Mondaine Helvetica Regular hybrid smartwatch coming later this week

Mondaine might not be a popular smartwatch maker, and for a good reason: this Swiss brand is mainly into making luxury watches. However, they introduced the first minimalist timepiece with a few smart features back in 2015. Simply known as the Helvetica 1, this hybrid watch combined an analog dial and sleep/activity tracking. The Helvetica Regular returns to add a few extra features to the basic design of its predecessor, although it still cannot match a full smartwatch like the Apple Watch or Samsung's Gear lineup.

The Mondain Helvetica Regular has been revealed at the Baselworld 2018 this week and features support for phone calls/messages notifications, but it can also receive and display alerts from Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Obviously, it needs to be connected to a compatible handset to do that. On the other hand, notifications are not displayed using an LCD display, but by using the hour hand and the minute hand. 

The letters T, M, S, and A are mixed among the numbers on the dial. These letters stand for phone calls, messages, sleep, and activity. The hour hand moves to M and A, while the minute hand moves to T and S when they need to notify the user of incoming messages/calls/social activity or the achievement of some sleep/activity goals. The details are displayed on the inner dial, and the notifications can be shown by pressing the crown button (once for activity progress and for three seconds to enter sleep tracking mode).

Unlike the original Mondaine Helvetica, the Helvetica Regular is also waterproof up to 3 ATM, so showering with it or going for a swim should not be a problem. Those interested should be able to start placing their orders by the end of the month, but there is no official product page yet.