Luxury watch brands are slowly jumping onto wearables. Some have already announced their first smartwatches. Among them are Breitling, Mondaine and Frederique Constant with the Breitling B55 Connected Chronograph, the Mondaine Helvetica No 1 Smart and the Frederique Constant Horological Smartwatch respectively. A number of other companies have announced their intention to jump into the space as well. Tag Heuer announced at Baselworld 2015 that it unveil a smartwatch developed in cooperation with Google and Intel later this year. Swatch and Victorinox are also working on smartwatches. One of the big names that has yet to announce any smartwatch plans is Rolex. That did not stop France’s Baptiste Perruchione from coming up with the Rolex Navigator.
Geared specifically for sailors, the Rolex Navigator incorporates a number of features, some never seen before on a smartwatch. The first is a sonar display. It would presumably integrate with the vessel’s own system and give the wearer real-time updates even when nowhere near the main sonar display. The second, an anenometer or wind speed indicator would be particularly useful on a sailboat. The third would be a compass.
Needless to say, the Rolex Navigator would also show the time and date as a traditional watch does. Designed for the water, it would likely be waterproof as well.
The Rolex Navigator uses a round touchscreen digital display. Much like the Moto 360, it does not make use of the full circle though as it permanently displays the Rolex logo at the top.
There is no word on whether the Rolex Navigator would offer more traditional functions such as notifications and an activity tracker.
Offering features not seen on other smartwatches would certainly be one way Rolex (or any other watchmaker out there) could distinguish itself from the competition. Whether Rolex chooses to go in this direction if and when it announces its first smartwatch remains to be seen though.
Source : Behance