While popular smartwatches are taking over the world by storm at the moment, there are still those who prefer traditional timepieces over smartphone-pairing and activity-tracking. Sony's crowdfunded e-paper watch broke the news in 2014 after the company kicked-off a campaign in Japanese crowdfunding website Makuake. It delivers a breath of fresh air in a sea of smartwatches populated by the likes of Cupertino's Apple Watch, Samsung's Galaxy Gear, Pebble's Time smartwatches and so on. Now the Japanese tech giant is officially bringing its e-paper smartwatches in stores, however, it will only be sold in Japan.
Reports suggest that the FES Watch will have a debut that is similar to Cupertino's Apple Watch, as it will be skipping all the traditional electronic stores where people usually expect to find Sony's latest devices.
According to reports, the MoMa Design Store at Omotesando in Shibuya, Tokyo will be carrying the Watch starting Nov. 21. Isetan in Shinjuku, which was the same store where Apple used to launch its very own smartwatch, will also offer the device starting Dec. 1. Plans for a Western release or a wider market is still unclear, however, Sony will reportedly bring the FES Watch to other stores in the future. Currently, it costs US$242 or ¥29,700 in Japan's currency.
Moreover, the FES Watch is still available for purchase on First Flight and will also be enlisted in the Japanese online store for MoMA.
Sony's FES Watch uses e-paper that allows the user to change its design with just a press of a button. The company first kicked-off a crowdfunding in Japan and successfully raised about US$23,000, then followed up with another crowdfunding campaign in Makuake where it raised roughly around US$128,000. However, the campaign was only available for residents in Japan, and those who might be interested would need to have a workaround should they want to get one for pledging themselves.
