Dubai: Do you want to use your watch to talk and connect? Or do you prefer if it makes a statement of you as an individual? Within these extremes, the debate over smartwatches versus traditional timepieces will be played out.

There is no doubt in Jiro Miyagawa, president of Japan’s Orient Watch Co., as to how he sees the industry ticking over in the time to come. “Certainly the young are taken up with smartwatches, but within other age categories it’s impact is limited,” Miyagawa said during a stopover in Dubai. “Mechanical watches have a certain timeless attraction about them — they held their own when digital timepieces were the rage in the 1970s and withstood the trend when quartz came around. Mechanical watches have never been about volumes, never. Even now it would only be about 3 per cent of the global watch market of one billion pieces. And within that space, Orient Watch will still have a lot of say.

“If smart is to have a longer-term impact, this, as I see it, will be restricted to digital or quartz watches, which are both volume oriented.”

The Swiss prestige watch brands, many with histories dating back over centuries, have already discounted the “smart” impact on their industry. Even those labels that aim for a wider reach have not confirmed any push to start making smartwatches of their own.

This means that the trend will continue to be led by the tech companies rather than the pure-play watchmakers. That would be entirely in line with what smartwatches are meant to be — an extension of your smartphone and the 24x7 connectivity that comes with it.

“Watches have traditionally been more associated with fashion than with sports or technology, but it’ll be interesting over the next couple of years to see what partnerships emerge,” said Ashish Panjabi, chief operating officer at Jacky’s Electronics. “Could a renowned watchmaker like Tag Heuer, Longines, Omega or Rolex be associated with a Nike, Adidas, Apple, Samsung or Google? There are all sorts of price points, budgets, fashion trends and utility aspects that will have to be considered... but the Dick Tracy age could be here soon.”

As of now, Samsung and Sony have released their early-generation smartwatches into the UAE market, and marketed as value-add to their smartphone models. But take-up rates are seen as a work in progress rather than a done deal.

“Samsung’s success with the Galaxy Gear has been largely limited globally by two factors — the first is that initially it worked only with the Galaxy Note 3 phablet and the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet,” said Panjabi. “With recent software updates, it is now compatible with more devices like the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note II.

“The awareness generally among most Galaxy S4 and Note 2 users isn’t there yet as most of Samsung’s marketing has been about selling a Galaxy Note 3 together with the Galaxy Gear. The second reason why globally the success has been somewhat limited is that in most countries — the UAE is an exception — most smartphones are sold through telecom operators where the handsets are quite heavily subsidised.

“Therefore, you would see a telecom operator sell a product like the Galaxy Note 3 for $299 [Dh1,099] with a two-year contract but if the same consumer has to spend another $299 for a Galaxy Gear, he may think twice. Most telecom operators haven’t yet started subsidising the Galaxy Gear together with the handset cost and this has slowed down the global adoption.”

In a market such as the UAE, smartwatch pricing may be looked at from a different perspective - that they don’t go high enough for those who see wrist wear as a fashion statement. The Samsung SmartGear retails at Dh1,199, while the Sony Smartwatch costs Dh799 at Jumbo Electronics.

Local tech retailers say there is a rationale behind not going too high. “The Sony SmartWatch has been developed and priced to allow it to be competitive and available to a wide audience,” said Nadeem Khanzadah, head of retail at Jumbo Electronics. “Keep in mind people using it have a smartphone which is of a reasonably high monetary value. The smartWatch is not designed to replace the smartphone — we believe it is well priced keeping in mind its core functionality.”

As to whether the smartwatch trend will have the longevity of the mechanical, posterity has to decide.