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Will smart watches replace traditional watches? Let’s get to the point: No, they will not take the place of mechanical watches. 

The trend for these smart wearables tends to be identified with the seventies and early eighties Quartz Crisis. The intelligent wearable device & the quartz movement had a tremendous influence on the watch business thanks to their innovative headways. On the other hand, when they turn into being increasingly common, the likelihood is that mechanical watches will come back to become sought after.

Nonetheless, we cannot guarantee that there will not be any impact on the traditional watch industry by any means. In case we attempted to contend that, you would precisely consider us a liar. 

Perhaps, watch firms that offer traditional watches in the price range from lower to middle witness a reduction in sales since their typical purchaser purchases a smartwatch model, all things being equal. Those companies will confront more intense competition. Meanwhile, the effect on luxury watch firms may not be that much. 

In this post, you will discover the reasons for that answer to the question.

Advantages of smartwatches over mechanical watches

Smartwatches, a smooth mix and match with your way of life, give rapid access to not only time. You may want to check out some of their great uses here

But how can smartwatches (as the deluxe accessory) proceed to become a pervasive need?

smartwatch use to make contactless payment
A customer making wireless or contactless payment using smartwatch

1. The overall context

In the course of recent years, this wearable has experienced from the state of being an advanced unfamiliarity to an impressive item on the list of practically every significant phone producer and other fashion & technology firms. Still, be that as it may, what will these watches be in the following years? 

As you can see, a lot of individuals get themselves smartwatches and put them on. As per a Pew Research research project last year, one of every five grown-ups from the USA utilizes a wellness tracker or smartwatch. These watches’ revenue all around the world increased twenty percent from 2019 to last year. The market is also relied upon to raise more than fourteen percent somewhere in the range of 2019 and five years after that. 

Though Apple Watch is not cheap, the brand is standing out, gaining half of the product revenue. It was prior to the firm’s introduction of the superbly noteworthy yet costly Watch Series 6 & the more reasonably priced Watch SE.

Yet, be that as it may, are smartwatches fundamental? Will smart watches replace traditional watches? So far, they have not been to the point of being indispensable or required, and they do not have what mechanical watches possess and the other way around.

Just a simple comparison like this is enough for you to see how the picture now is: One of every five USA people putting on a smartwatch or something on the wrists vs. over eighty percent of people from America having smartphones or more than ninety percent having cell phones

In other words, instead of being an unquestionable requirement, smartwatches are as yet a pleasant-to-own accessory. Apple and other brands who are zeroing in on wellbeing are these days sorting out some way to deliver such a message viably to purchasers. However, will it be sufficient? 

According to the Youtube vlogger Michael Fisher, it is a challenging classification for makers to sell. For your information, it is among the item kinds which you will just wholly figure out its utility when you use it. 

He said that the item classification merits something. Fundamental? Likely not; however, unquestionably important. Furthermore, it boils down to how plainly the brands are capable of explaining the messages.

Below may be what these watches should take to make the leap toward more individuals’ wrists all over the planet. 

2. The necessary steps to take

A genuinely outstanding, competitive market

These days, three sorts of firms producing smartwatches are available: 

  • gadget producers such as Samsung and Apple, 
  • those dedicated to making smartwatches – for example, Mobvoi, 
  • and Fossil and other makers of watches. 

On the one hand, many users cannot get enough of intriguing items from Huawei and Samsung; on the other hand, Apple simply has not had a lot of feasible rivalries. Wearable models from the brand with the half eaten apple logo are not cheap and expect their users to likewise own iPhones.

The absence of rivalry is to a great extent because Google’s introduced the Wear OS without the utmost care, as it is necessary for just about any smartwatches to run on a specific type of Android platform.

Again, Michael Fisher shared that in case one smartwatch is what you wish and you are not into a product unit from Apple, you will pretty doubtlessly purchase a Wear OS gadget. And what the Wear OS operating system should accomplish all the more reliably is simply do the things this platform claims it will do.

Users of the system have addressed issues with core apps failing to make progress, Google Assistant working, and Bluetooth availability. Such execution & consistency issues causing continual trouble to Wear OS are influencing the smartwatch producer all in all. 

In addition, the Wear OS models are not inexpensive. Let’s see an example. The beginning cost for the Galaxy Watch 3 from Samsung is almost four hundred dollars. For the Scanwatch from Withings that Wear OS interacts, it comes with wellbeing & monitoring highlights. Still, instead of allowing you to make calls or send text messages, it just lets you preview your phone notifications. The model’s price is around three hundred thirty dollars.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 smartwatch.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 smartwatch.

In case Wear OS became more capable of working successfully, there possibly would be smart wearable units at various cost ranges. Less expensive models are essential for an item to turn out to be genuinely pervasive. Oh well, that is not the situation yet.

According to Moor Insights & Strategy’s Anshel Sag, a significant part in the competitiveness absence is an absence of consistency over the ecosystem. The inconsistency is in light of the fact that Google has not brought together the ecosysteM, and relatively few firms lay complete trust in the platform. 

The bottom line: In the event that Wear OS were comparable to Apple, users could appreciate substantially more options regarding cost and kinds of highlights and attributes smartwatches come with. It may be safe to say that a potent smart wearable market’s future is quite far off until Google takes care of business. 

Assortment in the appearances

Will smart watches replace traditional watches? No, particularly when you think about the look factor.

Why has the fantasy of a classic, appealing-appearing watch with instinctive, smart highlights not become a reality yet? Let’s admire the Summit 2 from Montblanc; it has an excellent look with pretty disappointing technical execution, as indicated by Michael Fisher

Maybe, if watches based on Android looked more amazing, individuals who would not like to replace conventional-looking watches would likely turn to use the smartwatch. In smartwatches’ present condition, an incompletion of cost & visual assortment has kept them from flourishing. After all, we cannot dismiss the way that these are fashion gadgets.

Inclusive Internet accessibility but it should not serve as an add-on

Quite possibly, the most alluring part of a smartwatch is having the option to utilize ‘smart’ highlights and attributes such as tuning in to music or receiving text messages at times that your phone is not near you, for instance. Notwithstanding, it is something you need to spend extra on your phone bill (an additional one hundred dollars each year aside from the price tag, when it comes to the model from Apple). Having a cell phone as an additional month-to-month cost tends to keep the smart wearable unit away from being seen as a fundamental gadget and the stuff users will indeed spend on. 

Understandably, spending on a watch consistently for the data connection – while more often than not, your phone simply serves it, appears to be genuinely superfluous to some people. It would be genuinely great to see the improvement from smartwatch firms and all that in this regard. How about a package that you pay the flat rate in advance so that you will not need to stress over it consistently?

Voice assistants that function more effectively

Looking at ads, you may find continuing with your daily activities while you murmur to your smart assistant to accomplish doing things such as planning a meeting and locking your apartment appears quite helpful. We wish it worked exactly as it claimed. 

Google Assistant case study

Michael Fisher depicted a baffling experience attempting to utilize Google Assistant on a watch based on the Wear OS platform. On the one hand, Google Assistant is among the popular smart aides today; on the other hand, the wearable model’s interface did not manage to function well: while it told it was tuning in, nothing would occur. 

As shared by this Youtuber, when you can deal with this problem, you might have taken your phone out and checked the weather forecast.

Siri case study

Product units from Apple are generally more excellent at connecting their wearers to Siri. The not-so-good news is, Siri’s capabilities to be extra useful are not ultimate

You may appreciate that the smartwatch has the option to deal with your life by only using your voice. However, such a functionality is not entirely satisfactory. 

People monitoring; however, please make it be the cause of unease feelings

The downside

In case you do not know, Apple has presented Family Setup, one of the Apple Watch attributes. That allows moms and dads to give children and the old a watch without them requiring their iPhones. It is likely to increase the more far-reaching application. That is people following; in other words, grown-ups can utilize watches to monitor their children or the elderly in the family.

For your information, the people tracker is a piece of the market developing these days in some countries. And privacy is an evident issue. 

The FTC (the U.S Federal Trade Commission) has published a couple of child smartwatch enterprises for not following digital kid wellbeing guidelines. That is not all; a watch got recalled over privacy issues in the European Union.

The upside

On the other hand, you can see child watches as a large business for smart wearable firms. It is an effective approach for fathers and mothers to monitor their children properly; meanwhile, kids have a convenient way to tune in to music or deliver text messages without a costly cell phone. Let’s patiently wait until every child smartwatch user can have total peace of mind using this item as it is wholly private and secure. When that day comes, you may fall deeper and harder in love with it to the point that you wonder again, “will smart watches replace traditional watches?” (haha)

Significantly more medical care 

Undeniably, companies have more straightforward access to different kinds of phone mirroring, such as notifications in mind when making smartwatches. Yet, be that as it may, these days, the real worth of Apple’s models also has to do with health care. Smartwatches are indeed getting on as wellbeing gadgets. 

smartwatches to remind senior people to take medical care in time.

In case you miss it, Apple keeps on inclining toward medical services highlights, considering that remote wellbeing checking is getting progressively significant. Additionally, it is a more straightforward and all the more tempting offer even to manage to inform you about health than basically just being a less sizable version of your smartphone. In other words, the first intention of bringing a scaled-down cell phone screen on the wrist has not become as powerful and attractive as wellbeing monitoring functionality.

When it comes to the initial positioning of these wearables, it did not persuade some individuals enough, or the benefits might not be all around ok to make them purchase a smartwatch to get them. As you can see, Apple began that way, afterward inclined toward applications, and afterward promptly sort of paid attention to wellbeing. At the end of the day, that move appears to have assisted customers in spending their cash in their models. A multitude. 

This brand has embraced a few research projects that will empower clinical foundations to demonstrate or invalidate the watch’s value. This likely brings about a considerable perk, particularly in prescient medication, for instance – in case they wind up being useful for predicting the beginning of illnesses such as the Coronavirus disease. 

Other firms are working on extra wellbeing highlights and attributes. Plus, Google is attempting to get involved with its Fitbit acquisition. Together, they are heading to smartwatches’ eventual destiny: The higher chance of omnipresence is health.

The bottom line: Smartwatches get more medical services centered, it is safe to state that it will not be super long before they turn into a necessity.

Why have smartwatches not made mechanical ones obsolete?

Will smart watches replace traditional watches? Well, no, partly because mechanical ones will stand the test of time.

1. They come with their own purposes for their existence

Bulova Men's Classic Quartz Watch
Bulova Men’s Classic Quartz Watch

Tell you the time in the most possibly reliable way

The purpose of this type of watch is to inform you about time in a super reliable way. As you know, smartwatches tend to be quite singular in construction, ask for charging, and their battery life is somehow restricted. Meanwhile, a mechanical one does not encounter such impediments. Indeed, a quartz watch model is likely to require a little battery substitution in some years; however, there is not anything in a conventional watch that ties somebody to a power outlet. It is relatively a remarkable contrary kind, after all. 

Empower incredible advancement regarding the design and all that

Their whole purpose behind their existence (i.e., to show the time) empowers remarkable improvement as far as design goes. Watch firms are into showing time in original and various manners have gone to different innovative dial appearances or case shapes, three-dimensional structure, and uncommon materials. Some even count on honorable materials to recount their story. 

Since numerous life aspects are generally an immense inspiration for mechanical watch constructions, you can expect such countless selections of genres available out there. For example, aesthetically pleasing watches, avionics ones, and the sky is the limit from there.

2. They are an art

The Panerai watch
The Panerai watch. See on Amazon.

Believe it or not, watches allow you to state yourself – concerning materials, colors, construction attraction, and that is just the beginning. Meanwhile, having a watch collection likewise encourages you to make a sweeping tale about yourself. Nowadays, collecting these wearables has been a genuine art, a declaration of your identity and what you love. 

The present collector commonly purchases a watch or more each year, at times far more, based on their yearly pay and the watch’s cost. It might be on the grounds that something is special about collecting this item, say – visiting stores to select watches, making yourself more informed about different genres of them, getting updated about the auctions, and buying online. 

Indeed, you may feel personally delighted when comparing the ideals of a traditional watch, its capability, construction, costs, and whether it can deliver the worth and more. Altogether makes the way toward collecting all the more fascinating. Trust us, with regards to collecting watches, there are models in the market for any wallet size, for instance – even million-dollar product units for people whose wallet has a house’s size.

3. Mechanical watches provide structure and capability by means of mechanics

Will smart watches replace traditional watches? No, because:

Inside the mechanical watch include many minuscule parts that coordinate by means of wheels, gears, and teeth in an intriguing manner to track time consummately. 

Furthermore, a large number of the present models deliver an assortment of incredibly valuable capabilities because of cutting-edge mechanics and innovation. 

Alright, not instant text messaging – no worries: your cell phone can do so. Instead, you can select a product unit that boasts the moon phase display; it is precise for more than one hundred years. Else, you may want to rely on a model that features different time zones, the calendar, and even the capability of measuring distance or speed. 

4. They deliver unrivaled craftsmanship 

Craftsmanship is effectively one of the primary reasons these watches have gained collectors’ love for a long time. Some of the time, it is hard to accept that a thing marginally bigger than one inch is capable of holding a multitude of parts that coordinate to function most brilliantly.

Each model takes pride in its carefully completed parts, commonly evident through the crystally clear case back, the dial’s aperture, etc., thus giving a demeanor of wonder to the piece. Merely realizing that in some place, a skilled expert worker poured out his heart and mind for a long time hand in polishing parts & manually assembling a movement is sufficient to truly value the zeal that puts into each traditional watch created. Watch collectors comprehend and highly appreciate such craftsmanship. 

5. You can keep them as legacies or trade in and trade them up

Why are second-hand watches’ re-deals and auctions extra favorable? Fundamentally, it is on the grounds that watches are masterpieces with the physical value (and in some cases, with emotional esteem). 

That a grandfather or father passes down this item to a younger person in the family is not strange. It tracks time; in this manner, it keeps history from the second it generates its 1st tick. Most of the time, watches are buys representing or celebrating a significant moment or a special occasion that merits appreciating and remembering. 

Furthermore, it is likely traded in and sold on a second-hand market as a tenderly cherished watch, and its owner may trade up to another sort of statement.

They may help each other in sales, indeed

1. Smartwatches statistically surpass mechanical watches

For example, as of 2019, Fitbit, Samsung, and Apple currently make up three of the best five firms for watches on the planet, considering the volume. Just Apple Watch sent more than thirty million wearable product units two years ago, contrasted with the whole Swiss watch industry’ watches (over twenty million).

You may want to find more about the related statistics here.

Apple Watch Series 3 [GPS 38mm] Smart Watch w/Silver Aluminum Case & White Sport Band. Fitness &...
  • GPS
  • Retina display
  • Swimproof
  • Optical heart sensor
  • Stores music, podcasts, and audiobooks

2. Future interest is likely to raise

It may be too soon to check whether these smart wearable devices will generally affect watch sales in the future. With that being said, numerous specialists think that since smartwatches get more and more favorable, it may additionally help mechanical wearable sales. 

Purchasers will get accustomed to putting on something on their wrist, and there is a decent possibility that they opt for mechanical watches as a preferable alternative to their smartwatch. On the one hand, such a transition probably does not happen for all smartwatch owners. On the other hand, in case it occurs for a little rate, that should not be anything for you to answer “no” brutally or show refusal or disagreement.

All in all, will smart watches replace traditional watches?

Truth be told, it is not such a significant amount about who will win, yet it should be more about the thing you will wear. 

  • Choose traditional watches if you are into their qualities mentioned above.
  • Go for smartwatches if you are interested in their uses and do not mind about things they need to better – as addressed previously. These wearables are being on their way to become a necessity so that you can expect their far more potential.
  • Opt for both if you want to change what you wear from time to time. On top of that, both are different things and unique in their own way.

By and large, it would be off-base to compare the two deeply, yet completely important, provided that the smartwatches have been disturbing the mechanical watches. The good news is, the effect is not too large to cause tremendous damage, and that is the thing that fulfills everybody.