Nokia took a great leap forward in the smartwatch industry this summer when it bought Withings, a specialist in connected timepieces with healthcare features.
The Withings name was quickly dropped, and the Nokia name started to appear on the next generation of smart devices.
The Nokia Steel was one of the first collections, a minimalist Scandi-style model that tracks heart rate and other activities and transmits them to Nokia’s Health Mate.
Unlike many watches made by mobile phone companies, Nokia has opted for a stylish analogue watch with only activity tracking displayed on a scale of 0-100% measuring progress towards a daily target on the watch face.
Everything else is shown on a smartphone, where a detailed picture of your life is shown in graphs and graphics.
The lack of a touchscreen on the watch means that battery life can be measured in years rather than hours as you get with Apple Watch and its ilk. The Nokia Steel is also waterproof.
Further evidence that Nokia appreciates watches that compete with traditional timepieces comes in the release of rose gold and black cased editions of the Steel.
The rose gold version comes with a grey wristband and the black one has a matching black strap.
There are also quick release leather straps than can be swapped in.
In short, Nokia is thinking and behaving like a watch company, which could make its watches ideal for traditional jewellers and watch retailers.
The price of around £120-240 is also about right for this retail channel.
