"Smart, or stylish?" That's the question facing casual watch aficionados looking for a new, high-tech addition to their collection.
On one hand (er, wrist), you've got the Pebble and other smartwatch upstarts, which come with built-in smartphone connectivity, customizable screens, and burgeoning developer communities eager to feed their app ecosystems. They also, by and large, look like uninspired pieces of mass-produced Chinese plastic, and that's because they are.
On the "stylish" end of the spectrum is ... not much. Except this: Citizen's Eco-Drive Proximity.
The Citizen learns the current time from your phone, and the watch's hands spin around to the correct positions.By all outward appearances, the Proximity looks like any another chronograph in a sea of handsome analog watches. It has all the features you'd expect, including a 24-hour dial, day and date, perpetual calendar and second time zone. But housed within its slightly oversized 46mm case is a Bluetooth 4.0 radio, so it's capable of passing data over the new low-energy connectivity standard appearing in newer smartphones, including the iPhone 5 and 4S. And for now, the Promixity is only compatible with those Apple devices.
Initial pairing is relatively easy. After downloading Citizen's notably low-rent iOS app, you can link the watch to your phone with a few turns and clicks on the crown.
The gee-whiz feature is the automatic time sync that takes place whenever you land in a different time zone. Once connected, the Citizen learns the current time from your phone, and the watch's hands spin around to the correct positions – a welcome bit of easy magic, considering the initial setup is a tedious finger dance.
The watch can also notify you of incoming communications. Once you've configured the mail client (it only supports IMAP accounts), you'll get notified whenever you get a new e-mail – there's a slight vibration and the second hand sweeps over to the "mail" tab at the 10-o'clock position. If a phone call comes in, the second hand moves to the 11-o'clock marker. If the Bluetooth connection gets lost because the watch or phone is outside the 30-foot range, you get another vibration and the second hand moves to the "LL" indicator. And really, that's the extent of the functionality around notifications.
But notable in its absence is the notification I'd like the most: text message alerts. And it's not something Citizen will soon be rectifying because the dials and hardware aren't upgradable.