Former Fossil Execs Bring High Fashion to the Smartwatch with Meta Watch

Kira M. Newman May 18, 2012 Tweet

The Pebble smartwatch has set a Kickstarter record, raising over $10 million before the campaign finally closes tonight.

But Pebble isn’t the first smartphone-connected watch out there. The Meta Watch, which works with Android phones, was already created by former Fossil employees and spun off of the Fossil Watch Technology Division.

Every time your phone bleeps, Meta Watch displays a notification so you can decide whether to pull the phone out of your pocket. But more important than this technology, says cofounder and CEO Bill Geiser, is the design – Meta Watch is darn good-looking. He makes a distinction between “functional jewelry” and “wearable electronics”:

“Jewelry is purchased mostly because of how it looks (and sometimes for status). Electronics are purchased mostly because of what it does for us. Our goal is to create a watch that’s so compelling from an aesthetic perspective that its looks alone would make you buy the product,” says Geiser, who cofounded the company with David Rosales.

I asked Geiser whether Pebble might not also be functional jewelry, and he came back with this:

“The difference is always found in the small details. For example, did the designer bevel the edges to give the side view more character and a slimmer appearance? Is the metal brushed horizontally or vertically? Is the crystal made of plastic, glass, or sapphire? What kind of leather was used for the strap? Etc.”

Meta Watch is currently sold to developers only on Texas Instruments’s store and doesn’t integrate with iPhone, but Geiser hinted that those things would change very soon.

Meta Watch was a showcased startup at our Tech Cocktail Dallas mixer last night.