Till a short while ago you had to decide if you wanted a classical watch, whether mechanical or quartz, or a smart watch, relatively bulk and heavy with a touchscreen and a short battery life. A short time ago, the Horological Smartwatches from Frederique Constant, Alpina and Salvatore Ferragamo were released, all based on a platform developed by MMT Swiss Connect, offering a smart function in a classical looking watch and with more than one year battery life. But you still have to put away these smartwatches, when you want to wear your favourite classical watch.
The next step was achieved by the release, at the end of February, of a watch strap with a built-in smart module, which has the same smart function as the Horological Smartwatches. At last, you can wear your favourite horological timepiece without the need for a fitness band. The smart module was developed by the MMT Swiss Connect for Frederique Constant and uses the same smartphone application MMT-365 as the Horological Smartwatches offering a chance to have the same app for all your devices.
The available smart functions for the E-Strap are: activity tracker, sleep monitoringwith sleep cycles alarm, get-active alerts and dynamic coach. All these functions have the possibility to do a Cloud back-up and restore, so you will never lose your data. The Cloud used is a Swiss Cloud with a high security level offered by the MMT.
The MMT365 app is available for Android and Apple; it has an easy and intuitive user interface with explanations and advices for better understanding your active life and sleep behaviour with the clear goal of improving your lifestyle and your sleep by being more active and rest better. For this, the E-Strap uses a patented sensor-fusion engine that tracks your activity and sleep patterns with high accuracy. The data from the sensor is available in every moment in the MMT365 app by automatic synchronisation.
The E-Strap’s smart module has a rechargeable battery with a week energy reserve and a light, compact charger. You can forget a few days about charging your E-strap and if you travel for more than a few days, the small charger will not be an issue for the luggage.
The smart module is mounted on an ultra-small buckle which is an extension hardly visible, as it is thin and when on the wrist, is covered by the leather strap. The normal wearing comfort is not affected by the size of the module.
To meet all the requirements and fit all the watch cases materials, the metal case of the smart module is available in stainless steel, rose gold PVD steel and yellow gold PVD steel with the respective buckle colour. The leather strap itself is available in black, light brown, dark brown and navy blue with two sizes of 20mm and 22mm – the most common sizes for the wristbands.
The E-Strap is available for pre-order on the Frederique Constant Website with prices between 229€ and 249€, depending on the size and module/buckle colour with shipping starting with the end of May 2017.