Timex IQ+ Move review: Step-tracking with flair (but not much else)

Since the original Pebble took Kickstarter by storm, there has always been a payoff of beauty against function. In short, if you want something on your wrist with some kind of connectivity, you have to accept that the only heads it’s going to turn are those appalled at your sartorial choices.

Okay, that’s clearly harsh, but you see my point, right? Until batteries increase capacity AND come down in size, a wearable with a screen can only look so nice – and it’s probably capped around the level of the Samsung Gear S3 and the Apple Watch. That means that it’s a connected smartwatch or a beautiful dumb watch competing for your money.

There is a third way, though: the smart-ish watch. These wearables eschew the screen in favour of glass, physical hands and classic timepiece aesthetics. Think the Casio Ediface EQB-600 and the Misfit Phase.

Now American watch veteran Timex has joined the party, with the most beautiful wearable I’ve ever had strapped to my wrist. But is a smartwatch with limited smarts really worth having?

Timex IQ+ Move review: Design

[gallery:1]

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that smartwatches aren’t that bad-looking, but wear one next to the Timex IQ+ Move and you’ll quickly see the folly behind this idea. I wore it alongside a Fitbit Blaze over the course of my review to compare recorded stats and it’s like they’re from different planets, no matter how much I like the Blaze.

The Timex IQ+ Move has a smooth, round face, edged with metal, while a slightly curved glass plate covers an understated classical watch face. The watch hands aren’t pixellated, because they’re real and they move, just as they have for centuries. The satisfying tick of the second hand is just about audible in a quiet room. It’s delightful.

What hasn’t been there for centuries is step-tracking, and that’s exactly what the IQ+ brings to the party, with progress towards your daily goal indicated by a separate dial in the lower-right-hand quadrant of the face. The dial runs zero to 100 because it’s based on percentages. This makes sense, given everyone’s step goals are different.[gallery:2]

Those are the only numbers on the surface – the rest is all lines, dashes and dots for an understated style – aside from the Timex branding just below where the 12 would normally be. Our model came with a white face, gold hands and a silver bezel, but different colours are available. The whole look is finished off with a Timex-branded brown leather strap. Like all leather straps, this proved a touch uncomfortable to begin with, with the watch refusing to stay flush no matter how painfully tightly I did it up, but as it’s leather it’s sure to soften up over time.

Timex IQ+ Move review: Smart features

So what smart features does the Timex IQ+ Move offer? Well, none, really. It’s essentially analogue to the most basic original Fitbit, without the suitability for exercise. This is for step tracking and sleep tracking. Oh, and you can set an alarm through the app. That’s about it.[gallery:3]

So how does it do with its two jobs? Step tracking is fine. A spot check as I write this has Fitbit saying I’ve done 568 steps to Timex’s 521 (don’t judge me, I’ve been working from home today), so close enough that you needn’t worry. In any case, measuring accuracy on step trackers always seemed like a pointless endeavour to me. As long as they’re consistent with themselves each day, it doesn’t matter too much if it’s 100 or 500 off the real total.

Continues on page 2.

Sleep tracking, however: not good. Not good at all. One night I had a fitful night of sleep thanks to a greedy cat climbing across my bed, nosing my face, chewing on charge cables and flicking me passive-aggressively with his tail. This happened on and off between the hours of 3am and 6.45am when I reluctantly left bed. How did Timex interpret this lousy night? Apparently I had 8hrs 30mins of sleep with 6hrs 46mins of deep sleep, giving me a total of 90.6% sleep efficiency. You could have fooled me.

The following night, I wore both the Fitbit Blaze and the Timex IQ+ Move for a direct comparison, and the Fitbit was far more accurate, correctly noting that even though I was in bed at 10pm, I wasn’t actually sleeping until 10.30pm. Timex made no such distinction – oh, and it rated my sleep efficiency as 86.8% that night, despite me sleeping far better with the cat too full of food to move.

We’ve reached out to Timex about the issues with the sleep tracking, and will be trying another watch soon to ensure it wasn’t a faulty version we had.[gallery:5]

To be entirely fair to Timex, sleep tracking has only ever really been a hobby that fitness bands dabble in, in much the same way that I play football occasionally – the difference is that I never claim that my disappointing footballing abilities are part of who I am. You’ll want something like the ResMed S+ for to track your slumber with real accuracy. But the data from this seems comically bad. Last night I played 90 minutes of Battlefield 1 on the PlayStation lying down on the sofa. Despite what Timex (and the other players) might say about my performance, I was most definitely not snoozing at the time.

Timex IQ+ Move review: Timex app

As apps go, the accompanying Timex Connected app is as minimalist as the product itself. You can view any day’s sleep and steps; change your daily goals (it recommends three settings, or you can enter targets manually); and set alarms and timers. There are some customisation options, allowing you to change the activity dial to measure distance rather than steps, or choose when you want the watch to automatically sync, but it’s pretty basic. There is no community to speak of, so you’re battling against yourself here. That makes sense: every man and his dog has a Fitbit, but how many people do you know with the Timex Connected app installed?[gallery:7]

It also doesn’t do anything with the data it collects. Sure, it gives you an estimate of your calorie burn based on your height and weight, but nothing too advanced. Just a chart you can break down by day, month and year to see how the four metrics (steps, miles, calories and hours of sleep) compare over time. Functional, but bare.

Timex IQ+ Move review: Verdict

I wait years for a good-looking smart-ish watch, and then two come along in the space of weeks. Although the scores are the same, I’d probably give the Timex IQ+ Move the nod over the Misfit Phase: it looks super-stylish on the wrist; the standard watch battery lasts ages; and, although it doesn’t do notifications like the Misfit, that’s not too much of a bother, since the Phase’s notification capability isn’t very useful anyway.[gallery:17]

It’s not for everyone, though. It’s distinctly limited – closer to a Fitbit One than an Apple Watch – and you can’t use it for proper fitness tracking as there’s no speed or heart-rate tracking. Not to mention that my experience with the sleep tracking was wildly off.

That will be enough for many people, but it’s hard to give the Timex IQ+ Move any more than three stars, no matter how much more stylish it made me look.