINCE the introduction of the Apple Watch, relations between the traditional watch industry and the Cupertino interloper have been through several stages. It began with something akin to panic; I remember standing at the entrance to Tag Heuer's booth at the Baselworld watch fair in 2015 as its bombastic then-CEO, Jean-Claude Biver, proudly announced a partnership with Intel to create a range of Android compatible smartwatches. No one listening quite knew whether we were witnessing knee-jerk shorttermism or early adopter genius.

With hindsight, Tag Heuer's contribution to the field has been successful, thanks to its strong association with the sporting world and a suite of proprietary functions, such as its golf-specific apps. Other Swiss entrants to the smart market were less prescient; whither the Montblanc e-Strap, a thick plastic oblong attached to the strap of a traditional watch, positioned right where the wrist meets the desk? Or the IWC Connect, a button-sized Bluetooth module attached to the strap of a Big Pilot? Montblanc, of course, went on to produce the Summit, a far more worthy member of the luxury smartwatch set. But the industry's haste to join in was understandable; digital watches had once posed an existential threat to anything powered by springs and wheels, and Swiss watchmaking was once bitten, twice shy.