Sony revealed to be behind FES e-paper watch

28 Nov 2014

The FES watch. Image via Fashion Entertainments

After months of speculation, the intriguing-looking FES Watch, which is entirely made of e-paper material, has been found to have been a Sony creation after the company tried to keep its involvement secret.

Until now, a company called Fashion Entertainments was attributed as the creator of the FES Watch but only now its link with the Japanese tech giant was revealed following a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The watch, which will be entirely covered in the e-paper material, is being marketed as a fashionable item, rather than as a powerful smartwatch.

Sony’s decision to keep its involvement in the watch a low-key affair was down to its desire to analyse how much traction the watch could register online without the familiar brand name, so much so it has have even created a crowdfunding page for the watch’s development that has raised just under 3m yen (€18,821) so far.

The five Sony engineers behind the project have been investigating e-paper as a fabric after Sony instigated a company policy to allow employees to develop side projects to develop future innovations with the parent company providing a portion of funding.

According to the project’s page, the FES Watch is now available for pre-order with the first sales expected in May next year.

However, the company plan on expanding the e-paper technology into other devices, and as shown in its promotional video below, could even see it being used in glasses that could change colour through a selection in a person’s phone.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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