Fossil is really pushing their new Twist series. I've gotten two marketing emails from them in the last week urging me to check the collection out. According to the email:

"The beauty of a finely crafted automatic timepiece is coupled with the accuracy and reliability of quartz housed in a watchcase that reveals its intricate inner workings to the wearer."

A combined quartz and automatic movement? Very interesting. I wondered if it was something like Seiko's Kinetic line. Something new and cutting edge, perhaps. At $105, I figured it could only be so revolutionary, but these days, you can actually purchase some pretty advanced technology for the price of a good sushi dinner. I clicked on the link in the email to get more information from Fossil's site. Unfortunately, there weren't many more details:

"Precision quartz timing is merged with a patented mechanical dial to create a watch that will twist your expectations."

I decided to write to Fossil to get the scoop on their new Twist watches. The next day, I receive the following email from Fossil's trusty "Webguy":

"As far as the Twist line, it is a quartz driven movement. The automatic part of the watch is just for looks."

Oh, well. Not quite the breakthrough I was hoping for, but decent enough looking watches, nonetheless.

Bluetooth watches will finally become a reality at the end of October thanks to Fossil and Sony Ericsson's new Caller ID Bluetooth watch. The watch pairs with Sony Ericsson Bluetooth-enabled phones and Nokia series 60 phones running Symbian 7, 8, and 8.1 to alert you when someone calls. Not only does the watch discreetly vibrate, but it displays caller ID information on a small OLED display, and allows you to mute or reject the incoming call. Very slick. It even notifies you of incoming text messages, as well. Here are the details:

• Analog timekeeping.
• OLED displays caller ID information and text message icon.
• Bluetooth 2.0 compatible.
• Vibrating alert (essential to keep you from drawing unwanted attention).
• Rechargeable battery (via USB or AC adapter).
• Stainless steel case and bracelet.
• Water-resistant to 30 meters, or 100 feet.
• Mineral glass crystal.
• 5 - 7 day battery life with power saving function.

In general, I'd say Fossil and Sony Ericsson have come up with a pretty compelling piece of technology. One of my big concerns with Bluetooth watches has always been battery life, but 5 - 7 days is very reasonable. Just charge your watch when you charge your phone, and you should be all set. Of course, keeping an active Bluetooth connection between your watch and your phone will drastically reduce your phone's battery life, but I tend to believe that as long as a phone can make it through an entire day of active use, that's good enough (I think it's easier to remember to charge your phone every night than every 5 days).

My other concern was style, and how an obvious lack of it would affect adoption. Fortunately, I think Fossil has learned the hard way that technology which doesn't come in a pretty package is technology that won't last (see the discontinued Abacus Wrist PDA and Abacus Wrist Net series). In my opinion, the Fossil Caller ID Bluetooth watch is a relatively handsome and unassuming timepiece.

The only thing I would add to Fossil's Caller ID watch is the ability to synchronize with the phone's time. Although I think this watch represents an impressive piece of technology, I actually wouldn't call it a true Bluetooth watch because the watch itself (the portion that tells time) actually isn't integrated with the Bluetooth functionality, as far as I can tell. In other words, the Caller ID watch is basically an analog watch and a Bluetooth caller ID device crammed together into the same case, operating completely independently. If they were integrated, the watch could be synchronized with the phone's internal time which phones get from their networks which is usually synchronized against a time server which, in turn, is synchronized with an atomic clock, which basically turns a Bluetooth watch into an atomic watch, as well.

The Fossil Caller ID Bluetooth watch will be available at the end of October, and will sell for $249. If you're the impatient type, you can pre-order one now from Fossil's site.

John over at The Wrist Watch Review got his hands on one of the new Fossil Atari Asteroids watches. These things look like a lot of fun, especially if you used to be an Atari 2600 junkie, like myself. The watch isn't playable, unfortunately, but it is animated, which means the asteroids (blobs) and the ship (triangle) do actually move. The Fossil Atari Asteroids watch runs $125, and is available on Fossil's site. If these types of watches appeal to you, don't wait because this is a limited edition of only 5,000 pieces total, and only 2,000 slotted for the US.

Similarly geeky watches from Fossil include the:

• Clone Wars watch
• Darth Vader watch
• Droids watch
• Superman Street watch
• Batman Legend watch
• Lord of the Rings watch

All are limited editions, for better or for worse.

View the Fossil Philippe Starck photo gallery.

Update (3/18/05): Watch Report reader John Dale recently informed me that the Sand Digital is no longer available on Fossil's site. Thanks, John!

When I first decided to review Fossil's Philippe Starck collection, I initially associated the French designer with minimalism. As I did a little research, browsed his site, and read some interviews, I started to think of Philippe Starck as more of an avant-garde weirdo. Quotes from his site like "Everything has a Birth a Live a Dead" [sic], "We are God," and "We are mutants" probably didn't help my perception. Ultimately, however, I decided the only fair way to judge Philippe Starck would be from his work of which there is certainly no shortage. Starck has designed everything from baby bottles to toilets to lemon squeezers to buildings to an entire street block. If something can be done differently (and someone is willing to pay for it), Starck seems to be happy to do it. And I must admit, whether he's an avant-garde weirdo or not, I like his work. Most of it isn't as out there as his bizarre photographs and philosophies might have you believe, but it's definitely unique enough to be interesting. In other words, I guess you could say that in the end, Starck won me over. And there was one quote I uncovered on his site which I certainly can identify with: "From Technology to Love."

I found Fossil's Philippe Starck collection of digital watches to be entirely consistent with my impression of the rest of Starck's work: unique, minimal, functional, weird, and fun. All the watches in the collection are relatively simple, affordable, and no doubt serve as both time and conversation pieces.

Only on Watch Report can a story on Patek Philippe be followed by one on a new Fossil Star Wars watch. But as I'm fond of saying, every watch is right for someone. And if you're a total Star Wars geek, and you don't care who knows it, then this one might be right for you. From the Star Wars online store:

The Clone Wars Animated Series returns this March, and Fossil has a fantastic new watch to commemorate the event. This highly stylized timepiece, which features the animated incarnations of Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Yoda, has a brushed metal finish and sports an adjustable leather band studded with four polished rivets.

Fans of animation will appreciate the way the face has been designed within the bezel--the images of Mace, Obi-Wan/Anakin, and Yoda appear to "float" on three separate plains within the bezel, simulating the look of an animation cel and background setup. Keep up to the minute with this Forceful animated foursome from the highly collectible Fossil series of watches.

The new Clone Wars watch will run about 105 credits , and will be available in May of 2005. It looks like you may even be able to preorder it if you're afraid of forgetting. If this is the kind of thing you're into wearing on your wrist, you might also want to check out the Fossil Star Wars Driod watch, or see if you can find one of the much sought after Fossil Star Wars Imperial Icon watches.

BEIKS, developers of applications for various mobile platforms, recently announced a new site specifically for the Fossil Wrist PDA. Fossil launched the long-awaited Wrist PDA in early January, and as of the time of this writing, is completely sold out. The Fossil Wrist PDA already comes with standard personal information management applications like Address Book, Date Book, To Do List, Memo Pad, and Calculator, however since the watch runs the Palm OS (version 4.1), users can install third-party software to extend its functionality. Although Fossil claims that the Wrist PDA will run most Palm OS applications, they also recommend sticking with software "designed to take advantage of the special features of the Wrist PDA such as the Rocker Switch and the larger font sets."

So far, BEIKS only has two applications listed on their new Fossil Wrist PDA site: A+, a suite of five productivity and functionality enhancements for the Wrist PDA, and Karateka, a remake of an old Commodore fighting game.

Fossil is apparently expecting other third-party vendors to start offering software specifically for the Fossil Wrist PDA as evidenced by the Wrist PDA Software "Coming Soon" page on their site. For those of you who can't wait for long software development and testing cycles, or simply prefer to build rather than buy, Fossil offers the Wrist PDA Software Development Kit (SDK) for free.

Fossil has finally brought to market the long awaited Fossil Wrist PDA (FX2008). The Fossil Wrist PDA has been in the works for quite some time now, and was even showing up on Fossil's website and on Amazon as long as two years ago. I wrote a small piece outlining the history of the Fossil Wrist PDA back in November, in case you're interested in ancient history.

But for those of you who prefer to look forward rather than back, the new Fossil Wrist PDA is actually immediately available on Fossil's site, and if you can wait 5-7 business days, they will even ship it to you for free!

Fossil does not go into a lot of technical detail about the Wrist PDA on their site, but here's what I've been able to gather so far:

• 160x160 grayscale LCD touch-screen.
• 66MHz processor. That's twice the speed of the 2-year-old original.
• Palm OS 4.1 (same as the original).
• 8MB of memory (up 4x from the original).
• Stylus integrated into the buckle.

All I can say is thanks, Fossil, for not giving up on this watch. I'm sure some very heated and ugly internal battles were fought and won in order to keep investing in this piece of technology. The Fossil Wrist PDA is not the first watch with an integrated PDA to hit the market, but it's the first to be backed by such a big company, and certainly looks to be the best. (I'll let you know for sure once I get my hands on one.)

View the Fossil Wrist Net photo gallery.

Update (12/13/2004): Fossil has lowered the price of the Wrist Net FX3005 discussed in this review from $200 to $149 which, in my opinion, makes it much more attractive. Well done, Fossil!

Fossil recently polished up and re-released their Wrist Net watch in an attempt to wrap the MSN Direct service in a slightly more fashionable package. In their own words, the Wrist Net now has a "stylish new look" with its new integrated leather and rubber strap, redesigned buckle, additional watch faces, and slimmer case. I recently reviewed the new Swatch Paparazzi (probably the biggest competitor to the Wrist Net), so I was anxious to see how Fossil's efforts measured up. And since the Wrist Net is only the second MSN Direct watch to be redesigned since the original lineup (the first being the Suunto n3), I was also interested in seeing if I could discern the direction in which the MSN Direct watches are evolving.

I don't touch on the MSN Direct service itself in this review, nor do I get into the features of  MSN Direct watches, since I cover both in pretty painstaking detail in my review of the Swatch Paparazzi. And since I don't have the original Fossil Wrist Net watch, the sole purpose of this review is not to compare the old and the new side-by-side. Rather, I approach the new Wrist Net from a fresh perspective, comparing it to the Swatch Paparazzi where appropriate.

Hopefully Fossil is serious this time about their new Wrist PDA: a full Palm OS (4.1) built right into a watch. Actually, I'm sure they were quite serious the first time they announced the Wrist PDA and took "Best of COMDEX" in the mobile devices category nearly two years, though it seems circumstances conspired against Fossil, and the watch disappeared from their site as suddenly as it had appeared. I believe Amazon had even started taking pre-orders, though presumably, everyone's money was safely returned, and I'm sure there were no hard feelings.

Don't worry, Fossil -- I'm not writing this to accuse you of false promises and vaporware. On the contrary. I'm writing this to congratulate you on getting the project back on track. I believe it's in everyone's best interest that bleeding edge devices like the Wrist PDA not be released until they are ready, and I also believe this product is no less impressive and relevant now than it was when it was originally announced. In other words, I'm still dying to have one.

Features and specs:

• Palm OS 4.1 (English).
• Motorola Dragonball VZ 33MHz. Not much by today's PDA standards, but pretty darn impressive for a watch.
• 2MB of RAM. The first PDA I ever owned was a special "upgraded" version with 4MB. Again, very impressive for a watch.
• 16 level grayscale with backlight; 160x160 pixels.
• Address Book, Date Book, To Do List, Memo Pad, Calculator, and even the time.
• Support for most Palm OS 4.1 compatible applications.
• Customizable watch faces.
• Touch screen input.
• Miniature stylus concealed in the watch's band. Slick!
• Built-in page up, page down, and back buttons.
• Three-direction rocker switch (aka jog dial). Well done, Fossil.
• USB interface.
• Infrared data transfer.
• Internal rechargeable battery and an AC power adapter to recharge it.
• 4-5 days of battery life. Sounds fairly comparable to an MSN Direct watch.
• Wrist PDA SDK for the software developers among you (a free download from Fossil's site).

So hopefully the wait is finally almost over. As soon as I can get my hands on one, you can be sure I'll post a detailed review.