Fossil adds a pilot watch to its Q wearable series

By Julian Chokkattu January 5, 2016

Fossil Pilot Q54 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Fossil is wrestling its way into the wearable market after launching its Q series of smartwatches in the fall of 2015. Its acquisition of fitness-tracking wearable company Misfit lends credence to that fact.

The company is now expanding the Q series range with a pilot watch, featuring new colorful straps, and new updates to the Fossil app.

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The Q54 Pilot, unveiled at CES, joins the Q Founder and the Q Grant to bring the number of Fossil’s smartwatches to three — except that the Q Grant and the new Q54 Pilot offer only vibration and LED notification pulses, whereas the Founder is an Android Wear-powered device. The Pilot is compatible with Android and iOS devices.

The aviation-inspired Q54 actually looks a lot more like an actual watch, in contrast to the Q Grant, and comes in a leather or stainless steel band. But apart from its stylish looks, it’s the exact same as the Q Grant. The watch tracks steps and calories, and you can set certain color-coded or buzz notifications via the Fossil app.

The app also has a few improvements, notably that activity reporting has a faster refresh rate, bringing you more recent step totals. The app now also offers three vibration patterns, and supports 17 additional apps, including Tinder, Misfit, Paypal, and Venmo. It also has support for four more languages: “traditional” Chinese, “simplified” Chinese, Dutch, and Italian.

The company also announced two new premium straps for its bracelets, the Q Dreamer. The tortoiseshell band wraps the hardware in a gold-tone, and the shimmer horn band blends well with the rose-gold tone. These aren’t the only new straps available though, the company is launching a slew of straps — from seaglass and blush colors to silicone stripes in grey and navy. The new straps will be available later this month, and the new premium band versions for the Q Dreamer will cost $145 and will be available this summer.

The Fossil Group, under which Misfit sits, also hopes to launch a 100 wearables in 2016, in partnerships with companies such as Adidas and Michael Kors. Misfit began that goal at CES with the launch of the Ray fitness tracker.

The Q54 Pilot will be available in “early spring” and will set you back $175, or $215 for the stainless steel variant.

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Julian Chokkattu

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…

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