Fossil Hybrid Women’s Watch – Review

When I saw ads of the newly launched Fossil Q Hybrid series back in May-June, I loved the whole concept of a watch that looks like the good old analog but has features of the new-age smart watch. I told my husband jokingly to gift me this watch. Little did I know he’d actually do it! I mean it’s kind of expensive at Rs.13k something and I wasn’t celebrating any milestone birthday or anything.

He ordered it on Amazon and it was delivered a couple of days before d-day. The bracelet was a li’l too loose for me, and I found it difficult to get that fixed because I did not want to go to any random watch guy as I was scared the warranty will be void and the Fossil store closest to me didn’t have services after 6pm and I don’t leave work as soon.

Finally after my birthday, I went during my lunch break and got the bracelet adjusted to my size so that I could start wearing it. A lot of people have seen it and asked me if it’s worth buying, how it works as a smart watch when it looks so normal…so I decided to do a review on the blog.

1.  Aesthetics

Goes so well with my clutch-diary for meetings!

The watch is a gorgeous rose gold shade with a diamond studded round dial and diamond studded roman numbers inside. The bracelet already has scratches due to normal wear and tear like when I rest my hand while typing or writing, but that’s normal. The watch weights a lot more than a normal analog Fossil watch, due to the hidden mechanism to make it a smart watch. It will feel heavy on day 1 and then you get used to it.

2. Setting it up

Setting it up is easy, especially if you’ve used other smart watches. You need to first install the Fossil Q app on your smartphone and then pair the watch using Bluetooth. You can then set-up and customize as per your needs. The only flaw here for me was the sync time, it’s too slow…it can take minutes to sync or update changes. And what happens is that the phone sleeps before that, and on waking you need to start the sync again – so basically you need to keep the screen awake anyhow till the sync is done.

3.  Key features

The hybrid has 3 buttons which you can customize and set-up according to your preference. You can use these buttons to control music, click a picture, show the date, track goals and more. I use the camera, music and date features. You can also turn on notifications for calls, apps etc which basically make the watch vibrate. The more notifications you turn on, the more battery is consumed. I don’t like to be bothered by constant watch notifications, so I have it on only for calls, coz my phone is mostly on silent mode and I used to end up missing a lot of calls. (In the picture above we took this pic by keeping the camera and clicking a pic using the watch button).

What makes it special and why I love it –

Once you set a fitness goal, for instance 10k steps a day, and you meet the goal – it will vibrate thrice to inform you that you met your goal – it feels great to know that. I wish though they also had a notification when you have not met goals, to encourage you to push yourself. They also have a sleep tracker to tell you how much you slept, but I don’t use that because I remove the watch before sleeping. The most amazing thing though is unlike other smartwatches or fitness bands, you DO NOT have to charge this one daily/weekly/frequently. 

The battery lasts upto 1 year (depending upon your usage) and then you can visit your nearest store for a battery replacement, I am not sure if that is a free or chargeable service. After using it for 3 months my watch battery is at 70% (Indicated on my iPhone), so I am assuming it will last for 7 months more meaning 10 months in total. Also, it is water resistant (yes you can swim with it on) and you can also ring your phone to find where it is (for the endless times we don’t remember where we have kept it). It also has interchangeable strap facility, which I have not used yet as well.

Note – This is not a sponsored/paid review.