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TND reviews: The smartest ‘dumb’ watches

Smartphone-tethered watches aren’t the only highly intelligent pieces of wrist wear getting around.

The Samsung Gear and the Moto 360 have already taken the market by storm, and the Apple Watch is expected to sell like hotcakes when it debuts this year, but not everyone is jumping on the super-smart watch bandwagon.

One more traditional company, Casio, is unfazed by the extra competition.

“Anything that brings attention to watches is warmly welcomed by us,” says Bruno Bouchet, Australian spokesman for the brand’s range of heavy-duty G-Shock watches.

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“Smart watches have been in the market for quite a while now and, whilst they’ve grown, we have also grown too,” he says.

Regardless of the hype, Mr Bouchet is convinced enough consumers will still continue to buy ‘dumber’ wristwatches.

“Ultimately, just like any form of fashion, a watch is still a major statement about the wearer’s personality. Wearing a G-Shock or a high-end Swiss watch are two very different statements. The same goes with wearing a smartwatch.”

But not content with being different, some companies like Casio are rivalling their ‘smarter’ rivals in the innovation department.

“G-Shock’s recent releases of watches with features such as GPS-timing, mobile connectivity and triple-sensor technology have all been very successful,” Mr Bouchet says.

Here are some of the smartest ‘dumb’ watches on the market.

G-Shock GPW1000 ($900-1000)

GPW1000The GPW1000 is not only solar-powered, it also receives both GPS signals and radio waves to help it keep accurate time no matter where in the world you are.

If you travel to a different timezone or switch to daylight savings, the watch will pick up on this and automatically adjust, so you’ll never wake up for work an hour early or miss that important overseas meeting.

With the press of a button, the watch will scan the airwaves for local time and, in as little as seven seconds, you’ll see the watch hands spin around auto-magically to the correct time.

Seiko Astron ($1000-$2000)

Seiko Astron

For a much higher price, but in metal rather than rubber, the Astron offers very similar features to the G-Shock. With the push of a button, the watch can pinpoint your location and identify the exact time by receiving signals from four or more GPS satellites.

The watch is also solar-powered. It absorbs sunlight through the dial, and a power reserve indicator lets you keep track of how much energy has been stored. When bright sunlight strikes the dial, the watch starts receiving GPS signals.

Unlike the G-Shock, it does not pick up radio signals, and does not automatically adjust for daylight savings.

Citizen Satellite Wave F100

Citizen Eco Drive Satellite Wave F100This watch boasts satellite time in just three seconds in any time zone on earth.

It claims to be faster than both the Astron and the G-Shock at recalibrating the time.

Unlike the other two brands, the F100 requires the wearer to manually select their own time zone.

All three brands say their watches can tell time as accurately as an atomic clock – a high-tech device that uses electronic transition frequency to tell the time.

Timex Ironman ($400-$500)

Ironman TimexThe Ironman may look like a smart watch, but Timex insists it’s just a very, very intelligent fitness band that looks remarkably like a watch.

It operates completely independently, with its own phone signal, GPS tracker, internet connection and internal storage for music.

Designed for fitness fanatics, the rugged watch can withstand a diving depth of 50 metres and has plenty of features for tracking pace, distance and calorie burn.

The small 3.81cm screen can even send and receive short emails.

LAKS watch2pay ($165-$200)

LAKS watch2payThis smart watch allows tap-and-go payments without a card.

LAKS says it is the first contactless payment watch with an in-built Mastercard chip.

With a swipe of your wrist, you could be paying at any store that accepts PayPass.

The watch also comes with text alerts, mobile app access, bill payments and other software to manage your wrist spend.

MasterCard has certified the watch as a payment alternative, and supplies the chip and credit card.

SLYDE ($5,000)

SLYDERussian President Medvedev has been spotted wearing this luxury digital watch, which costs far more than an Apple Watch but looks far more impressive (we think).

A plethora of digital faces can be downloaded directly to the watch for upwards of $300.

Its sapphire crystal touchscreen also allows the wearer to operate the stopwatch and adjust the time and little else.

Basically, its an extremely snazzy digital watch with none of the high-tech features of its Apple and Samsung cousins, but all of the suave good looks you crave when spending that amount of money.

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