Titanium-cased wristwatches aren’t new. In the 1970s, watchmakers first experimented with titanium as an exciting metal that could avoid some of the problems associated with heavier metals. Titanium was expensive as a material and hard to manufacture at the time. In the 1980s and 1990s, titanium in lower-grade form became available for wristwatches, though rarely for luxury wristwatches. This is, for example, when Japan’s Citizen Group began utilizing titanium for relatively affordable sports watches. Titanium didn’t really hit its stride for more high-end timepieces until the late 1990s and early 2000s when titanium metal started to become useful to mechanical watch movement makers. The non-magnetic and lightweight metal was starting to be much easier to manufacture and an array of new shapes and forms were possible. Watchmakers loved all the things that titanium could do inside of watch that steel and other metals were not appropriate for. Titanium, then, became increasingly interesting as a watch case material. Grade 5 titanium started to supplant Grade 2 titanium (there are many grades of titanium), and manufacturing techniques caught up with titanium and allowed it to be formed and polished nearly identically to steel. Let me recap that the primary advantage of titanium is that it is about 30% lighter than steel. It is also more rigid, but it’s actually softer than steel. Titanium has a large number of advantages, but since it is prone to scratching, manufacturers need to be careful when using it in high-end applications. Solutions to the soft-surface nature of titanium has led companies that rely on the material to experiment with various finishes, as well as surface coating techniques. Some of the most sophisticated titanium material on the market is still offered by Japanese Citizen and is referred to as “Super Titanium.” We also see titanium making a very strong showing in very high-end watches. In addition to titanium being a popular case material for ultra-luxury watches costing over $100,000, it is also very popular with mainstream luxury watchmakers such as Omega and now Rolex. It wasn’t until 2023 that Rolex decided to release its first all-titanium watch with the Rolex Yachtmaster 42 in RLX titanium. Consumers can easily spend $10,000, $20,000, or even much more, for a watch with a titanium case.   The proliferation of titanium in the consumer zeitgeist has extended beyond the metal’s industrial benefits. Titanium as a term is now heard as a value-adding feature in the minds of many consumers. It is a perfect time for Apple to lean heavily into titanium, even if using the material corresponds to its larger product goals. The Apple Watch Ultra and Ultra 2 sport an all-titanium case. It is formed featuring a mostly matte surface treatment, a wise choice both in terms of style and aging (polished titanium can visually wear the fastest). Given that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is the largest smartwatch produced by Apple to date, it makes perfect sense that the watch is made out of a metal designed for weight savings.

A great number of today’s watch brands will not be here in 20 years. Easily 50% of today’s watch companies could disappear in 20 years without surprising me. The brands that remain will be those who have been able to capture the remaining traditional wristwatch market, which exists mostly as status items, collectible art items, and jewelry-style symbols of taste and wealth. Other remaining watch brands will be those who have possibly entered the smartwatch market in whole or in part (meaning they might also still produce traditional watches). It’s possible that “smartwatches” won’t be referred to by that name in 20 years, merely being called “watches.” Traditional watches, which we today call “watches,” might potentially adopt some new name to designate their updated status. Where does that leave luxury in the future? Actually, not in too different a place as it is today. People will still desire names and designs which suggest historic or timeless taste, excellence, success, or simple reliability. The implication is that the old names in watchmaking will still have value to luxury consumers, just perhaps not for the original products they sold. We’ve seen this plenty with other luxury brands. Hermès is extremely popular with luxury seekers, but how many of its consumers purchase horse saddles? Louis Vuitton is one of the most powerful luxury makers in the world, but how many people carry around its leather trunks? If a brand like Tissot were to fade away as a traditional watch manufacturer, I don’t see why it couldn’t be resurrected as a smartwatch company. The consumer would expect that a watch company would make a contemporary product, and not some vintage tool that no longer has even as much fashion relevance. The Omega of the future could easily be what we call a smartwatch today without violating consumer expectations or the brand’s legacy. It is specifically because these old names in watchmaking have (at times) such colorful histories that they would be attractive purchase targets for tech companies in the future. I’m not saying that all smartwatches will leverage legacy watch branding for consumer success, but I am guessing that at least a few will. My guess is that the smartwatch as a product category will grow large enough that there are dozens of good choices in the market. This is of course some years off, but once technology standards become more universalized and the basic mainstream utility of a smartwatch becomes understood (think of a car, for example) then product differentiation will be about aesthetics, materials, and construction.

True to its “touch” name, the new T-Touch includes a tactile sapphire glass, equipped with an AMOLED screen. When the T-Touch Connect Sport is unlocked (the pusher at 2 o’clock serves to unlock the watch), wearers can choose to either touch the screen or use the side pushers to activate various functions. When the watch is connected to a smartphone, users can access the Tissot app to use features like “Workouts,” which gives data such as distance covered, speed, heart rate, and calorie consumption, in addition to “Stats” for more in-depth progress graphs and trends. What’s more, the watch can provide notifications of incoming messages, calls, reminders, and the like. As Tissot put it, the watch “doesn’t seek to replace your phone,” but it permits you to decide if grabbing your phone is necessary. The T-Touch Connect Sport uses a proprietary low-power operating system, called “SwALPS,” compatible with most iOS, Android, and Harmony devices. Tissot promises a stream of watch and app updates in the future to add even more functions down the line. Aside from functionality, another big benefit of the Tissot T-Touch Connect Sport is that its quartz movement uses solar energy to recharge. The photovoltaic cell makes up the upper portion of the black dial, which according to Tissot, provides the energy equivalent of five button batteries annually and excels in low light. The advertised battery life is 6 months in standard connected mode, 3 months in sport connected mode, and “infinite autonomy” in watch mode. Attractively designed and packed with health and fitness-conscious functionality, the new T-Touch Connect Sport will no doubt be appealing to many — particularly those who found the size of the Connect Solar too large.