Citizen, the watchmaker, is a master of creating high-end timepieces designed to last a lifetime. Until now, though, making smartwatches hasn’t been their thing. The brand’s first range of smartwatches was significantly below par compared to mainstream smartwatches by Apple, Samsung, and Garmin.

Instead of continuing an attempt to compete with the big guns in the game, the watchmaker has changed its aim with the second-generation Citizen CZ Smart. How? The CZ Smart uses artificial intelligence (AI) to measure its user’s alertness.

A Citizen of the world

The CZ Smart was developed in conjunction with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and IBM’s Watson tech. Citizen claims the resulting timepiece is smarter than a smartwatch. Instead of connecting to other devices, the new wearable connects more to its user. The companion CZ Smart YouQ app runs a built-in AI “self-care advisor” that the company says will “understand and anticipate patterns of fatigue and alertness”.

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The CZ Smart YouQ app, powered by IBM’s Watson AI, includes NASA technology. It uses IBM’s neural networks to learn patterns about its user, including their sleeping and waking up time. It’ll monitor a user’s “chronotype” over a seven- to ten-day period. It then measures a user’s alertness using a consumer version of NASA’s PVT+ test. Citizen says the tests are “brief, gamified, and can be taken daily to measure the wearer’s alertness”.

It adds that its device will offer customized insights and personalized strategies to build better habits for its users. It’s a lot to claim, but also not that different from most smartwatches. Citizen says the YouQ app makes recommendations for the user to get their alertness up again. Which, again, is something that almost every other smartwatch wearable should be able to do. Still, Watson integration in a wearable should be an interesting experience.

Citizen left a lot unsaid about the smartwatch that’ll release for the US market in March 2023 but there are some deeper details known. It’s powered by the Snapdragon Wear 4100+ processor (similar to the Fossil Gen 6 lineup). The smartwatch is also expected to launch in 41mm Casual and 44mm Sport editions. Citizen has not specified pricing yet.

Source: Engadget