Item — HN Reader

> This torrent of chunky rectangular smart watches

Genuine question: Did you include "rectangular" because you would prefer a circular smartwatch? I genuinely don't understand why people would want a round smartwatch. I don't see how a round screen would provide a good UX (this is why they don't make round monitors, or round smartphones).

Even if watches are traditionally round, I wouldn't want to have to build a UI around the constraints of a circular screen.

Whether you implied this, I have seen multiple people voice their preference for a circular smartwatch, so just trying to understand the logic vs. the constraints it would impose.

2 comments

I have no doubt that you're right that UX is easier to do on a rectangular screen than a circular one.

The problem is that a watch is an object of fashion first and foremost. That's why you can find people willing to pay $10k for a Rolex Submariner or, say, an Omega Speedmaster "Dark Side of the Moon". They're the ultimate status symbols. That's what watches have become -- status symbols.

Apple clearly understands that with their Edition edition (though they didn't think through that name very well) and the general high-end finish of all the watches (even the Sport edition has a stainless steel frame around the watchface), but I think it was a mistake for them to choose a rectangular screen. I personally had hoped Apple would be the first company not just to make a circular smartwatch, but to also design a custom UI for a circular screen as well (as opposed to just slapping on Android Wear like the Moto 360 does).

Bingo.

http://www.tagheuer.co.uk/int-en/luxury-watches/monaco-watch

Yes, there exist expensive square watches.

They are not even remotely as popular as circular watches. I don't personally know a single watch aficionado who wears a square watch.

Anecdata is anecdotal. What I'm trying to highlight is the, frankly ridiculous notion that high end watches aren't square. The Monaco is a desirable time piece.

Even the majority of TAG Heuer watches are round. That's not anecdata. The Monaco is clearly the exception, not the rule.

And therefore so are other square watches! It means that the form factor isn't unprecedented. The notion that a watch face can only be aesthetically pleasing or fashionable, which is what is being argued, is absurd. There are plenty of precedents from watchmakers such as Patek Phillippe and Omega.

It's not so much that I want a round smartwatch, but that I know I don't want a rectangular one, because to me they're an aesthetically unpleasing sacrifice of form for function.

I'm sure a watch that was 6 inches wide and went halfway up my forearm like a gauntlet would be awesome to type on and read email, but I wouldn't wear it because it'd be super ugly.