will Android replace watches?

[m630]

A fine watch is jewelry and if you keep that im mind, it may change someones thoughts. Its just in this instance, its for men (mostly). No one questions the prices of rocks and metal when we adorn them on our loved ones....

[8_is_enough]

I don't know if this is ironic, but working in software here in Silicon Valley makes me appreciate mechanical watches even more. It's a welcome change to be "old school" and disconnect here and there.

[AnandS]

Originally Posted by 8_is_enough

I don't know if this is ironic, but working in software here in Silicon Valley makes me appreciate mechanical watches even more. It's a welcome change to be "old school" and disconnect here and there.

It's not ironic. I think it's common, actually. I'm a software engineer and I usually wear an Aquaracer as my everyday workhorse. I also have a SMP 300m and a Milgauss among others in the rotation. One of those three is usually on my left wrist. On days when I know I would otherwise be checking my phone often, I wear a Galaxy Gear on my right wrist. It looks goofy wearing two watches, but I don't consider the Gear to be a timepiece (and the Aquaracer actually keeps better time).

[TSM330i]

Nope, I don't like it at all and it'll never replace my watch collection. I'm not wearing a stupid device on my wrist where a watch is supposed to be.
I have a smart phone, that's enough. I don't "need" to have that thing hanging on my wrist constantly interrupting me.

Sorry, watch purist here.

[Nkc]

if Android starts coming out with $20k-$50k watches lol

[tony20009]

Originally Posted by NEFARIOUS

Why not both? Like Google can partner with IWC, Vacheron Constantin or even Tissot (which already has touch screen) or something and have the hands overlay the LCD somehow and keep the design cues, like leave the watch part mechanical or semi-mechanical.

However, even though I'm all about technology, it's one or the other in my book.

1. There is no way a piece of tech like the Android Wearable is going to retain mechanical functionality. That would be akin to us using map books instead of navigation systems (car or phone based) if we have them. Moreover, the precision and accuracy of the Wearable is far greater than any mechanical will ever be.
   
   It's one thing not to mind being off by a few seconds per day, but it's altogether another to have a mechanical object -- a tool -- that is known to be inferior to a competing product that is vastly superior in terms of functionality. Even the most indulgent of multi-billionaires won't choose to wear the mechanical watch instead, unless perhaps s/he pays his assistant to stand at his/her side 24/7 wearing the Android Wearable so that he doesn't have to wear it.
2. Google is partnering with watch companies to bring the Android Wearable to the world of luxury obsessed consumers. I have my doubts about how well a solid gold Android Wearable from Patek Philippe will sell compared to a basic one from AT&T. After all, the beauty of the thing is in the software not the case and unlike mechanical watches, that's plain to see by even the most non-watchie and non-techie people.
3. VC and their ilk have reason to partner somehow with Google. The reason is to be one of the early names in the luxury Wearable space and thereby have more control over the direction the trend goes. Another reason is that this thing is quite likely to push mechanical watches to the same place that art and high jewelry is today: into the occasional use realm of the rich and famous. If that happens, mechanical watch sales, especially those of brands like VC, will plummet.
   
   How many Swiss watchmakers actually do get on board with the idea that "change is a comin' " is open to debate. The Swiss have a long track record of persisting in their old ways of doing things. I bid you check out the Swiss Guards who parade around The Vatican dressed like knights and jesters. (Yes, I know there are modern, well trained SG who wear normal clothes; that's not the point.) In the '70s and '80s, the Swiss watch industry, but for one company, ignored and scoffed at the appearance of quartz watches. But for being able to convince the public that there was a certain cache in wearing a less accurate, more expensive mechanical watch, along with Swatch and the Swiss government enacting protectionist legislation, only super rich folks would today wear mechanical watches.
   
   The key to longevity in business is adaptability. That's true for VC just as it is for IBM or Amtrack

Originally Posted by Nkc

if Android starts coming out with $20k-$50k watches lol

I have no doubt that some watchmakers will at least try to make and sell absurdly expensive Wearables. I suspect some luxury obsessed loons will actually buy them. Probably the very same people who bought Vertu and Ulysses Nardin phones when far better devices were selling for 10% of the cost of a Vertu or UN.

All the best.

[NEFARIOUS]

Then again, at the same time, a mechanical watch doesn't necessarily have to be some overpriced certified Swiss gizmo, I still prefer the analog hands of even a cheap watch, like my $60 Casio Wave Ceptor (though it's more of an analog/digital hybrid with mechanical hands but also has a digital display below). Don't get me wrong, it'd be amazeballs to have a VC or Audemars, but "only super rich folks wear mechanical watches" is a bit unfounded.

Also, like I said in my other reply I'm all about technology, but I still have a feeling that this will still be somewhat of a niche item since despite technological advancements, there are some things that are still left to traditions... Like despite high-speed internet, internet radio, MP3s and YouTube/SoundCloud, some of us are still using removable storage like CDs and USB drives, especially if it's often faster to just transfer a file by those media rather than trying to download it again, right? With that, analog watches are still here to stay, albeit probably in a different form, like perhaps an Android Watch where the hands are analog and sticks out the middle of an LCD. I'd PS a prototype but I'm tired AF and need to wake up early tomorrow.