Watch Out Apple: The Swiss Have Their Own Smartwatches — and They’re Gorgeous

On the outside, they look and act like precision mechanical watches, complete with laser-cut hands and analog displays. On the inside, though, they have electronics powered by the same technology found inside the Jawbone series of fitness wearables.

Using low-power Bluetooth, the watches connect to an app on your Android or iOS phone, allowing you to track your activity, measure sleep cycles, and get reminders to be more active if you’ve been sitting too long. You can also view your activity and sleep quality on a secondary analog dial on the watch face itself — no need to whip out your phone to check your stats.

the company that sells technology to Jawbone and Nike and is also behind the MotionX and Sleeptracker technology inside each watch, claims the timepieces will run for two years on a single watch battery, avoiding one of the key weaknesses of fitness wearables, says Fullpower CEO Philippe Kahn.

“More than half of the people who use wearable fitness trackers take their devices off to charge them and never put them on again,” he said at the watches’ unveiling in San Francisco. “These are watches you’ll never have to charge.”

Photo: Fullpower

Kahn says the watches’ firmware can be updated wirelessly, and the silicon module inside each timepiece can be swapped out for newer chips as the technology improves. (As with battery replacement, you’ll need to bring the watch in to a jeweler for that kind of operation.)

Related: Apple’s Secret Plan to Maximize Apple Watch Battery Life

All three Swiss watchmakers will be introducing some 10 new smartwatch models for men and women. The base model Alpina sport watches will start around $250; the others will cost between $500 and $1,000. They will be available in retail stores starting in May.

Kahn says these watches appeal to a different user than someone who would buy an Apple Watch or Samsung Gear.

“There are billions of people on the planet who wear watches,” he says. “Apple will dominate the smartwatch market out of sheer brute force, but there’s still plenty of people who want something that helps keep track of their health but still looks elegant.”