Trade shows can be a funny thing, one minute we think we know everything that’s going to be launched and announced and then the next someone comes seemingly out of nowhere to surprise us. Last year, during February’s Mobile World Congress, Huawei was the one to surprise us all with the Huawei Watch. While not an imaginatively-named product, it was most certainly a smartwatch to behold. Running Android Wear, and therefore packing in the same features as others already on the market, Huawei made headlines for hardware and design. We reviewed the Huawei Watch last Fall, and despite being a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Huawei had managed to create one of the best traditional-looking smartwatches available.
After selling well last year, Huawei is kicking off 2016 with a partnership between themselves and Swarovski, offering two more female-focused versions of the Huawei Watch to their lineup. Dubbed the Jewel and Elegant, these two new watches are designed to be good-looking with a little more bling to them. The Jewel, pictured above, is the more extravagant of the pair and features an impressive 68 Swarovski Zirconia gems around the Rose Gold face, each measuring 1.5mm. The Elegant, as the name suggests, is a little less in-your-face and features a similar Rose Gold face, but with a knurled pattern around the face. Both watches will be available with either Sapphire Blue or Pearl White Italian Leather watch straps. Something to note, it would appear that Huawei has actually made these options larger, with their press release stating sizes of 44mm versus the original’s 42mm. This is presumably to make room for all the added Swarovski gems, but smaller sizes would have been nice to see.
Running the same software was the original Huawei Watch, the Jewel and Elegant models will feature the same 40 different watch faces and 10 extra ones exclusive to these two new models. Both of these Swarovski models will be available where the Huawei Watch is sold starting March of this year. There’s no word on how much more these will cost than the original, but it’s unlikely these will retail for the same price, given the brand power of Swarovski and the inlaid jewels. Regardless, it’s good to see Huawei come out with these new and fresh options, aimed at a more feminine audience, and we hope that other smartwatch manufacturers follow suit as a result.
