Not long after Fossil confirmed its plans for releasing new wearables by the end of the year, and shortly after the Fossil Q Marshal and Q Wander were released Stateside, the US-based watchmaker has now unveiled a new series of Q hybrid smartwatches aimed for a market release by the end of September, namely the Q Nate, Q Crewmaster, Q Gazer, and Q Tailor.
As is the case with hybrid smartwatches, all the new Fossil Q models will have an analog look and feel, and will not be equipped with LCD or AMOLED screens. Hybrid watches combine mechanical watch parts with smart features in a more or less seamless manner, and because they are not regular smartwatches they generally provide much longer battery life. As such, each one of the upcoming Fossil Q watches will offer up to 6 months of battery life which should be enough for most watch users, and furthermore, all four models are powered by coin cell batteries, meaning that they should be relatively easy to replace using the appropriate tools. As far as the smart connectivity aspect is concerned, the upcoming Fossil Q series will include sleep monitoring technologies, automatic time zone, custom goal settings, and Bluetooth connectivity which can be used to connect the timepiece to a smartphone running Android 4.4 KitKat and newer, or iOS 8.2 and up. Additionally, the watches offer Activity Integration with a number of fitness applications, including Google Fit, Apple Health, Under Armor’s UA Record, and UP by Jawbone. Last but not least, customers will have the option to personalize their Fossil Q hybrid watch with a variety of interchangeable leather, stainless steel, and leather straps.
The Fossil Q Nate, Q Crewmaster, Q Gazer, and Q Tailor hybrid smartwatches will be available for purchase on September 26, and prospective customers will have the option of pre-ordering the items on September 14. Pricing details are scarce at the moment, but apparently, the new Fossil Q models will be offered for the starting price of $175. It is unclear if the $175 starting price tag will apply to one, more, or all the upcoming models, but additional details should emerge in the coming days or weeks ahead of the pre-order timeframe.