Smart Jewelry: Glamour and Fitness

By  0 Comments

Wearable fitness trackers have become the new must-have accessory for health-conscious women.

Their appeal is that they make it easier for you to track activities and monitor your health without thinking about it. The data they gather can provide encouragement in the form of feedback and motivation to exercise more.

The problem is that many of the early wearables had a purely functional design. You were out of luck if you wanted a fitness tracker that looked more like a piece of jewelry than a man’s jog watch. That problem has been addressed by a variety of fashion and jewelry designers who have entered the market with stylishly designed trackers. They’ve even come up with a new name for their offerings: smart jewelry. According to Business Insider, “smart jewelry is turning the fitness tracker into a work of art.” Check out these glamorous examples of the new smart jewelry.

Tory Burch for Fitbit
Designer Tory Burch was one of the first designers to see a fitness tracker as a potentially chic fashion accessory. Her exclusive collaboration with Fitbit includes high-end bracelets designed to hold the Fitbit Alta tracker. The bracelets are available in gold or brass and have a tortoiseshell cover for the Alta screen. You can track your steps by double-tapping the screen and sync with the Fitbit app by placing the bracelet near your smartphone.

Kate Spade Hybrid Smartwatch
Kate Spade took a different approach with her hybrid smartwatch. Instead of accessorizing another company’s tracker, she’s marketing her own custom watch that tracks steps and other health habits and also takes selfies. The combination analog watch and tracker comes with an app that reports progress and provides tools for staying motivated and organized. There are several styles available, including the Holland Smartwatch that features a rose gold link band, mother of pearl dial and silver-tone star accents on the face.

Bellabeat LEAF Health Tracker
The LEAF fitness tracker is made just for women and offers perhaps the widest set of functions related to female health. In addition to tracking steps and monitoring sleep, the LEAF collects data about a wearer’s reproductive cycle. It also detects oncoming stress by monitoring breathing and provides guided meditation exercises for relaxation. The tracker is housed in a silver or rose gold pendant decorated with an abstract leaf shape that can be worn on a matching bracelet and necklace that come with the pendant.

Misfit Fitness Tracker
The sleek design of the Misfit Ray wearable sets it apart. This fitness tracker monitors steps taken, distance traveled and calories burned as well as the quality of sleep. It consists of a waterproof aluminum cylinder with multicolor LEDs that track progress; the cylinder is available in rose, gold, midnight blue and a variety of other colors and can be pared with a leather band in a matching or contrasting color. If minimalism isn’t your thing, the company’s Swarovski Activity Crystal band adds the glam factor with a large crystal covering the face of the tracker and rows of smaller crystals on the band. The Activity Crystal is available in gold or rose tones.

Motiv Ring Fitness Tracker
For those who don’t want to wear a tracker on their wrist, Motiv offers an elegant alternative in the form of a ring that tracks physical activity as well as sleep quality and heart rate. The ring is made from super-strong titanium in rose gold or slate gray and is fully waterproof, meaning it can be used to track swimming as well as running. The Ring Tracker also claims to be the only tracker that uses a finger-based optical sensor to track heart rate. It connects with a mobile app that it syncs with whenever it’s near your phone.

Ringly
Ringly offers a line of elegant bracelets called Ringly Go that have a fitness tracker concealed under an eye-catching reconstituted gemstone. The bracelet connects with over 100 apps to provide notifications; the gemstone vibrates and lights up when a notification is received. The Ringly smartphone app lets you customize notifications, goals and reminders.

Fitbit Flex 2 Pendant and Bangle
Fitbit is known for trackers rather than its design, but it has also entered the smart jewelry market with the Fitbit Flex 2 pendant and bangle. Available in gold or silver, the pendant and bangle each feature a grooved cylindrical holder for the ultra-light tracker that displays its indicator LEDs. One of the main disadvantages compared to other smart jewelry is that the Fitbit Flex 2 uses indicator LEDs rather than a display screen, which means less immediate access to all of your health data. ■

Sources: businessinsider.com, toryburch.com, katespade.com, bellabeat.com, misfit.com, mymotiv.com, ringly.com and fitbit.com.