IEVA's environment-monitoring watch protects your outer beauty
Sensors monitor all of the nasty things around you that can damage your skin.
There are plenty of devices that measure your UV exposure, or the local air quality, and even an Apple Watch will warn you if the local noise is too loud. But IEVA, a new wearables company from France, thinks that there's room for a watch that'll do all of those things, and more, at once. Say hello to the Time-C, a watch designed to help you "slow the signs of aging and the passage of time."
Hyperbole about slowing time down aside, the Time-C is a hybrid watch that can analyze the local air to check for a variety of environmental factors. Like indoor and outdoor CO2 and VOC sensors that are cross-checked against data from the EU's Copernicus Program. It'll also track ambient temperature, humidity, luminosity and the local noise levels. And if that wasn't enough, you'll also get sun exposure tracking, for both UVA, UVB and UV, warning you when it's time to get indoors.
IEVA was founded by Jean-Michel Karam, an engineer who also owns the skincare brand IOMA, which already uses small hydration sensors in its high-end beauty products. Time-C is the logical extension of this, enabling its wealthy customers to track their skincare needs and use the precise creams to keep them looking young. Much like L'Oreal's MySkinTrack, the point is to offer you tips on skin and hair care, and recommend products for you to buy.
Like most hybrids in this class, you'll get heart-rate measurement, activity and sleep tracking as part of the package. And there's an SpO2 sensor inside, helping keep track of sleep apnea if, and when, it happens, and examining if environmental factors can contribute to it.
Design-wise, the Time-C has a self-consciously retro look, with chunky, 309L stainless steel lugs and angled bezel that envelops the sapphire crystal lens. If you've ever seen The Man With the Golden Gun, you'll never shake the fact that the watch looks just like the Solex Agitator from that movie. The retro feel continues with the dark blue face and bevelled, pointed hands, made from brass, that just scream Mad Men from every pore.
It's a hybrid, and so if you push the pusher, the arms will whirl around on the face to show you the levels of each environmental factor. One hand points to one of the labels on the face, such as UV or Humidity, while the other points to a small intensity graph, showing how strong it is at a given time. Any other interaction will take place on the companion app, IEVA. It'll pull the data from your watch, offer warnings and tips on how to stay young, healthy and full of vim. That includes diet advice, as well as skincare and hair product suggestions. In addition, the environmental data will be made available to academic researchers, free of charge, to help their work in understanding climate change.
Because it has no digital display, the watch hands double as indicators for the various sensors. Hit the pusher and the hands will spin around, one pointing to a label — like UV or Humidity — while the other points to an intensity graph to show the specific levels around you. The other interactions take place on the IEVA Companion App, pulling data from your watch, as well as from other sources, to keep you in top shape.
In terms of battery life, the Time-C is rated for five days of use on a single charge, but will ship with a special charging stand that'll enable the watch to keep working while being re-juiced. Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, a watch this pretty, with this many sensors, and aimed at the sort of folks who buy customized cosmetics, won't come cheap. When it arrives toward the end of this year in three colorways: Stainless Steel, Rose Gold and Gold, it could cost anything from $490 up to $1,000. But perhaps, if keeping your skin as bouncy as a taught trampoline is important to you, it's a small price to pay.
