Everyone’s eyes have been focused on cutting edge technology found in fully featured smartwatches since the release of the Apple Watch. But innovation in watch making technology is not just happening at the cutting edge end of the scale, but right across the wrist watch industry. Timex watches are not particularly known for being at the cutting edge of technology, however it is fair to say that their latest release is incredibly innovative.

The latest of the Timex watches, the Timex Metropolitan+, is an exciting new watch which combines traditional watch design with awesome technology. Any fitness fanatic will be very happy to wear the Timex Metropolitan+ proudly on their wrist and in this post we’ll see why!

Timex Watches Are a Fashionable Way To Track Fitness

Most fitness fanatics find that the options for tracking their fitness are not always appealing. The Apple Watch just does way too much, Android Watches have the same problem and those brightly coloured fitness bands… no thanks! But Timex have decided to do something a little bit different to everything currently on the market – offering fitness features in a watch which only costs £130.

The Timex Metropolitan+ is a little bit thinner than a Casio G-Shock and is made out of brass. The watch comes in two colours, polished silver or matte black and there are a variety of different straps to choose from. The straps available come in different colours as well as the options of nylon, leather and silicone – more than enough options for even the most fashion conscious person! It’s also very easy to switch the straps on your watch – meaning you can wear the silicone strap at the gym and then switch it to a leather one for a night out.

The activity tracking features on the watch are all built into the watch face. It does a great job of integrating all of these features without making it all feel too cluttered. Alongside the main dial there is are two subdials; one in the lower right of the screen – which gives you the goal percentage and one in the upper left – which allows you to switch modes.

The watch only tracks steps and distance, although the Timex Connected smartphone app also calculates calories burned. More data will be available on the Timex smartphone app after an update which is coming this spring. It’s very easy to check how far you’ve walked, press and hold down on the button near the two o’clock mark and you can cycle through the different modes (“S” for steps, “D” for distance, Bluetooth – to connect to your phone and Off).

When you set the watch into “S” or “D” mode the orange hand will circle around the numbers 1-15 on the outermost dial. In “S” mode each number equals 1,000 steps and in “D” mode each number equals one mile. The dial on the lower right will measure the percentage you have achieved of your target goal.

Timex Metropolitan+ – Positives and Negatives?

Timex watches are usually not as highly sought after as some of the top watches from Swiss and Japanese manufacturers. Certainly the anticipation for the Mondaine Helvetica No.1 Smart watch was much higher than this – and comes with roughly the same features. Some of this may be down to Timex’s low-key release for the device which did not inspire the same intrigue as Mondaine had for their watch.

However that does not suggest that the Timex Metropolitan+ is a lesser watch, especially when you consider it comes in at a low price of £130. It certainly has a lot of positives, the way the features are integrated into the display is fantastic and it works very smoothly. For those who like to chop and change their look on a regular basis, the fact that it is so easy to switch the straps on the watch is a big plus. The battery life is also very impressive and I mean very impressive – Timex explain that the battery should last for a full year.

Of course there are a few downsides when you compare it to a more “fully-featured” smartwatch like the Helvetica Smart. The Bluetooth connection is not a constant one, like the one you will find on other smartwatches. This helps to prolong the battery life, but it also means that you have to manually sync all of the data to the app. This is a bit of a pain because the watch only stores one weeks worth of data, which means that if you forget to sync to your phone everything will be wiped clean at the end of the week. Whether or not such convenience is important is a matter of personal taste but it’s fair to say that today most people expect a constant connection to be available as an option on fitness watches.

The only other disappointment (if we’re being picky) is how “bare bones” the Timex Connected app is. It sports a very basic layout which doesn’t do a great job of displaying previous days data in a very user friendly way. While you can view past data, some kind of calendar would be very useful and would make everything easier to understand. For example – the day, week, month, year views are all available – but it is not presented in an easy-to-read fashion. It’s also tough to work out what some of the charts represent as there is no description on the screen. Hopefully these issues will be resolved in the update.

Conclusion

When it comes to the Timex Metropolitan+, the positives far outweigh the negatives – especially when you factor in the price. The layout makes it very easy to use, despite the few niggles with the Timex Connected app. Everything about the watch looks really good and many fashion fanatics will be glad to know they can easily change the strap. Most importantly, it puts the features you’d find in a fitness tracker inside a watch which is incredibly stylish (important for fashionistas!)

Anyone who was considering purchasing a fitness tracker will be glad to know that at this watch comes in at a very similar price to Jawbone and FitBit fitness trackers. For anyone who wants something fashionable but functional, without breaking the bank, then this watch fits the bill.

It might be surprising to see Timex watches combining fashion with function, but they have done a great job at succeeding where others have failed. If you have a little bit more money to spend then you may want to look at the Mondaine Helvetica No.1 Smart or the Casio Edifice smartwatches. But for £130 the Timex Metropolitan+ will certainly class as an absolute bargain for anyone who purchases one.

Images:  LocalFitness