Traditional timekeepers sneak into wearables segment with hybrid watches

Chennai: Till date, smartwatches have remained in the realm of brand loyalists and the tech savvy.
However, this is fast changing with a growing number of consumers looking to include connectivity in their daily lives as unobtrusively as possible. Traditional timekeepers are now offering hybrid wearables – Smartwatches that bear the design of a traditional watch, packed with the ‘smart’ features, allowing inclusion of technology to be a little more discreet.Players like Titan and Fossil group are betting big on this market which is expected to touch $1 billion in global revenues this year.
Hybrid smartwatches look and function like traditional analogue watches, but include smart features like step tracking, heart rate monitor, notifications and even NFC enabled payments.
They connect to smartphones through dedicated apps available on iOS and Android stores allowing users to use the watch with traditional look and feel with smart functionalities.
With sales of traditional watches buckling under pressure from products of Apple and Samsung, several brands such as Fossil Group, Tag Heuer, Citizen group and others have entered the wearable segment. Pure play wearable tech brands including Garmin, Misfit, Withings (now, Nokia) are also now adopting the hybrid approach.
Fossil Group launched their first smartwatch globally in 2015 and brought it to India in October 2016 across six of its owned and licensed brands such as Fossil Q, Michael Kors Connected, etc.
In January last year, Titan launched its first smartwatch, Juxt. Since then, it has launched smartwatches across brands like Sonata, Fastrack. The company has close to 10 products lined up for the coming year across price bands.
Titan looks to pack a lot of features and offer it at a reasonable price. For instance, the Fastrack Reflexes Smartwatch Fitness Band, priced at Rs 1,995, can measure steps, distance, track calories, sleep, call & SMS alerts, OLED display, 10 Days power reserve, vibration alarm, sedentary reminder and is water resistant.
“Hybrid has potential to redefine the wearable and watch segment. A lot will depend on incremental price that a consumer has to pay to access the technology. The price conscious consumer is a fairly big segment in India,” said S Ravi Kant, CEO, watches and accessories, Titan. Analysts believe that Titan has an edge over wearble brands considering its huge presence offline and affordable pricing.
According to Counterpoint Research, a million wearables were sold in India in 2016, with activity trackers having 85% share and 15% from smartwatches and other wearables .
“Smartwatch segment hasn’t been able to drive wearables. In 2017, hybrid watches will drive momentum for wearables as they offer better mix of luxury with technology,” said Parv Sharma, research associate, Counterpoint Research.
While there is a growing customer base for hybrid wearables, watch makers are certain that the core of their business will remain traditional watches.
“ Undeniably, the mainstay for the Group are traditional watches as of now. However, we strongly believe that wrist watches will move beyond the realm of mere fashion or horology,” said Paul King Ruban, head – go to market, Fossil Group, India.