Luxury Fitness Trackers: An Apple Watch Side Effect

One of the more interesting and unconsidered (at least by me) off-shoots of Apple Watch has been the trend towards luxury by other smartwatch makers. Pebble released its Time Round, sure, but that thing’s hardly a fitness tracker and only arguably a fashionable timepiece.

However, established fitness-tracking smartwatch makers like Suunto and Garmin are starting to crank out luxury variants — in fine materials with tasteful construction — of their flagship wrist computers. Known for serious outdoors athletes and hobbyists, these brands are embracing the “premium” angle in hardware aesthetics where before they were concerned only with the various environmental sensors and protections required by such devices.

If I recall correctly, Suunto was the first maker of note to double down on this tack, and their Essential Collection is, in my opinion, more aesthetically pleasing than Apple Watch (particularly in copper, a finish I hope Cupertino offers in the near future). And not coincidentally, its similarity with Marc Newson’s previous work at Ikepod cannot be understated as a direct influence of Newson’s Apple hire. While the Suunto doesn’t come with a heart rate function or the inherent potential of Apple’s ecosystem, what it does it does very well. And it’s far more rugged than Apple Watch is ever likely to be. But features aren’t the point. The style is the thing. And Apple forced that.

Just recently, Garmin’s felt the heat and released its own fashion-forward adventuring/fitness wearable, the D2 Bravo. Yeah, it’s an aviator’s watch, but it looks great and is solidly built with quality metals and glass, and you can bet that its design cues will spill over into the rest of Garmin’s more sporty, plasticky lineup. Like the Suunto, it lacks an app ecosystem and heart rate monitoring, but it’s waterproof to 10 atmospheres and has onboard GLONASS GPS, camera control, and more.

It’s nice to see the segment most at risk — high-end sports- and fitness-trackers — respond this way. Much of the initial concern from the traditional watch blogosphere seemed focussed on the Swiss Industry, but I figured these other brands — Suunto, Garmin, Casio, Polar, et al. — were far more vulnerable. But with their edges in environment-proofing and general ruggedness, maybe they’ll be better off than I thought.

And now they’re starting to look the part, too.