The new Mondaine Helvetica Regular is a smarter smartwatch

Not everyone wants a glowing computer on their wrist – especially when plenty of old-school horological watches are stealthily borrowing their most useful features. 2015’s Helvetica 1 was a stylish hybrid, but it wasn’t exactly feature-packed. The Helvetica Regular smartwatch, new for 2018, aims to address that. The minimalist timepiece retains the activity and sleep tracking capabilities of its predecessor, only now it’s caught up with the rest of the smartwatch world by pinging you notifications too. Syncing from apps like Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram, the watch’s hour hand will move to the “T” when you’ve missed a call, and it’ll point at “M” when you have an unread message. You obviously can’t view them on the watch itself, but it’ll save you checking your phone every five seconds. Pick one up for £450 this month.

Matt Tate Contributor

About

I'm fascinated by all things tech, but if you were going to leave me on a desert island, I'd probably ask for my Nintendo Switch, a drone, and a pair of noise-cancelling cans to block out the relentless seagull racket. When I'm not on Stuff duty you'll probably find me subscribing to too many podcasts, playing too many video games, or telling anyone who will listen that Spurs are going to win a trophy this season.

Areas of expertise

Video games, VR, smartwatches, headphones, smart speakers, bizarre Kickstarter campaigns