Buy the product, not the idea

“Ad Maiora is an automatic watch integrated with a number of superb smart functions suitable for day-to-day life.”

If you pre-order the Ad Maiora you will pay €539 with the future retail price quoted as €1100.

It is an intriguing idea and one that makes sense for people like me who like traditional watches, but who also want smart features and fitness tracking. It is, however, not an original idea because the likes of Fossil have already tried it.

The concerns I have about a product like this are more than enough for me to never go anywhere near it-

1/ The pre-order price being half of the retail price is indicative of a product that is vastly overpriced. And I would say that the pre-order price is way too high.

2/ The watch movement is an Automatic Miyota 9039. I would expect to be able to buy this on its own for under £50 and likely closer to £30. It is not a special movement and is definitely at the lower end of the movement scale, and presumably the price goes down when bought in bulk. Oh, and “Accuracy: -10~+30 sec per day.” Ouch…

3/ I like the idea of E-paper and the use of the bezel to scroll through the digital features, but the lack of general information does not help add any context to a purchase decision. What is the app like? How accurate is the tracking etc etc.

4/ And a big hidden charge appears in the purchase page- “Shipping is included in price but VAT (depends on your country, est. 19%) is not included.” That is more than €100 extra and you have to pay the full price now for a product that will be delivered in November 2021 along with the claim from the manufacturer that this may slip due to demand.

5/ Designed in the Czech Republic. Really? Not sure that is a positive and some of the nonsense on the brand page is so typically upstart watch brand it is painful. The fact we know nothing about the brand is another worry- this is not an Apple Watch or even a well known Wear OS brand. That is risky at best.

I like the idea, I really do, but everything else that I have read about this watch unnerves me.