It might be years since you've worn a watch for utilitarian reasons (i.e. to know the time), but major brands are working hard to re-shape that notion and make you think you need one on your wrist. Nowadays, you can't go a week without hearing news that a well-known company is developing a smartwatch, promising synced apps and phone calls directly to your wrist.
Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch, which was announced earlier this year and pilloried as rushed and clunky, got the most recent attention. However, Kickstarter sensation Pebble, which arrived months before Samsung's Gear, likely deserves the lion share of credit for turning attention back to wrist-bound, digital technology. With sales data scarce for both models, though, it's too soon to tell if consumers are biting.
Samsung may have been the first major brand to introduce a smartwatch, but it joins a long line of companies, including Nokia, Qualcomm, Sony, Nissan, Adidas and probably even Google and Apple, eyeing the market. Not to mention fitness wristband trackers such as the Nike+ Fuelband, Jawbone UP and the Fitbit Force, which are gaining in popularity, too. Some of these devices even tell time.
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As these gadgets debut, however, critics often complain about aesthetics. The displays are overly large and sometimes tilt away from the direct field of view. The bands are often rubber, flimsy and cheap. The colors and interface can look childish too. And, although smartwatches might look fine to wear at a casual workplace or the gym, they typically aren't something you'd want to put on for a fancy dinner.
Not all digital wrist wear is unattractive. The Jawbone UP fitness tracker has a design that's appealing to many, with a sleek band and vibrant (but not loud) colors. On the flip side there's the Fitbit Force -- arguably the smartest wristband fitness tracker on the market -- that is very masculine and heavy on the wrists.
The Sony SmartWatch 2 has a thin band and face that actually looks like a watch and not like a smartphone screen (we're looking at you, Galaxy Gear), although it still has a fairly large screen. The Qualcomm Toq is slimmer than others too, but it's not exactly easy on the eyes, as consumers have been quick to indicate (see below).
Design critiques of these products are so common, it's fair to ask: Why are smartwatches so ugly?
"The current batch of smartwatches are more like computers than jewelry, but we will see this change in the next year or so," Bill Geiser of Meta Watch told Mashable.
Geiser is a watch industry veteran and his company does have its own smartwatch. He attributes the occasionally lackluster design of smartwatches to some limiting factors.
"The early smartwatch market evolved from a developer and hacker community, which was focused on function and what the products do," he said. "It's easy for a developer to do something with a larger palette and, with watches, that is the display. Tiny displays don't offer elbow room to work with, so right now, they take up more surface space."
Another challenge involved the small movements that occur under the hood of a watch: "Watch designers are like sculptors; they start with rock or clay and chisel away to make interesting angles that are attractive to the eye," he said. "When the movement inside that watch is large, you get very little to work with."
Regardless of how these smartwatches look, designers will always have to work within the limits of average human wrists (wrist size hasn't changed much in thousands of years and likely won't in the future). Another design obstacle is working around the batteries, says ABI Research senior analyst Joshua Flood.
"The batteries in current smartwatch models take up a lot of space," Flood said. "The components have to come down in size and the power efficiency has to jump up. This will take time, but not too long -- probably in the next year or so."
Some companies are already starting to tinker with battery placement: "Qualcomm, the leading chipset vendor for smartphones, is producing a smartwatch design with innovation on where the battery is placed," Flood said. "Moving the battery from the watch face to within the clasp has enabled Qualcomm to reduce the dimension of the height of the smartwatch."
Geiser of Meta Watch agrees manufacturers will have more control over the atheistic once the components slim down, and that's when consumer interest will truly take off.
"For the smartwatch industry to gain its full potential, companies need to channel Michael Kors and not Michael Dell on a visual level. Watches have to look good because you glance at it hundreds of times a day and are constantly reminded why you bought it in the first place. If it doesn't look good or make you feel good, you won't wear it. Right now, most smartwatches are a SIM card away from being a smartphone."
Brands such as Michael Kors and Rolex try to evoke an emotional message in wristwatch buyers, Flood argues. It's not so much that consumers need a watch to tell them the time, but that they want one on their wrist, whether it's for personal expression, status or because of the connection they have when it's on.
"We will see different types of smartwatches in the future because, just like there are lots of handbags and show styles, people want choices that reflect their own style and don't want to rely on what is forced by one company," Geiser said.
The shape of the smartwatch could change too. While most smartwatches are square or rectangular, the majority of fashion watches -- which tend to be analog with moving hands -- are circular.
"Round is more of a visually appealing shape and gives the designer more flexibility to play tricks with the eyes, while remaining sleek and elegant," Geiser said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see a circular smartwatch in the near future."
Car manufacturer Nissan announced in September its Nismo Watch, which connects drivers to their vehicle. The design is a bit more rounded than other models, but still doesn't look like a classic fashion watch.
There's no denying there is money to be made here. In 2012, there were 1.2 billion watches shipped and many are priced at more than $500 each.
ABI Research's Flood noted that as smartwatches become more popular -- if they are done right -- more companies will want to cash in.
"I think once we see global smart watch shipments reach over 10 million devices, the key watch companies may sit up and take note, especially by 2015," Flood said.
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