POWER UP
Living up to their moniker, smartwatches can track your heart rate and travel plans or pay for a cup of coffee while, of course, perfectly keeping time. Verve zooms in on a few of these up-to-the-minute multitaskers
1. EMPORIO ARMANI
Sophisticated and sleek, the new Emporio Armani Connected touchscreen smartwatch flaunts an impressive 1.19 inch AMOLED display with an ambient sensor to improve battery life. Amongst its plethora of features, the functionalities that stand out are its swim-proof technology, which makes the watch safe to use while showering, swimming and diving up to 3 ATM, and the GPS distance tracking, which enables you to leave your phone at home and still measure accurate distances while you’re off on a walk, hike, ride, or run.
2. FREDERIQUE CONSTANT
Adorned with guilloché patterning, mother-of-pearl accents, hand-polished silver-coloured hands and applied silver-coloured Roman numeral indexes set with eight diamonds, is the dark grey dial of this Horological Smart Watch Delight. On looking closer, the eye is drawn towards the 2, 4, 8, and 10 o’clock positions on the sub-dial which reveal the call notifications, sleep monitoring, activity tracking and text notifications features. Held onto the wrist by a stainless steel bracelet, the 34mm case is water-resistant up to 3 ATM.
3. MONTBLANC
This 42mm smartwatch is an elegant example of fine watchmaking coming together with the latest wearable technology. While providing the look of a mechanical watch on the wearer’s wrist, the Summit 2 is equipped to — with the help of the Google Assistant — provide proactive travel assistance, set reminders, check heart-rate and ask for directions or translations while up and about! An exclusive Montblanc Running Coach app also enables runners to track their fitness levels, and an integrated live coach offers the optimum pace and intensity level through training to assist the user in reaching their fitness goals.
4. MICHAEL KORS
From long working days and hard partying nights to sweating it out in the gym, this Michael Kors Access Runway touchscreen smartwatch will be your classy companion through it all. Compatible with both the iPhone and Android phones, this wrist candy is furnished with a feature that lets users display Facebook and Instagram photos on their watch dials, while the Google Assistant helps in navigating daily tasks. Powered with Wear OS by Google and the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 SoC, the timepiece also measures heart rate, has GPS distance tracking and payment technology.
5. TAG HEUER
Taking its inspiration from the classic golf fashion styles is this TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 “Golf Edition”, whose 45mm casing is enhanced by a black ceramic bezel ring laser engraved with a scale of 1 to 18 — representative of the 18 holes in a round of golf. Linked to the TAG Heuer Golf app — which not only has maps of more than 39,000 courses around the world, but also swaps out the paper scorecard with an interactive digital substitute — this watch is the perfect accessory for those who enjoy spending their days out on the vibrant green turf.
6. LOUIS VUITTON
The colour that has, since 1854, been an integral part of the house’s aesthetic takes centre stage on this Tambour Horizon Monogram Brown. The configurable second-time zone, Google Fit health assistant, contactless payments using Google Pay and Alipay services, and call, text, social media notifications make this 42mm stunner a must-have. And adding to its appeal are functions like the ‘My Travel’ watch face which displays information about flights, trains, hotels and more, and the ‘My 24 hours’ watch face which showcases 24 time zones, a step counter, agenda, pollution indicator, weather and temperature.
– ZARAL SHAH