An upcoming product called The Duo will let you wear a traditional watch and the Apple Watch at the same time.
The company behind the product, watchmakers Original Grain, sent one over and I’ve been playing with it for the last week. So I decided to share my thoughts for those considering contributing to the crowd funding campaign launching today.
I love my Apple Watch. Even more so than I expected leading up to the device’s launch. But despite wearing it everyday since I received it in early May, I’m already starting to feel like I’m neglecting my mechanical/traditional watches that I bought to enjoy wearing and much prefer from a design/fashion standpoint, but now sit on a shelf each day I opt for my more feature-filled Apple Watch. After a few weeks, however, and with the novelty of the Apple Watch almost gone, It’s getting harder to keep ignoring my other watches, and that’s the reason Original Grain’s new DUO product is something I wanted to get my hands on.
The idea is simple. Original Grain aims to make high-quality, hand-crafted traditional watches and last year raised around $400k through Kickstarter to do so. The watches use a Japanese Miyota Precision Quartz Movement, but the real draw is the use of natural and reclaimed materials— American Oak Whiskey Barrels, Indian Rosewood, Maple, and Green Sandalwood— alongside stainless steel and more traditional watch components at an affordable price. Now it’s introducing a model that allows users to use an Apple Watch and a mechanical watch simultaneously to avoid having to make the decision I’ve been making each day. It’s accomplished it by creating a custom band that allows users to attach an Apple Watch face to the band opposite the company’s own watch face, allowing users to have the Apple Watch on their inner wrist while a passerby only sees the traditional Original Grain wristwatch on top.
Design:
The company has a new collection, The Barrel Collection, featuring six designs using different materials and a mix of hardwoods and stainless steel. I got to checkout the Rosewood and Chrome steel model (pictured above). Since the design of the watch from a fashion standpoint will depend a lot on your own style— personally I thought my model had a great wrist presence, but I’d probably lean more towards the maple wood and matte black steel model, which I think looks excellent— but there’s no denying the build quality of the watch is impressive considering a $250 retail price ($129 for a limited number of crowd funding backers). With the fit and finish, and small details like an embossed crown, quality clasps, and the wood inlays, the watch feels closer to a $500 – $1000 watch in your hand. I’ll let the various designs of the collection speak for themselves:
It’s definitely a large watch. With a 47mm face it’s on trend for men’s watches these days, but personally the face felt a bit big on my wrist after wearing the 42mm Apple Watch for weeks before doing this review. But Apple’s 42mm is actually closer in size to a 35mm traditional watch face due to the difference in how Apple measures the device compared to most watchmakers. While it’s on the large size for watch faces I’d normally prefer, it actually works well to hide the Apple Watch hiding underneath your wrist.
My Barrel DUO came with a 38mm Apple Watch attached, which feels like the right size for the product in order to have the Apple Watch blend in as part of the strap and clasp. The Apple Watch attaches to band using a custom clasp that hooks into the watch without any tools and still lets you take the band on and off without removing the Apple Watch. Here’s a look at how it attaches:
Two Watches In One:
I think the idea is something that will initially appeal to those in the same predicament as I am. Do I wear my Apple Watch today? Or that pricey, beautifully designed traditional watch? But what’s it like to actually wear two watches at once?
While the DUO is a bit on the heavy side compared to the stainless steel Apple Watch with Milanese Loop I’ve been wearing in recent weeks, it’s not anything that bothered me after an hour or two of getting used to the larger watch. It’s also not heavy compared to other watches with large faces like the 47mm diameter and 11mm case thickness of the Barrel collection. It’s at 150 Grams with the attached 38mm Apple Watch. Compare that to the 42mm steel link band Apple Watch at 125 grams, or other approx. 47mm traditional watches at around 120-200+ grams.
Actually using the Apple Watch with The DUO surprised me as well. I actually liked using the Apple Watch on my inner wrist maybe more so than on top. To me it feels more comfortable to expose the under side of my wrist compared to the way in which you have to raise and turn your wrist to activate the Apple Watch display normally. Some people have taken to wearing Apple Watch on their inner wrist for security, making it easier to discretely check alerts and keep the watch itself out of sight.
And I didn’t feel like a hipster weirdo wearing two watches at once. The Apple Watch mostly seems to disappear during normal use and most people that I’ve tested don’t even notice the Apple Watch until I point it out.
Should you buy one?
There are still many cases when I’d prefer one or the other. If I’m working out or being active, I’ll probably take my Apple Watch with Sport band for both comfort and fitness tracking features. If I’m going to a formal event, one of my pricey traditional watches will likely get a night out. But there are many cases when you might want to track your fitness or receive notifications throughout the day while still in situations when you’d like a more formal design like The Barrel DUO. So the decision will ultimately be how much you like the new collection from a design standpoint, and if it fills a need for your particularly lifestyle and Apple Watch use.
I’d like if Original Grain made a more sporty model, maybe with a slightly smaller watch face diameter. That might allow me to wear a product like The Duo in the majority of the situations described above. Better yet, make the product easy to swap out the traditional face too in order to use it with my other watches. That’s something Duo isn’t made to do and would require some DIYing. But The Duo is definitely an early look at what I expect will be many other similar products arriving from other companies that will aim for this market. We’ll have to see whether or not traditional watchmakers can attract some of these customers away from Apple Watch and products like The Duo by implementing more sensors into straps and mechanical watch designs, something they’ve already started doing in anticipation of the Apple Watch.
If you’re interested in checking out The Duo Barrell (or just a Barrel without The Duo strap), you can get more info through the crowd funding campaign. With The Duo strap, the Barrel collection will cost $169 for early backers and $269 at retail. The company plans to ship in October.
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Ugh. Seriously.
Riiiiight, because this’ll be useful and all. This is why actual user testing actually helps keep bad ideas off the shelves.
Is this about Smart Watches in general? Because I think it fits
Coming from the guy that has never used the product. I’ve tested it. It works well.
All I’m saying is that Apple put all this time into designing a WATCH, and then you end up ruining the aesthetic and giving a big middle finger to its primary purpose as well. If you’re going out to a formal event and want to wear a nice alternative, by all means. But if I saw someone strapping two entirely different watch concepts to one wrist, I’d wonder why they even bothered. This isn’t one of those “you haven’t tried it yet” deals, it’s just clearly a bad idea.
Tell me, would you start strapping a AlienWare laptop under your MacBook because you wanted to take both gaming and productivity on the go? You wouldn’t. And the argument of “it’s different because it’s a laptop” doesn’t work either. A watch also plays the role of displaying a fashion statement.
At the end of it all, I’m not trying to say your personal experience with it is incorrect. You liked it and that’s perfectly fine. I just can’t agree with it being a good idea and it actually selling well. I don’t think I’ll be seeing people going down the road with two heavily contrasting watches strapped to themselves.
The ‘don’t knock it till you try it’ is a bit over used. People don’t need to use this to know it’s a bad idea.
@shareef777
Agreed. I’d also say the primary motivator for having reviews in the first place is to provide details to the readers who can then decide whether they want to pursue a product any further based on the feedback of someone else, while negating the costs and risks associated with getting a product for one self to test out. No one else here is going to be given the luxury of a free copy of this watch, so they’ll likely fall back on the available information as opposed to dropping $160 – $250 on this product. It just so happens in this case, people don’t agree with the authors conclusion, which isn’t totally uncommon, especially when this was an obvious tough sell so far as devices go.
**coughs** buys a $400 smartwatch **coughs** thinks of a way to give other watches some attention even though the smartwatch is the star once you buy it
Oh, I get it. This is the primary contender for the WTF awards 2015. Clear winner.
This is about as stupid as those dumb Typo iPhone keyboard cases. If you can’t handle an Apple Watch, don’t buy one. The scary thing is that some morons might actually buy this.
Yup just like those bumpers and screen protectors for the watch.
Yup! The only benefit that those things provide is $ for the makers of those useless products.
people who buy screen protects, etc. for their apple watches are worried they are going to break it…. well why the hell did you buy one if you’re afraid of breaking it?!?!?!?! You bough a damn smart watch, enjoy it and don’t try to accessorize on it… it’s pointless!
some people…. don’t understand the concept of that they bought a beautiful Apple Watch only to fine a way to be an idiot with it
They failed to mention it required the wrist size of an average person’s calf…
Wow, the comments are right on, worse case is the watch is quartz. If you are going through all this effort at least use a decent automatic or manual movement.
I can understand the dilemma here: wanting the extra functionality of a smart watch but not wanting to give up on a traditional watch. This strikes me poor design meant to keep people from having to make a “design decision” that results in wearing two watches. I like wearing a watch but I can’t imagine wearing two is somehow better than making the decision of which one watch to wear.
Aaaah! so that’s why G’D gave us forearm rotation…
That’s what the Apple Watch should be: a (smaller) sensor, with maybe some LEDs for notifications, complementing a proper watch. Not saying the Duo is necessarily a “proper watch”, but there are real pieces of jewelry out there, and the people wearing them are not going to drop them for an Apple Watch any time soon. Yet the sensors’ data would be valuable for them, and could be handled even better by an iPhone, which remains in everyone’s pocket just inches away from the wrist.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. I shelved a $16,300 Cartier Panther to wear my Apple watch. It is one of several expensive watches I own or have owned including an 18k Rolex President with diamond bezel and baguette diamond markers at the quarter hour. So like H L Hunt once said, “the rich are different” to which I append and you clearly ain’t one of them to make the statement you did.
Wow – way to win an argument ;)
You might be Rich, but your reply is extremely poor (plus very, very uneducated and impolite). I don’t want to challenge you to see who wears the most expensive watch (nor do I want to know how you became “different”). I am stating my opinion, to which I stick, and if you shelf a Cartier/Rolex for an Apple Watch and aren’t back in one week, you are free to do it but I have serious doubts concerning your ability to recognize value and taste. I love Apple, and making negative comments about one of their products is painful, but I want to be constructive. If I cared, I would say that your telling us how many diamonds your watch carried is a desperate attempt to convince people on 9to5Mac (!) of your belonging to the 1% or so. But I don’t care what an anonymous user on a (great) tech blog has to rant about. I just hope the 75 in your nickname does not mean you’re over forty, because your comment was seriously immature. And no, this is not the way to win an argument.
Those people can wear a fitbit and shut up, frankly.
The point of the apple watch is as a platform for software on your wrist. Baby steps. Remember when the iPhone couldn’t do MMS picture messages? We’ve come a long way since then, and so will the watch.
Feel free not to buy the first one.
Interesting point of view, but I’m just afraid that the watch won’t be such a great product as the iPod, iPhone, iPad and Macs have been. The first generation iPhone, despite minor limitations such as slow cellular speed and no MMS, was revolutionary and years ahead of anything else. The Watch is not.
The idea of a platform for software on your wrist or anywhere on your body is nice, but so far the most useful piece of software I’ve seen is Workouts!
I felt embarrassed when the guy on stage showed off certain features such as Astronomy and “looking at the earth and the moon”, because I had expectations.
I’ve tried it several times and of course I’m not buying the first model, but probably neither the second..
I still think that a much improved fitbit (the way Apple can make it better), with way longer battery life, would be a better product. I’m still hoping for the Watch to evolve like any other Apple product, but the starting point this time is pretty low.
In my last response to your insipid grandiose comment I offer this: as Ron Johnson’s character said once on “A Different World” which would seem apropos here….”paint it on the fence of my summer home. LOL Again you run off at the mouth making pronouncements like you are some sort of expert without any factual basis. To be clear, I have no need to “win” an argument with you. What a hollow victory that would be. You mentioned “desperate attempt”….all that means is that you missed the point. Based on what you say and how you said it, your life has offered you limited success and a need to overcompensate which leads me to another popular saying….”haters are gonna hate.” Enjoy, I disengage here more than able to write the check to permit you the last word. My apple watch says it’s time to go to the farmer’s market.
Ah don’t worry guys. There’s a weirdo in the macrumor forums who “double wrists” his two watches… one traditional watch on the left and the watch on his right wrist… So…yeah….
This is insane. Beyond that, I would imagine the Apple watch worn that way will experience far more trauma likely to scratch the case and/or crack the crystal. If this isn’t a joke, may I suggest therapy?
Both a genius and terrible idea at the same time. Probably a bit of insight into where things could go if displays and batteries could be hidden in the band.
This concept relegates the apple watch, to being expensive luggage for your watch apps.
If the Apple watch didn’t already look better, and keep better time than this $150 piece of shit, then there MIGHT be some point to it. As it stands, it’s just dead weight on your wrist.
I don’t normally say this, but man this thing is both sucks and blows at the same time.
Omg, it’s the stupidiest thing ever!
This is extremely stupid for two reasons. 1. Why do you need two watches? 2. If the Apple Watch is worn on the bottom of your wrist the heart rate sensor won’t work. Nobody buy this piece of crap.
Just wear a nice watch on one wrist and Apple Watch on the other. Problem solved. This thing is janky.
The only question I have is, “who will be the first rapper to rock a gold iced out Rolex and a gold Apple Watch Edition from his wrist in a ‘duo” of ostentation?”
If only we had more than one wrist.
(I was going to say ‘second hand’ but that sounds like a clock pun)
yo dawg, i hear you liked watches…
REALLY?!!
L M F A O – not in a million years does this make sense. Was rolling.
They have outdorked themselves.
This company is DOA .. will not last long
Its like a fanny pack for your wrist or training wheels.
Great idea, but the wood bands are not very appealing…Wood is for furniture and guitars, not watches…
I’d also rather have a watch that comes with an Apple compatible band so I could swap the band between the Apple Watch and the watch that it came with — not necessarily put them on the same band at once…although that is interesting.
This might be the worst idea I’ve ever read on here.
As per other posts, I think this is a pretty dumb idea. Why you’d want or need two watches is beyond me. Also:
“Do I wear my Apple Watch today? Or that pricey, beautifully designed traditional watch?”
I’d say it’s debatable whether this solves that at all. Anyone attached to a mechanical watch probably owns one…but this doesn’t cater to that, it requires the purchase of another new watch and frankly none of the six designs do anything for me. If I was to ever even remotely consider wearing two watches, I’d be wearing one of the watches I already own, not buying yet another one.
“After a few weeks, however, and with the novelty of the Apple Watch almost gone, It’s getting harder to keep ignoring my other watches, and that’s the reason Original Grain’s new DUO product is something I wanted to get my hands on.”
okay, now with the new DUO your other watches are easier to ignore?
– I didnt test this thing (how should I), but sounds like .. , well – strange ;-)