iWatch: Revisiting Smart Watches from 1984 to 2013

This particular design have been floating about as a possible design of the upcoming Apple iWatch. It is a design from Designer Marten Hajek, and online bloggers, magazines have been impressed. Historically, smartwatches have struggled to reach a look that combines sophisticated design with functionality but Hajek’s work might belie that trend.

Initial renders have been impressive, and with the number of watch-related patents that Apple had been filing coupled with Google readying their Google Glass for launch, it looks even more apparent that we would see a new disruptive wearable smart watch launched by Apple towards the later part of this year. We take a walk down memory lane, to recap the various smart watches the world has seen. It goes pretty far back, all the way to 1984, a Seiko UC-2000, which looks straight out of a Sci-Fi movie with a keyboard attached. Definitely too big for a wrist.

We are still awaiting more news on the Apple’s iWatch, but wearable tech would be the big thing for the years ahead. “This is just the start of where wearable technology is going,” said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst for Gartner. “Eventually, smart fabrics, which will be the clothes you wear, will also come to market. But that’s years away.” Apple had a knack of new products that disrupt the use of technology. Just look at the iPod, iPhone and the iPad. Was it all due to Steve Jobs? Well the iWatch would somehow be the critical assessment of Tim Cook’s reign as CEO.