Hmmm!!! This Company Wants To Make Any Wrist Watch Smart

Chronos is releasing a tiny disc that can make any old watch just smart enough.

San Francisco startup Chronos is aiming its new device, which launches Thursday, at the watch-loving compromiser: people who prefer pretty analog watches to be the things on their wrists but would really like them to have the most basic features of a fitness tracker and a smart device.

“We have developed a small, tiny disc that gives you all the very best of today’s wearable tech, but let’s you keep the watch you already wear,” Chronos founder and CEO Mark Nichol said.
The metal Chronos disc is designed to resemble watch casing, so that it largely disappears when one uses the micro-suction cups on one side to attach it to the back a regular old timepiece. And it is tiny enough—thinner than 3 mm with a 33 mm diameter—to disappear behind the faces of about 80% of watches, according to the company.

Once the device is paired with a smartphone via Bluetooth, that disc can then use different patterns of lights and haptic buzzes to alert the user that a spouse has sent a text or an Uber has arrived downstairs. Meanwhile, it tracks steps and calories burned that can be viewed through an Android or iOS app and can interpret some gestures so that, for example, a tap on the face of the watch will silence a call.
The alerts can be arranged two ways: By person, so the user gets, say, three short buzzes and a red light every time his or her spouse emails or texts. Or by app, so the user gets, perhaps, a crescendoing buzz and a purple light every time Facebook thinks they need to know something.