Three new smartwatches showcase new frontiers in affordable timepiece design

The coming of the cheap quartz wristwatch was catastrophic for the volume watchmaking industry. Suddenly, the mechanical watch was seen as cumbersome, inaccurate, unreliable and, above all, expensive. The so-called Quartz Crisis began with the 1969 Seiko Astron and saw predominantly Japanese firms take a leading position in an industry once dominated by the big Swiss brands.

By 1989, Sony were offering the Gotta Watch, a $4.99 disposable item with a fixed in place battery. One of the most complex and intricate mechanisms ever devised had been reduced to a throwaway gimmick.

Could a similar race to the bottom be happening in the new world of smartwatches? With the high dominated by Apple’s Watch Ultra series and the premium offerings from both tech giants like Samsung and Google and those smart timepieces offered by a revitalised Swiss industry, there’s a lot of clear space in the affordable ranks below them.

If 3D-printed titanium, embedded AI and aerospace grade aluminium are too much of a turn-off, smart watches have definitely entered their equivalent to the quartz era. We’ve been giving a few watches a turn on our wrists, starting with what must be one of the lowest price models on the market.

Withit Zetta

Withit reckons it can get under the affordability bar with its two new smartwatches, the Zetta and DYO. The fact that both are available primarily from Walmart gives you some idea of the way smartwatches have become totally mainstream.

The dayglo orange Zetta is the more rugged of the pair, with fast charging, water resistance and a 1.43-inch AMOLED HD touch screen. A full set of motion sensors tracks fitness stats along with heart rate, while the battery life is good for 120 hours.

Unsurprisingly light and feeling less than premium, the Zetta is joined by the DYO, an even more affordable fitness band-style watch (complete with two interchangeable silicone bands). Watch faces can be downloaded and swapped out, as per regular smartphone functionality, but clean and simple layouts are very much in the minority. Nevertheless, the Zetta performs exceptionally well for the money.

Withit Zetta, $42.88, Withitsmartwatch.com, Walmart.com

Kospet Tank T4

A little further up the scale is the more rugged Tank T4 from Kospet. Boasting ‘military grade’ specification on the box, along with the mysterious exhortation ‘Trust Anchored Horizons Ignited’ on the inside packaging, the Tank T4 is a much chunkier, more solid piece of kit.

The specification levels are higher too, including, but not limited to, a 45m dive rating along with dive computer functions, stainless steel body and Gorilla glass on the 1.43” touchscreen, and no less than 17 days of battery life.

On top of that, the Tank T4 also has dual-band GPS complete with a suite of offline topographic maps (specific locations can be imported), and a huge variety of sport tracking functions and training modes. 32GB of onboard storage takes care of maps and mp3s and there’s even a built-in walkie-talkie mode to communicate (sans internet) with other T4 users up to 40m away.

The T4 has a nice heft to it, with a robust construction and a heavy-duty silicon strap, with form and features that belie its price.

Kospet Tank T4 Smartwatch, £184.99, Kospet.com

OnePlus Watch Lite

The new OnePlus Watch Lite has several things going for it. For a start, it’s very thin, at just 8.9mm, and light and clean, with no extraneous detailing. Available in either Black Steel with matching fluoroelastomer strap or Silver Steel, with a light grey strap, first impressions are of stripped back watch with the same functional character as the original Swatch.

Because of the simplicity of the case design, the large 1.46” AMOLED display doesn’t feel too overbearing on a slender wrist, and ten days of battery life is not to be sniffed at either. The lightness makes all-day and all-night wearing less of a chore, whilst a full day of charge can be administered in just ten minutes.

OnePlus’s selection of watch faces and apps feel as refined and mature as the hardware, making this ‘Lite’ watch both a reliable and trusty back-up or everyday timepiece.

OnePlus Watch Lite, £179, Watch charging base, £29.99GB, OnePlus.com