Lately, there have been some pretty slick looking devices hitting the market. With the likes of Moto 360, the LG G Watch R, the Asus ZenWatch and many others now available for purchase, it’s pretty clear that smartwatches and wearables are finally becoming more desirable in the looks department. Unfortunately, they still have a tendency to look pretty bulky. Worse yet — not to say women can’t wear these things — but most women wouldn’t be caught dead with one of these on their wrist. They’re more often than not innately masculine when it comes to aesthetics.
Our very own Laurence Bradford talked about this very problem, describing her plight trying to find a wearable or smartwatch that met her needs. Since wearable devices also serve as jewelry, it makes sense that you’d want yours to look good on — and off — your person.
Hell, even quite a few men wouldn’t be too keen wearing a lot of these things. With a few of them, it looks more like you’re wearing a gigantic communication device straight out of a cheesy 80’s sci-fi flick than a wearable device.
That’s all about to change. Wearables are starting to look better than ever.
Accent Your Look: Wearables with Style
Finally, wearables and smartwatches are starting to look great. This is partly because designers are have moved into the world of wearable tech. Brands like Swarovski, TAG Hauer, Guess, and even Michael Bastion are putting together collaborative designs that are sure to wow quite a few folks out there.
In light of that, we’re going to take a look at some of the best designer wearables you can get your hands on. These are wearables oozing with style.
Guess Connect
Martian — known for their Passport and Notifier smartwatches — has teamed up with Guess to create a truly stunning wristwatch that merges traditional timekeeping and the “smart” tech features we know so well today. The Connect actually looks a lot like Martian’s other offerings, except with a bit more style and flair.
With an attractive rose gold bezel and a mix of stylish finishes, these babies should be able to complement a great ensemble.
Jawbone UP24 Designs by Yves Behar
The Jawbone devices have been around for a while. If you don’t know what they are or have never heard about the company then surely you’ve been nestled under a rock.
Jawbone recently turned to popular designer Yves Behar — known for his work with Herman Miller, Puma, Prada, Mini and many more — for some inspiration. He come up with some appealing designs and a whole slew of diverse colors for the wearable. Thanks to his ideas, the Jawbone UP24 is much more suitable to wear with that “bitchin” outfit of yours.
Swarovski Shine
You’ve heard of the Misfit Shine right? It’s a small, attachable wearable that offers a whole slew of fitness and health tracking data.
Well, it appears Misfit decided to team up with Swarovski at some point to deliver a more stylish variant of their wearable.
The result is the Swarovski Shine, which is a remarkably stylish bracelet cum activity tracker. The most obvious addition to the Swarovski version is a unique crystal that — while offering a bit of additional style — also offers some pretty awesome features. For example, a solar powered version will be launching that allows an infinite supply of power thanks to solar energy consumed by the crystal. How’s that for functional style?
Fitbit Designs by Tory Burch
Jawbone isn’t the only device manufacturer looking to a renowned designer for some inspiration. Fitbit got Tory Burch to whip up some models and designs of their fitness-tracking wearable for fashion conscious females (and males).
If you want a Fitbit with her signature “T” stamped on it, you have plenty of options to choose from. There are uniquely-finished designs for the standard models, but there are also special-plated designs that are super bling yo! Whether you’re looking to spend an outrageous amount on your fitness-tracker, or just pick up something that looks a little better than a solid black band you can’t go wrong here.
Samsung Gear S by Diesel
Even at just a quick glance you can immediately see that the Samsung Gear S is pretty masculine looking. Seriously, it looks like a futuristic wrist communicator — something from the latest Star Trek or Star Wars.
It makes sense then why Samsung would partner with Diesel to come up some more chic variants of the wearable. Diesel’s version includes a thick leather band, adorned with some rather feminine looking accents. Yes, they are encrusted with bead-like accents.
Needless to say, the Diesel version is both bold and stylish. If you were looking to pick up a Samsung Gear S and take advantage of its standalone features, but were turned off by the looks of the device — you might want to give it another try.
Montblanc e-Strap
Montblanc has a pretty ingenious way of evolving their traditional analog timepieces to meet the modern world. Instead of changing the designs of their already stylish wristwatches, they’ve outfitted the strap or wristband with “smart” tech. The Montblanc e-Strap will come bundled with their Timewalker Urban Speed collection. That said, because it’s nothing more than a standard size wriststrap you can turn around and slap it on any timepiece you want.
What is it exactly? The rear side of the e-Strap includes a small OLED display to show off notifications, alerts, messages and fitness data. Pretty cool idea if you ask us. Admittedly, the bulk of the display does detract from the premium aesthetics of the Montblanc watches a bit.
Intel MICA
Opening Ceremony wasn’t messing around when they decided to create an Intel wearable that oozes style and value. The Intel MICA is $1,000, and rightfully so since it includes an authentic snakeskin design that happens to be decked out in semi-precious stones. Hopefully, that’s enough bling to whet your appetite.
We’re not entirely sure what it does yet, probably the same as any other wearable like offering a slew of notifications. Maybe those fashionable jewels light up when you get a new email or something? Who knows? What we do know is that it looks pretty damn good, as it should for that price.
Stylish Wearables Yet to Be Officially Unveiled
Of course, there are also a couple of stylish wearables — or at least they’re sure to be — that have yet to be officially unveiled by their creators. What devices are we talking about exactly? Read on to see what we mean.
HP Smartwatch by Michael Bastion
HP openly announced their wearable that’s the product of a collaboration with designer Michael Bastion. We don’t really have any idea what it’s going to offer for features. Rumors seem to claim that it’s going to have a pretty high price point — as you’d expect with any designer piece — yet light on tech and features. Let’s hope it at least offers something worth a hefty price tag, if that’s indeed what gets slapped on it.
It will certainly be interesting to see what HP decides to do when it comes to the OS, especially in light of how their mobile operating system WebOS ended up.
Intel Smartwatch by Fossil
This is another wearable that is masked in obscurity. Fossil is pairing with Intel to create a smartwatch of some kind. What it is capable of and what it looks like we have no idea. Fossil’s devices are relatively stylish and appealing and the company usually opts for a reasonable pricing structure so let’s hope they go that route with their smartwatch too.
There’s absolutely no word on when it might launch or be revealed, so stay tuned!
LG Audi Smartwatch
The LG Audi smartwatch was shown off on stage at CES 2015, as Audi’s chairman rolled out a driverless Prologue using the device. It looks an awful lot like a chromed out version of LG’s G Watch R but we’ll have to wait to find out. We do know it’s going to be powered by WebOS instead of Android Wear, and it will have a custom skinned UI. The Audi smartwatch will drop sometime in 2016. Yes, you’ll definitely need to own an Audi by then in order to take advantage of the driverless remote controls.
TAG Smartwatch
We’ve heard quite a bit about TAG’s smartwatch when it comes to looks and style. That is to say, we have a hunch it’s going to look good, if they’re claims are true anyway. Rumors point to an Intel based processor, but not much else is known. The company has promised that they won’t just be copying other successful formats, but plan to offer something unique. What that means exactly we’ll have to wait until at least the end of 2015 to find out.