Fossil is announcing the release of two new smart watches at Baselworld 2016, following up on their first touchscreen smart watch, the Fossil Q Founder. The new Fossil Q Wander and Fossil Q Marshal actually reduce case size down from 47mm to 44mm and 46mm, respectively. The Android Wear pieces introduce another welcome change from the 13mm thick Q Founder – a slimmer case, which the brand claims is motivated by customer feedback. It always does well to listen to your customers, and Fossil seems intent on keeping their fashion-oriented identity while simultaneously trying their hand at the smart watch game.
The Fossil Q Wander is the “softer”-looking new Fossil smart watch, sporting clean lines and elegant-looking wire lugs. This is certainly Fossil’s attempt at taking some of the heft out of the Q Founder which, while attractive, could not claim to be as soft and light looking as the Fossil Q Wander. Even the word “wander” conjures up images of someone whimsically getting lost in an urban jungle wearing their easygoing, take-with-you-anywhere smart watch. At 44mm, with several interchangeable strap options, this may be an appealing women’s smart watch or just a good choice for anyone who doesn’t want quite so much bulk on their wrist.
The Fossil Q Marshal, as hinted by the military-sounding name, is a bit bolder than the Fossil Q Wander. At 46mm, it has a more aggressive bezel and lug look, and also comes on a steel bracelet or a variety of vintage-inspired leather straps. Both new Q watches will have a new wireless charger, but we don’t have any images of that yet. For the most part, both of these watches provide aesthetic changes from the Fossil Q Founder, but I’m looking forward to getting a chance to wear them around and see for myself.
Finally, we have some of the new “smart analog” watches, which is another way of saying connected device. I liked the Fossil Q Grant, their first connected device, but in terms of aesthetics, Fossil wants to clearly appeal to a much broader audience. While these pieces aren’t perfect, I think you’ll see these on a lot of wrists. Notifications, step & calorie tracking, sleep monitoring, automatic time zone updates, and a second time zone in the sub-dial are the main selling points of the new smart analog pieces. Like the Fossil smart watches we’ve previously covered, all these devices are Android and iPhone compatible.
The new Fossil Q Wander, Q Marshal, and smart analog watches should be available sometime between this summer and fall. We don’t have prices for the smart analog pieces, although the previous Fossil Q Grant retailed for $195. The Fossil Q Wander and the Fossil Q Marshal are priced starting at $275. fossil.com
Bilal Khan is a watch and cat lover living in Los Angeles. Having worked in media and finance, he is now thrilled to be somewhere that allows him to work with the best team in the industry. After his painstaking research and purchase of an Omega Speedmaster, he was completely and hopelessly hooked on wristwatches. Over the past few minutes, he has written and deleted several metaphors comparing watch movements to things like engines, cities, etc… but is content in saying that he’s in awe of and endlessly fascinated by them. When he’s not working he can be found listening to Kanye West, watching Empire, or obsessively talking about Mad Men and The Sopranos.
