A British horology atelier is disrupting the smartwatch industry with the launch of a new collection featuring 16 beautifully designed analog models. Exclusive, imaginative and innately intelligent, the ORSTO CONTEMPORARY 100 range marks a new era of sophistication for the modern timepiece market.
For years, ORSTO has been pioneering R&D within the wearable technology market. After a wildly successful equity investment crowdfunding campaign the company has secured 88 international venture capitalists, including founder Paul Gill. It has used this capital to develop and launch a quartet of collections that exemplify iconic British design within the smartwatch arena. The CONTEMPORARY 100 range is the first of four collections developed by ORSTO, with the following three scheduled for release in the coming months. Every piece is handcrafted by a team of in-house ORSTO watchmakers. Thousands of hours of R&D, design testing, real world user testing and production quality control has been channelled into every piece to ensure superlative quality and performance.
As hybrid smartwatches, every ORSTO piece is steeped in both form and functionality. Rather than conform to an ultra-modern aesthetic the CONTEMPORARY 100 range drops the touch screen altogether, favouring style, desirability and consummate function. This collision of classic design and advanced performance make them hugely appealing to the next generation of consumers in search of wearable technology that doesn’t compromise on style. The result is a range of high end, luxury wrist watches featuring classic design and intrinsic intelligence.
ORSTO CEO Paul Gill said, “Put simply, ORSTO timepieces buck the smartwatch trend in the wearable tech industry, and move in a totally different direction.”
As well as the timekeeping functions of a traditional quartz watch, the ORSTO CONTEMPRARY 100 range features a kaleidoscope of ‘smart’ capabilities. The watch is compatible with both Android 4.3+ and iOS 4S+ operating systems, with features including incoming call and message notifications, pre-set reply mode, daily alerts/reminders, visual sound wave/audio/vibration alarms, remote camera/music control, full activity monitor and more.
When it comes to battery life ORSTO timepieces blows the competition out the water. While counterparts such as the Samsung Gear2 and Apple Watch remain active for just 24 hours, the CONTEMPORARY 100 range boasts an impressive seven months of battery life for smart functions. The splash proof casing of conventional smartwatches is replaced with water resistance, with the 100, 200, 300 ranges protected at up to 100M/330FT and the 400 range to 200M/660FT.
While smartwatches have emerged as an extremely popular timekeeping device, the market for traditional timepieces still prevails. The latest data from Statistic Brain confirms their staying power, with 1,200,000,000 watches sold in 2014 compared to just 6,800,000 smartwatches. This makes the traditional watch market 174 times bigger in unit numbers than the smartwatch market. ORSTO offers contemporary consumers the best of both worlds, blending the aesthetic appeal of traditional wrist watches with the next generation functionality of their smart predecessors.
The shockwaves are already resounding, with ORSTO receiving an influx of interest from distributors and retailers after introducing the GB101 on Twitter.
To find out more about ORSTO, and find out more about the CONTEMPORARY 100 range.
