Gone are the days of regular watches. Smartwatches are all the craze right now in wearable technology, and the following best smartwatch brands prove that style doesn’t have to be sacrificed for function.
From fitness and sports trackers to communication watches, this list details the top 15 best smartwatch brands on the market, for every budget and style.
Ever seen a luxury smartwatch before? Read on as we share all you need to know for smartwatches for the ultimate constant connection.
Top 15 Best Smartwatch Brands (For Ultimate Connection)
1. Apple
Of course, this brand is at the top of our best smartwatch brands. Apple dominates the technology market in many areas, and when it comes to their smartwatch lines, these watches include fitness tracking ability, health-data, communication and other integration with iOS and Apple products. Currently, the best selling model is the Apple Watch Series 4.
Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple is a household name and has been for decades. The headquarters are located in California, though it reaches almost every part of the world in its products and services.
With instant success in the Apple Watch’s release in 2015, this innovative watch became the best selling wearable technology device globally, selling 4.2 million by the end of that same year. Each new model of Apple Watch continues to see this kind of success upon its release.
2. Samsung
Coming in a close second to Apple, Samsung is another leading technology brand. Their Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch is hailed as one of the best smartwatch models for its long battery life, and the light design makes it comfortable to wear. The Active watch model is also a best seller for those reasons.
Samsung Electronics is a South Korean brand that was founded in 1969. Products are sold in over 80 countries, with an estimated total number of global employees over 300,000, including those in production, marketing, and sales.
The Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch is loved for its capability of 4G data connection, similar to the Apple watch. This allows for communication even when we are away from our phone.
3. Fossil
This company is another one of the best smartwatch brands that is loved especially for its sports watches. The Fossil Sport Smartwatch is a favourite pick for active Android users, with an attractive design and lots of apps to connect with the watch’s functionality.
Founded in 1984, the Fossil Group was created by Tom Kartsotis. It’s based in Texas and is now on the fourth generation of smartwatch technology. The Fossil Group has 59 global offices, operates in 150 countries and there are over 500 company-owned stores around the world.
The Fossil Group owns the following well-known brands, including the namesake ‘Fossil’: Misfit, Abacus, Skagen Denmark, Zodiac Watches and more. The company name came from the nickname that the founder gave his father as a child (and to this day).
4. Skagen
As another Android operating smartwatch brand, Skagen is best known for it’s innovative and fashionable designs. The current best selling smartwatch is the Skagen Falser 2 Smartwatch, which has a small and elegant design concept. It’s powered by the Google WearOS, including Google features like the assistant, weather, activity tracking, and more.
As a subsidiary brand of the above-mentioned Fossil Group, Skagen Denmark is known and loved for its watches. Later, the company branched out to create more electronic accessories, though watches remain to be Skager’s key products.
Skagen Designs was purchased by the Fossil Group in 2012 and the transaction of the purchase cost $237 million USD. The operations of the company, therefore, are seen in the American region of Richardson, Texas, although it is still true to its origins of Denmark design.
5. Tag Heuer
This is a more upmarket premium brand, which is also hailed as being a top smartwatch designer. The Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45 smartwatch is the companies second attempt at a smartwatch model, and this one was a success with mimicking a traditional mechanical watch in design, though adding the element of innovative technology within it.
This brand is a Swiss luxury company that designs and manufactures fashion accessories and watches. Founded in 1860 by Edouard Heuer in Switzerland, the company began as ‘Uhrenmanufaktur Heuer AG’ before being purchased partially in 1985 by the TAG group, forming this current brand we know today.
The luxury element was carried on when the French luxury goods conglomerate known as LVMH bought almost 100% of the company in 1999. There’s no wonder that most people think of Tag Heuer when they’re looking for a luxury smartwatch.
6. Huawei
This Chinese electronics brand isn’t an obvious name for smartwatches, but what they have out on the market is quality technology, so Huawei has a mention in this list. The Huawei Watch GT is loved for its great battery life and its functionality of also being a fitness tracker.
Founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, the company started by creating phone switches and later expanded to be a telecommunications network builder, as well as manufacturing communication devices. Operating globally, the company has over 188,000 employees.
Interestingly, 76,000 of Huawei’s employees are focused purely on research and development, and there are 21 institutes for Huawei research and development in the world today. This smartwatch brand is clearly focused on innovation and moving forward.
7. Emporio Armani
As a branch of the luxury brand Giorgio Armani, the Emporio Armani fashion brand has teamed by with the watchmaker Fossil, to create modern stylish smartwatches. The Emporio Armani ART5003 is a well-made luxury watch that works well and looks beautiful.
Giorgio Armani was founded in 1975 in Italy, and currently has several labels, including the Emporio Armani name. The entire company had an estimated revenue of $170 million USD in 2018. Emporio Armani was created as a fashion and accessories label to focus more on modern brands and ready-to-wear collections.
The brand has boutiques all around the world, including places like Tokyo, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Jakarta, Lima, Sydney, Bangkok, and many more.
8. Nixon
Nixon is another one of the best smartwatch brands in the world today. The Nixon Mission watch is hailed as a great ‘rugged-style’ outdoor active smartwatch, which is durable, waterproof and runs on the Android operating system.
This American brand was founded in 1997 in California. It began creating custom-built products for independent board sport retailers (like surf, skate and snow shops), evolving later to be a specialty boutique and fashion store retailer. The brand sells currently in more than 80 countries around the globe.
The Nixon stand-alone retail stores can be found in Berkeley in California, as well as in Bondi and Melbourne in Australia, and Kuta town in Bali, Indonesia.
9. TicWatch (Mobvoi)
TicWatch is part of the larger Mobvoi company, and although they’re a little more ‘new’ on the scene of smartwatches, they’re already part of the best selling list of smartwatches globally. The TicWatch Pro is an innovative model with dual-screen technology combining traditional watch design with top-end OS functionality. The watch was launched in October 2018.
Mobvoi is a Chinese company, founded in 2012 by an ex-Google employee Zhifei Li. His driving mission was to create the next generation of technology that utilises voice recognition, semantic analytics, and other future-forward technologies.
The first edition of the TicWatch was created by Mobvoi on the Kickstarter platform to assess public interest and raise funds for production. The global edition of this campaign was a huge success, raising $2.1 million USD on the platform.
10. Garmin
For the sporty smartwatch lovers, the Garmin brand is a clear favourite. The current model on the best selling list of Garmin watches is the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music. This watch is for iPhone or Android users who are interested in fitness-specific functionality.
Garmin (formally ProNav) was founded in 1989 by Min Kao and Gary Burrell in Kansas, United States. The company is also incorporated in Switzerland since 2010. Specialising in GPS technology, it makes wearable devices for aviation, marine, automotive and outdoor sports uses.
Garmin was the second smartwatch to integrate Spotify into a watch (the Forerunner 645 Music mentioned above). This happened in 2018 and followed on from the leader Samsung to do this back in 2016.
11. Kate Spade New York
As another unexpected addition to this list of the best smartwatch brands, Kate Spade New York is a fashion house that has jumped on the smartwatch trend. The best selling model is the Kate Spade Scallop 2, which is a small design that blends fashion and style for women, as well as technology functions of communication and data tracking.
Kate Spade New York was created as a luxury women’s fashion brand in 1993 by Kate and Andy Spade. They have a menswear brand known as Jack Spade. Kate Spade’s most notable competitor for the style of the designs is the popular Michael Kors designer brand.
In recent years, the company became part of the Tapestry Inc company (formally the Coach company), as it was purchased in 2017. Smartwatches are a new addition to the brand’s fashion accessories.
12. Fitbit
Also competing in the realm of sport and fitness tracking, the Fitbit smartwatch brand is a strong contender to be close to the top sports accessory brands in wearable technology. The Fitbit Versa is a water-resistant, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connected device that’s loved for it’s sleek and small design.
Fitbit is an American company, created in 2007. Its headquarters are in California, and it sells all around the globe in retail stores and online. The range of products includes activity trackers and wearable technology devices, all geared towards fitness and health enthusiasts.
From an IDC report at the end of 2008, Fitbit was considered the 3rd biggest wearable company in terms of shipments globally, behind the two leaders Apple and Xiaomi.
13. Misfit
Another fitness watch brand is Misfit, which is a subsidiary of the Fossil Group mentioned earlier in the list above. The Misfit Vapor 2 is an Android and iOS combative device with a stylish design for fitness lovers who also want a wearable watch that’s fashionable too.
Founded in 2011, Misfit was a brand that began with the intentions of making something a little different in its bold designs and vibrant styles. It’s a fashion accessory brand that was inspired by this energy of individual expression and has now evolved to be a leading smartwatch brand.
The name was chosen because of the definition conveying the essence of the brand: ‘rebels, trailblazers, mavericks… the round pegs in the square holes.’
14. Montblanc
This German luxury fashion and accessory brand is loved for its smartwatches that perform to a high standard, and have the design and style to match their up-market price. The Montblanc Summit 2 is the current best selling model of smartwatch, with compatibility with iOS and Android, as well as Google Assistant and a large 8GB of memory.
The company was created back in 1906, starting as a pen production company by the founders Alfred Nehemias and August Eberstein. The company went through different owners and transitions, to eventually evolve to create jewellery, watches, eyewear and other goods from the late 1970s to this day.
Montblanc today is part of the Richemont Group, which also includes other sister luxury brands like Cartier, Chloé, Van Cleef & Arpels, and more.
15. Xiaomi
Capping this list of the best smartwatch brands is the tech-giant, the Chinese Xiaomi brand. The model of smartwatch by this company that is getting the most praise right now is the Amazfit GTR, which is loved for it’s GPS, heart monitoring, sleep tracking, step counting, water resistance, and more.
The Xiaomi corporation was created in 2010 and is headquartered currently in Beijing. Other products that this large manufacturer sells include laptops, mobile apps, shoes, fitness bands, bags and more.
Interestingly, Xiaomi is actually the youngest brand that is ranked on the Fortune Global 500 list for 2019 – an impressive feat considering it’s relatively new on the scene of technology, and already enjoying strong success.
Resources
https://www.t3.com/news/best-smartwatch
https://www.digitaltrends.com/wearables/best-smartwatch/
https://www.techradar.com/news/wearables/best-smart-watches-what-s-the-best-wearable-tech-for-you-1154074
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