Fossil Announces Limited Edition ‘Q x Cory Richards’ Smartwatch

Fossil announced its first smartwatch collaboration this week, the Fossil Q x Cory Richards, with unveiling set for this year’s Baselworld.  

If you have an Instagram account and enjoy photos of animals, people, and the planet Earth in general, it’s possible you already follow Cory Richards. Richards is a photojournalist for National Geographic, capturing many awesome images, some of which you have probably seen online or in Nat Geo itself. To make a long story short, Richards has been wearing Fossil brand watches for some time, so the company decided to collaborate on a smartwatch with him.

According to Fossil, the design takes cues from the Fossil Blue model, but there has been a few tweaks, of course. “Inspired by the aesthetics of the original watch, this smartwatch features customizable faces with light silver, blue and black dials, and splashes of orange on the second-hand and sub-eyes that can be customized with a swipe of your finger,” is how Fossil describes it.

Inside the box, buyers will have their choice of metallic or leather bands, plus fitness tracking support and all that.

We don’t have pricing yet, but this limited edition piece will go on sale starting March 27.

THE LIMITED EDITION FOSSIL Q x CORY RICHARDS SMARTWATCH

From Fossil Blue to Fossil Q: Fossil announces its first ever smartwatch collaboration with famed photographer and adventurer Cory Richards

Richardson, TX March 20, 2017 – Fossil announces its first ever smartwatch collaboration with Cory Richards—a *National Geographic* photographer, world adventurer, extreme climber and longtime Fossil enthusiast. This limited edition smartwatch launches globally March 27, 2016 and will be unveiled at the Baselworld watch fair in Basel, Switzerland.

An adventurer, storyteller, and most importantly a true creative at heart, Richards was the exact partner Fossil hoped to work with for its first-ever Fossil Q collaboration. Richards clearly remembers his first Fossil watch, which is what made this collaboration so uniquely personal. He received a Fossil Blue watch in his early twenties and wore it everywhere, even while climbing in Yosemite. On that trip, he cracked the crystal but it still kept perfect time. On his first sea-kayaking trip to Australia, the watch filled with saltwater and rusted over. He still kept the watch, and even had it framed, as both a sentimental keepsake and also as a memento of the journeys it had been a part of. “The watch became a moving piece of art. It didn’t say what time it was but where I had been and what I had done,” said Richards.

With this spirit of adventure in mind, Richards worked with the Fossil design team to create a wearable as a salute to his iconic original Fossil Blue watch. The limited edition Fossil Q x Cory Richards touchscreen smartwatch blends the best of smart performance and a striking design. With Android Wear powered functionality that connects to your phone and an always-on display, you’ll receive alerts right on your wrist, as well as timely information from Google Now (like traffic alerts, directions and weather updates) and notifications of incoming calls, texts and emails. The built-in activity tracker counts steps, distance and calories burned—whether you’re biking around the city or trekking to the top of a mountain.

Inspired by the aesthetics of the original watch, this smartwatch features customizable faces with light silver, blue and black dials, and splashes of orange on the second-hand and sub-eyes that can be customized with a swipe of your finger. The unique case has been updated with a rugged topring to offset the streamlined silver-tone case and bracelet. An interchangeable leather strap complete with Richards’ signature tops off this one-of-a-kind design.

“It’s a beautiful tribute to the original piece with the modern design features you’d expect in a smartwatch,” Richards said.

About Cory Richards:

A climber and visual storyteller, Cory Richards is on the Eddie Bauer athletic team and a National Geographic photography fellow—a designation reserved for only a handful of people described as those whose work “transcends the art of photography, taking them on journeys to the world’s most remote places and often placing them in great danger —in order to tell the stories that need to be told.”

Richards aims to capture the spirit of adventure and the complex relationship we have with nature. His work has taken him to the extremes of our planet—from Franz Josef Land for a firsthand look at climate change and its immediate effects, to Antarctica, where he and a team of explorers would make a first ascent on the continent’s highest peak. He turns his lens on ancient mysteries and science, as well as the ongoing struggle between cultural traditions and a growing, warming planet.