Swatch releases Tissot Smart-Touch

The Smart-Touch has been unveiled by known fashion watch makers Swatch.

Swatch has dipped its toes in to the smartwatch arena before but this is its first real attempt and it has come wrapped in the Tissot branding.

The Tissot Smart-Touch is based on the outgoing Tissot T-Touch Solar. The Smart-Touch is a logica evolution of the T-Touch family of technology-inspired Swiss timepieces that began life in the late 1990s.

Tissot is pushing two interesting areas of functionality for their new device which are certainly not your regular smartwatch bread and butter options.

First are navigation features which combine the compass feature of the T-Touch with navigation and other GPS features on your smartphone. It sounds as though the hands as well as screen on the watch dial will offer directions and tracking features for navigating both urban and natural landscapes. Tissot is touting such features as “back home, tracking, and navigation.” Part of this functionality is offered in the “Smart-Touch FindIt” accessory which is a fob that can be attached to things and then tracked by the watch. This is good for finding your way back to camp or tracking a moving object.

Also, there’s a solar-powered weather station that delivers local conditions to the Smart-Touch’s display. The Smart-Touch Station is there to deliver hyper local weather information such as temperature, humidity, and air quality back to not only the Smart-Touch watch but also the smartphone app which goes with the devices.

These are rather novel products for Tissot, let alone your more common tech brands.

You get an altimeter and modern conveniences like automatic time updates. The battery should last up to a year on a charge, too, and you can recharge it using solar power thanks to its face being mostly a photovoltaic cell.

The Tissot Smart-Touch has been designed to function as a watch even if phone integration is disconnected so even if you leave your phone at home, you still have a useful timepiece.

Tissot Is expected to make the new smartwatch available at a price of around $1,100 to $1,200 so not peanuts then. The Smart-Touch comes wrapped in a black ceramic bezel on an otherwise titanium case that is 45mm wide, and will likely come in a few styles on either a bracelet or various strap options.