At the start of August, 2014, the first images teasing the first smartwatch from HP, in collaboration with Michael Bastian, surfaced ahead of an official announcement. Now, more than a month later, the wearable is official. HP and Bastian have officially announced the MB Chronowing, a smartwatch that actually looks like a traditional timepiece, but manages to offer up some of the features that potential buyers might expect from a smart wearable around their wrist. As is immediately apparent from the images that came along with the announcement, via the Wall Street Journal, the MB Chronowing is a smartwatch that doesn’t look anything like the smartwatches that dominate the market at this point. The Chronowing will automatically sync to any time zone that you enter, it’s water resistant, and the watch will come with three different bands: nylon, rubber and leather. There are three buttons along the side of the wearable, which are used to navigate the menus, activate a light and control music playback. The Chronowing will also last for about seven days before it needs a recharge. The Chronowing offers support for iOS and Android.
The MB Chronowing does indeed offer up plenty of features that are present in other smartwatches currently out there in the market. The wearable will always show the time thanks to a dedicated, albeit small clock dial up in the left-hand corner. The rest of the face is comprised of an LCD monochrome display, which can be used to showcase a series of notifications, including emails, text messages and more. The MB Chronowing will also show sports scores, stocks, and display the weather if so needed. However, it won’t do much more than that. When a notification comes in the wearable will offer up a gentle vibration, but it won’t elicit a sound. It also does not offer a touchscreen, a pedometer, a microphone, a heart rate monitor or any other kind of sensor. It’s a smartwatch designed to offer up simple notifications, but look traditional while doing it. As far as availability goes, it will go on sale beginning November 7, and it will run for $349. It will be sold exclusively through the online retailer, Gilt. What do you think of the MB Chronowing?
