A few companies have already recognized that not everyone is quite ready to replace their traditional watch with a smartwatch. Instead of suggesting users put their watches away, solutions that enhance a traditional watch’s functions have begun to appear. Montblanc recently unveiled the Timewalker Urban Speed e-Strap which adds a secondary display to the watch band and IWC is teasing its upcoming Connect smart accessory. Chronos, a startup company, this week unveiled its own answer to this approach.
Chronos is a small disk that attaches to the back of a traditional watch via “micro-suction.” According to company founder Mark Nichol, it should work with 80 percent of watches on the market today. Despite being hidden beneath your watch, it still offers a number of smartwatch-like functions. Notifications and alerts are delivered via vibrations and coloured lights that shine out from under your watch from tiny LEDs. It.It can also detect taps on the watch face and sides to let you do things like send an incoming call to voice mail or control your music playback.
Chronos is also looking to partner with watch manufacturers, allowing them to build the Chronos disk directly into their watches or as an optional watch back accessory.
It’s early days for Chronos yet. The company has so far launched a sign-up page but its website is still light on details, including specific details about the disk, how it will work, pricing and availability.
Would you trade in your smartwatch and go back to a traditional watch if the Chronos delivers on its promise? Let us know below.
Source : IEEE Spectrum