When the idea of a smartwatch started gaining traction, many suspected that the watchmaking industry would eventually try to take it over. It seemed like a logical thing to do to keep up with the times.
Fossil thought so too and while initial models of their Q line hardly looked high-tech, their latest smartwatch, the Q Founder, does.
The Q Founder is Fossil’s first ever smartwatch to be powered by Android Wear and it’s the watchmaker’s attempt at mating “modern functionality and classic good looks”. With this watch, Fossil hoped to give smartwatches the “high-end-yet-mass-appeal design Fossil’s known for”.
Previous devices in the Q line, namely the Q Reveler and Q Dreamer bracelets, and the Q Grant watch were made to be jewelry first, technology second and it showed. To the untrained eye, it is nearly impossible to know that they were high tech smart wearables.
Fossil’s new Q Founder though, is entirely different. This device sports a full touch screen interface on its round watch face similar to that of the Moto 360. Unfortunately, it also has the Moto 360’s flat tire design, instead of a fully round display.
If classic watch looks were what Fossil was going for then the Q Founder does pull that off quite well. It certainly doesn’t look like it was designed by a student in their first trimester or one that could be easily passed off as a generic Swatch watch.
It is rather large though, coming in with a 46mm-diameter face and a 13mm-thick case which is the same as the expensive TAG Heuer Connected. Feature-wise, the smartwatch has a built in activity tracker that will help you track your steps, count calories and all the other good stuff. It’s also IP67 water and dust resistant so it’ll at least give you some peace of mind. Fossil estimates that the device will last one day on a single charge of the device’s 400 mAh battery.
In terms of what actually powers the device, no information is available aside from the fact that it is likely an Intel processor due to their partnership. The device will also have 4GB of internal storage, an accelerometer and a gyroscope.
Traditional watchmakers often downplay the current smartwatches developed by tech companies as more of a plaything that wouldn’t stand the test of time. However, with TAG Heuer’s Connected and Fossil’s Q line, it appears that takeover has begun.
Fossil’s Q Founder is officially on sale at their website for USD295 (around RM1,243) but unfortunately, they don’t ship to Malaysia. Shipping to Singapore, however, is listed as an option on the website, albeit at a higher price of SGD665.50 (around RM1,991). When we tried to place an order though, there was an alert from the product page informing us that shipping to Singapore was currently unavailable.
