Withings Activité Sapphire

Let me begin saying that I am a watch guy and not as much a gadget lover. I own 4 other watches that I like a lot and I used to wear them all in a daily basis. It is obvious then that Activité is one of the very few choices out there if I want to track activities while not giving up wearing a proper time-piece. Concerning various sorts of watch enthusiasts I believe I fit in the category of those crazy about mechanics and craftsmanship. My obsession is to know that this timepiece ticking in my wrist was pretty tough to build and is an intricate complex machine with tons of moving parts assembled expertly by someone preserving the kind of skill that seems to be evaporating quite rapidly these days. I like utterly complex stuff probably fooling myself that I am helping these artists no one cares about to stay in business. I decided to give the Activité a try but was worried that if something went wrong I would be in trouble as I live in South America where they don't sell these watches neither have any support operations. Bought it in a trip to US and found it initially dead as some people reported. Went through the instructions and tried to pair it anyway. The process is pretty much straightforward and in a couple of seconds the calibration brought life to my Activité. The whole calibration thing is awesome specially when I see the physical dial adjusting itself as my fingers move through the virtual one in my phone. The calibration done via phone also makes the concept of crown obsolete and indeed there isn't one. The thing is astonishingly beautiful to look at because you firmly believe that it being analog there should be a way to adjust it. The lack of a crown makes the box very minimalistic. The face design is classic and I like it a lot. However the tiny details like the almost imperceptible circles inside the movement dial are what makes it truly magnificent. The silver dials would be just classy but then there is the blue Activité inscription and the matching blue dial for your movements that shows someone really spent time drawing this thing. Their French designer certainly has a Nordic-like good taste. I find the final result extremely elegant and enjoy staring at it for no apparent reason but to think that someone did work hard to please its customers. I ordered one with the brown strap and intended to buy another compatible strap made with proper leather. I wanted to have both black and brown ones but I thought the spares to be a bit expensive. After inspecting the brown one I got I am now confident I also want the extra in black. Even there these guys seemed to have spent time. They are very neat and finely sewed across what looks like a single piece of leather without any extra layers glued together. I didn't expect much of the functionalities now that I am crazy about my Activité crafting. The problem is that this tiny movement pointer constantly reminds you to go for that extra walk. After a couple of months my sleeping quality improved due to the additional exercises I am getting and the result is that I sometimes feel sharper during work hours. It was a significant improvement in my quality of life. If there's one thing that didn't work perfectly for me is the alarm clock. As a heavy sleeper I not always feel it therefore I still rely on the sound my phone makes. The bottom line is, if it breaks I will get another. If they launch another one I will get newer models to retire my old watches and begin rotating between my Activités to be collection. My wife liked it, I got another one that she is now wearing. It is pricy. It is very expensive specially as I bought in US dollar and do not earn in dollars. It is worthy every penny. Do not consider anything else if you value timepiece craftsmanship but need a discrete tracker. I now hope there will be more models to come as carefully designed as this one was. I never wrote a review before. But then again I never have been this impressed with something that I did not know to be this good. Good job Withings, you got yourself a loyal customer.