Talking points

Alongside features for fitness buffs, the best smartwatches can help monitor everyday wellness, with features that provide insights on your stress levels and others that track the quality of your sleep.

Many smartwatches now come with integrated near field communication (NFC), enabling contactless payments directly from your watch. Especially useful for runners or cyclists shopping on the move.

If you can’t go anywhere without music playing in your ears, look for a smartwatch with in-built music storage or Spotify compatibility. Sync your watch with a pair of Bluetooth headphones and away you go.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that a watch this high-tech might not fare as well in the elements. Fortunately many models are designed to withstand military-grade robustness and are water resistant.

Expand the possibilities of your smartwatch by installing add-on apps. Choose from shopping list and reminder apps to games, audio recorders and even an app that remembers where you parked your car.

History of Smart Watches

Smartwatches might feel like a modern accessory but the first iteration came onto the market nearly 50 years ago. In 1972, the first digital watch was launched by a Swiss watchmaker. Soon after, Japanese companies started to test ways to integrate more content into watches. In fact, the digital watch linked to a TV receiver that James Bond wears in Octopussy in 1983 was actually released by Seiko that same year.

10 years down the line, the first watch able to download data wirelessly was launched and quickly adopted by NASA. Around the same time, the ‘father of smartwatches’ Steve Mann developed the first Linux smartwatch. In the meantime Garmin evolved their military GPS receivers into wrist-worn GPS trackers for runners and Samsung developed the first smartwatch capable of telecommunications. By the 2000s, IBM and Fossil were leading the charge. Today’s smartwatch technology has evolved considerably with models now encompassing all the capabilities that were trialled in the early years.

Buying Advice

The first thing to think about when deciding which smartwatch to buy is whether it’s compatible with your smartphone. While there are some models that operate independently, most require smartphone pairing. Some smartwatches work only with Apple iOS, others work only with Android and some work with both. An Android smartwatch can have differing capabilities.

Next, think about what you’ll be using your smartwatch for. Assess whether you need an all-rounder that monitors basic fitness, tracks sleep, enables contactless payments and music playback. Or do you need a watch with bespoke features? Remember, there are models designed for specific sports and professions, such as pilots and captains.

From an aesthetic perspective, consider if you’d prefer a sportier model or a watch you can wear comfortably in the office and at a party. Hybrid smartwatches that appear as analogue timepieces also tend to have the longest battery life but it’s worth noting that they usually don’t have touchscreens.