Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition takes on the Pixel Watch and Fitbit, runs Wear OS 3

what you need to know

• Fossil is launching a new smartwatch, the Gen 6 Wellness Edition.
• The watch is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4100+ and is the company’s first Wear OS 3 wearable.
• The smartwatch features an improved wellness app with automatic exercise detection, continuous heart rate monitoring during exercise and more.
• The watch will be available in three styles on October 17 and retails for $299.

While everyone is still excited about the Pixel Watch, Fossil is sneaking in to steal some of the thunder with its first Wear OS 3 smartwatch. That’s correct; The new Fossil Gen 6 Wellness Edition is here with a sleek design, improved fitness tracking and of course the latest Wear OS software.

The watch is powered by the Snapdragon 4100+ chipset just like the rest of the Gen 6 family. While it’s not the new Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1, we envision Fossil saving that for an eventual Gen 7 smartwatch. That said, the current chip is very good, and at least newer than the one powering the Pixel Watch (no shadow intended…much).

The new Gen 6 Wellness Edition features an updated design with smooth, curved stainless steel edges, making this quite possibly one of the best-looking Wear OS smartwatches we’ve seen from Fossil (or anyone else). The watch comes in a 44mm case with a 1.28 inch display. The two function buttons are still there, as is the rotating crown with an updated design.

However, what further sets this watch apart is its updated fitness tracking capabilities, powered by Fossil’s wellness app. The app can monitor cardio and heart rate, Sp02 and VO2 Max to give you a complete overview of your body’s performance. In addition, the Gen 6 Wellness Edition can also automatically start the workout depending on your movements while continuously tracking your heart rate during the workout.

That’s quite a step up from the news that the Pixel Watch won’t exactly support on-device automatic workout detection, though Fossil does tell me the workout detection won’t be extensive. Still, something is better than nothing, and it looks like Fossil is giving its own fitness app a boost in the absence of a Fitbit app (it’s currently exclusive to the Pixel Watch).

The good news is that the watch is launching with Wear OS 3, joining the ranks of a few others, like the Galaxy Watch 5. Fossil says it should look and feel like the Pixel Watch’s UI for the most part, complete with an updated Fossil companion app for its Wear OS devices. The bad news is that like the Montblanc Summit 3, this won’t feature a Google Assistant, which Fossil says isn’t ready for Qualcomm-powered Wear OS watches just yet. I’ve asked Google about it and will update you all if I hear anything again.

To offset this, Fossil has the Alexa app, launched earlier this year, which is getting an upgrade so it can work more independently and with iOS users too. And yes, Fossil smartwatches work with iOS. The company is also adding three new watch faces alongside the Gen 6 Wellness Edition, including Heritage Wellness, Heritage GMT and the exclusive Wellness Gauge watch face.

The smartwatch has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, which seems pretty good based on my experience with the Skagen Falster Gen 6. You also get Bluetooth 5, NFC for Google Wallet payments, and all-day battery life with Fossil’s super-fast charging that can juice up the watch in no time.