Fossil Group announced today it will launch over 300 new watch styles across 14 different brands including Armani, DKNY and Kate Spade. This ensures Fossil takes a solid footing of the smartwatch segment that has been slowing in demand lately.
The ambitious move has Fossil concentrating to create smartwatches in three distinctive styles: hybrid, digital and tracking. The hybrid style features a classical watch interface; the digital style will be more like the full-fledged digital smartwatches from Apple or Samsung; the tracking style will be reminiscent of Fitbit or Jawbone devices.
The complete list of brands being featured are: DKNY, Marc Jacobs, Michele, Relic, Tory Burch, Armani Exchange, Chaps, Diesel, Emporio Armani, Kate Spade New York, Misfit, Michael Kors, Skagen and Fossil. Fossil Group is currently showcasing some of the designs at its Baselworld event at its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.
“This explosion of new styles is further proof that the entire purpose of the watch is changing,” said Fossil Group chief strategy and digital officer Greg McKelvey. “Our customers are no longer wearing a watch simply to tell time, they are wearing it to stay connected to the people and activities they care about most while remaining fashionably on-point. We’re thrilled to offer them so many ways to maintain those connections, and to do it with beauty and uncompromised style.”
The devices will release throughout the year. Some are coming as soon as next month while others won’t arrive until the holiday season.
How will these watches look and which features will they include
The entire slate will include devices that range from slimmer and smaller hybrid designs with the classical watch face to full-round smartwatches with custom AMOLED display. The latter of these devices will include branded micro-apps and feature wireless charging. The smartwatches will run Android Wear 2.0 and will be compatible with Android and iOS.
Fossil is saying this move will “reinvent the watch.” We’ll see if that is the case very soon.