Watchmakers prepare for high-tech rivalry

The spike in interest in wearable computing devices is shaking up the digital watch industry, catapulting a sleepy business to the cutting edge of personal technology.

In the process, established digital watchmakers like Casio are finding that they must contend with new competitors.

"Suddenly, everyone's discovered the wrist," Kazuo Kashio, Casio's 84-year-old chief executive, said at the company's Tokyo headquarters. "We've known for a long time it's prime real estate. We're prepared."

The geeky-watch niche is drawing interest from the biggest names in technology. Apple is thought to be working on an "iWatch." Samsung Electronics is expected to unveil a watch in early September that can make phone calls, play video games and send e-mails. In July, Sony revamped its Smartwatch, which communicates with smartphones and lets users play games or check Facebook by tapping their wrists. And a flurry of start-ups, like Pebble, are coming out with timepieces that claim to redefine what goes on the wrist.

An advanced digital watch that acts more like a computer is not a novel idea. In movies, James Bond sported watches that were at times fitted with a scrolling LED ticker, a homing device, a microphone, a video monitor and a tiny printer for secret messages from London, not to mention lasers, Geiger counters and grappling hooks.

But in real life, success in smartwatch design has been more elusive. Citizen, Casio and other Japanese manufacturers developed calculator watches in the late 1970s, but they never took off.

Casio quickly emerged as a leading digital watchmaker, adding dictionaries, blood pressure sensors, a touch screen and gesture control by the late 1980s. But after disappointing sales of many of those models - Mr. Kashio said the company was ahead of its time - Casio instead turned its attention to making the weatherproof, shatterproof G-Shock watches.

The G-Shock has won a following thanks to its retro look, low price, durability, technophile cachet and product placement in movies like "Mission Impossible" and "Men in Black."

Other watchmakers also struggled. Fossil has worked with Sony Ericsson, Microsoft and Palm to develop high-tech watches, including a 2005 personal organizer watch that came with a tiny stylus.

"Until now, smartwatches haven't quite been able to find their raison detre," said Kuninori So, vice president of the Tokyo-based technology consultancy, ROA Holdings. "If Apple comes out with a revolutionary smartwatch with a beautifully easy to use interface, that could change."

Casio continues to aggressively market new products. Last year, it introduced a watch that uses Bluetooth to let wearers see incoming calls and messages. And it is working on a host of new models, including one that will let joggers post details of their runs online.

Casio contends that it has an advantage because wearable devices like watches, which might be slammed into a wall or dunked into water, require far more ruggedness and durability than tech companies are used to. G-Shock watches are built to withstand extreme shocks.

Casio executives say another advantage is the battery life of its watches. Casio says its watches will run for two years on a lithium coin battery; rival models need recharging every few days. Experts agree that battery life could be important because users are not used to charging watches frequently.

"Casio has done a pretty good job in anticipating the market," said Serkan Toto, an independent Tokyo-based technology analyst. "But if Apple or Samsung come into this market with better functionality, better design and a better operating system, that would be trouble."

The New York Times