mondaine

is a Swiss watch company with a solid pedigree. Their clever watch design is based on the Swiss railways clocks created by a designer named Hans Hilfiker in 1944. It is eminently readable and was a whimsical collector’s favorite for years. Now, however, they’ve decided to add a little bit of technology to their most designer-centric watch, the Helvetica.

The Helvetica line pays homage to the font we all know and love. The watch has a standard Mondaine face and a sub-dial that displays your activity for that day. The activity tracker uses technology from MMT to allow step and sleep tracking.

The watch has a two-year battery life and includes activity tracking and “sleep cycle alarms” that will wake you up when you’re out of deep REM sleep. It also syncs with your phone to set the date and time. It’s definitely no Apple Watch, but the goal here is to marry high design with a little bit of tech.

Pricing isn’t quite clear yet but expect it to be a little less than $1,000. It was unveiled at BaselWorld this year and points us towards to what Switzerland is doing to take the smartwatch market head on.