Death of the watch?

In the late Seventies, traditional watchmakers reached the edge of extinction when the world swapped oily timekeeping for quartz and batteries. Unlike their old relations, digital watches were cheap, accurate and didn't require a nightly wind-up. Yet here we are, 30 years on, still fascinated by yesterday's cogs and crowns. Thankfully, many people felt the same way, so the old stuff survived, and if you ask us, it'll survive again in the face of a new predator: the smartwatch.

And before you say it, we're not ketchup-gulping Luddites. We'd take a 50-inch jumbotron over a black-and-white tellybox any day. But we'd keep the old one to wheel out every now and then, for old time's sake. Same deal with our wristwear. The Apple Watch? Bring it on. It'd look great in a collection alongside an old-world Speedmaster or somesuch.

It is still a watch, after all. You can have a stainless-steel case and a metal bracelet, and it has sapphire crystal glass. This is the language of ‘proper' watches, so it should feel familiar on the wrist, rather than overly gadgety. Alright, so in official parlance it's called a ‘wearable', in the same category as Google's glasses or that Nike Fuel Band thing. But where those make you look a bit like a smug jogger or travelling salesperson, the watch makes you look like, well, a person.

It will still tell you how fat you are, or what the temperature is in Togo. Pointless? Maybe. But remember, we've been cramming ‘complications' into watches for a years: chronographs, moon phases, days, dates. It's what watches do, and the Apple does it all. It shows maps. And it piggybacks your phone's GPS, so timekeeping will be satellite-precise.

It goes on sale in 2015 for $349 (£216) - excellent value in watch terms. The major flaw? You'll need an iPhone for it to be of any use at all. But worry not, because - as you're about to see - there are plenty of others. Of course, most of them also need pairing with a phone. And for when you can't be bothered to do that, you'll always have the old-school option. Long live the watch.

Like the Motorola Moto 360 (see over), the only-in-black G Watch R goes for a traditional circular face framed in a stainless-steel case. LG hasn't released too many details ahead of its October launch, but we do know it runs Android software, has 4GB of storage (the same as the Moto 360) and a 246ppi screen resolution - marginally better than the Motorola but less sharp than the Samsung Galaxy Gear S (also over).

Already launched in America and soon to arrive in the UK, Motorola is the first to get its 2014 smartwatch on the shelves. It's less customisable than its rivals, but the big round face, stainless-steel case and black or grey leather straps give it a classy, watchy feel. It charges wirelessly (others use a cable or cradle), pairs to an Android phone and includes a heart-rate monitor.

There's no escaping it: the Gear S is a whopper. At least its square case is curved to wrap around your wrist, but its easily the most gadgety - and least watchy - of all the new smartwatches. The case is plastic, and the strap is rubbery. Its screen has the best resolution and, best of all, it has its own 3G and WiFi connectivity so it works independently of a phone.