Smart Watch - Inlabs launches Analog 345
Palo Alto, California. Founder of Inlabs, Tulsidas Timewallah, launches the world's first Analog Smart Watch - Analog 345.
Tulsidas was an avid fan of smartwatches and fitness devices. He remembers buying the very first apple watch, the first android smart watch and all the numerous fitness bands. Over the years though and following numerous conversations with his friends, Tulsidas realised that these devices actually complicated lives. Smartwatches were meant to record and analyse information for us. Instead, these devices required significant time investment from us, updating, calibrating and syncing data. Not to mention, the constant anxiety of not having enough charge. Tulsidas and his team initially went looking for a solution to increase the battery life of smartwatches. They created a battery extender but soon realised that users did not want to carry an additional battery box along with their smartwatch.
They needed a different approach. Tulsidas always thought outside the box. In fact his office always had a box in the middle of the office floor. This was to remind everyone to think outside the box.
Tulsidas and his team went back to the drawing board and asked some tough questions. What if there was a device that did only one thing? What if the device only told the time? And what if, just what if, it did not require any battery?? It seemed like an ambitious almost impossible requirement. Inlabs, however, always enjoyed a challenge. Some of his employees and colleagues thought he was crazy; a watch without a battery or usb charger, not even wireless charging! Many employees actually quit because they thought Mr Timewallah had lost his marbles. Tulsidas however, persisted. He and the team went on several retreats to come up with answers to this very difficult question. These retreats often involved international travel and questionable team building exercises. He finally found his bonheur in a little country called Switzerland. This quaint place was filled with craftsmen who worked on devices that only told time!
Inlabs partnered with some of the local craftsmen and came up with some interesting prototypes. He even took the craftsmen’s suggestion and completely eliminated the home screen from the watch face, not even solitaire. A watch without a home screen sounded like madness. But this is exactly the kind of out of the box thinking Inlabs prided themselves on. Instead of a homescreen there would now be physical arrows and numbers. Inlabs came up with an ingenious idea to solve the battery issue - a winding dial. A manual winding mechanism will ensure that the complex network of gears and spring will keep the watch working indefinitely. Just wind the watch every 6 minutes, and you are good to go!
Manual winding also improves the dexterity of your fingers and builds hand muscles. We use our hands a lot but do not give it enough exercise, said Mr Timewallah.The winding watch does two jobs - tell the time and keep your hands and fingers fit.
Mr Timewallah admits though, there will be an element of education in order to use the Analog Smart Watch. Specifically for some of the younger generation who have never read an analog clock face. Tulsidas learned this the hard way when his team tested the Analog 345 with 16 year olds. The group did not realise that the device was a watch and were intrigued by the needles and symbols. On the positive side, this young sample group was excited to be a part of an invite only team that could tell time by looking at arrows. Inlabs are already looking to partner with youtubers to create fun educational content on analog time reading for zillenials.
Mr Timewallah is also proud of his manufacturing choice for Analog 345. You see, he says, “Every new tech company nowadays gets their manufacturing done in China. While this is good business for China, we overlook other parts of the world that have immense talent”. Tulsidas feels proud that his company has enlisted the services of a lesser known country called Switzerland. He was amazed to find an incredible number of craftsmen who were able to create these analog watches. I think it must be a cultural thing, said Tulsidas. The Swiss must not like screens very much, hence the abundance of people who can work on analog smartwatches.
For its launch, the company will be releasing the watch in 2 colors - cow dung black and vomit green. The design team wanted to keep the colors earthy and at the same time, relatable.
Inlabs is also working on another innovative device called the “bead-chain” to replace fitness bands. Keeping in line with eco friendliness, the “bead-chain” is a bracelet where beads made of hand carved acorns are strung on a thread repurposed from synthetic ocean waste (and in some cases used floss). This principle of this innovative “bead-chain” will be to physically move a bead everytime you take a step. The team tried holding the bead-chain in several positions to find one that felt the most natural. Tulsi is convinced that once used for 487 days at a stretch, moving these beads will feel as natural as breathing. The bead-chain will eliminate the need for fitness bands and all their disadvantages. No need to worry about syncing and resyncing with different devices. And more importantly, you never have to worry about having a charger. In fact, the bead-chain does not even have a battery! While exciting, the bead-chain is still in its early development stages. In-labs wants to get the product just right and currently there is some consistency issue because of the lack of used floss. At launch, Inlabs intend to partner with a notebook company so users can jot down their bead count. We have opened a pandora's box of analog ideas and the possibilities are limitless, said Tulsidas.
For now, Mr Timewallah is focused on Analog 345. He is currently looking for a series D funding round. This is primarily because the Swiss craftsmen have a high hourly cost. He was intrigued to find out that most of these craftsmen make more money than most silicon valley software engineers. Perhaps the Swiss were onto something...
