Marc Jacobs Launches First Wear OS Smartwatch

Marc Jacobs is launching its first Wear OS smartwatch, joining the brand’s line of hybrid smartwatches.

According to Tech Radar, the Marc Jacobs Riley Touchscreen smartwatch features a full-color display, as well as a polished metal case with a silicone strap. There is also one button on the right-hand side where the crown on a traditional watch would be found.

Right now, customers can choose from three designs: a black case and strap, a gold-tone case with a white silicone strap and a rose gold-tone case with a grey silicone strap.

The watch can be customized with more than 1,000 face choices so wearers can constantly change the look of their watch if desired. There is also reportedly a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 chipset inside.

The watch will enable all the features of Google’s Wear OS platform, including the ability to play music, receive notifications and speak to Google Assistant — although it will have to be paired with your phone in order to carry out these tasks. The Riley smartwatch will work with both Android and iOS devices.

The new Marc Jacobs watch will be available later this year, launching first in the U.K. in July. The watch will retail at ASOS for £269 (about $360 / AU$470).

“Smartwatches are on pace to achieve the greatest revenue potential among all wearables through 2021, reaching $17.4 billion,” said Angela McIntyre, research director at Gartner, last year.

“The overall ASP of the smartwatch category will drop from $223.25 in 2017 to $214.99 in 2021 as higher volumes lead to slight reductions in manufacturing and component costs, but strong brands such as Apple and Fossil will keep pricing consistent with price bands of traditional watches,” she added.

Smartwatches are on pace to account for the highest unit sales of all wearable device forms from 2019 to 2021, aside from Bluetooth headsets. By 2021, sales of smartwatches are estimated to total nearly 81 million units, representing 16 percent of total wearable device sales, Gartner reported.