When it comes to smart watches, we have only reviewed one in the past. It was the Sequent Watch Supercharger. The purpose of the Sequent watch was to combine a sleek, stylish and sporty watch all into one model, all controlled by an app. It was a hit and miss. Now we are going to be reviewing Pininfarina Senso Hybrid watch. Their mission is to blend the sophistication of traditional timepieces with the innovative features of modern smartwatches. The model we will be reviewing is the Sunburst Rose Gold.

CASE

Material : Brushed 316L Stainless Steel
Lens: Anti Finger print Sapphire Crystal glass
Diameter (mm) : 44
Thickness (mm) : 16
Indexes: Brushed surface, Superluminova elements

STRAP

Material : Genuine Italian Leather

MOVEMENT

Type : N/A

OTHER INFO

Water Resistance : 5ATM
Crown: Touch

First Impression

The packaging is well done. Rectangular box as normal and the watch is at the center of attention. The Rose gold and the black colour theme goes well together and rough dial gives the watch a little spark. The OLED screen is located at the 12 o’clock position and did not take too much space on the watch. Looks wise, it looks very stylish and sleek. The sharp design of the casing does give it a bold edge. So far, impressed by the hardware of the watch, but what about the software?

Unboxing

Dial

The dial is simple on the Pininfarina Senso. On the outer index you have simple batons and as you move closer to the center, larger batons in brushed Rose Gold with superluminova has been used. There are also smaller batons dotted across the inner index, but this is more for aesthetic than functional .

The background of the dial has been given a textured black finish. Whilst it may not appear straight away, at closer inspection and also at certain angles, you can see it.

Located at the 12 o’clock position, you have the OLED display for the various features the Pininfarina Senso possesses. This is manipulated using the crown and the pushers. The OLED display is not too large and does not take too much space on the dial. It still gives the watch its natural watch look. In terms of the OLED, it is bright and legible.

The hands design used is batons, with superluminova on the body. Simple and an effective design. There is no second hand, but will it be necessary? We would have loved to see a second hand, mostly because it would have given the watch its ‘original watch’ feel rather than a hybrid, but it is not a deal breaker.

To make up for the missing second hand, the watch has a sub dial with a 60 second display.

Casing

It is a large watch. We are looking at 44mm by 16mm. It will take a lot of space on the wrist and the thickness will make the watch stick out. However, it is comfortable and it does not get in the way of daily use.

The Pininfarina Senso Hybrid watch has a  tonneau-shaped casing with a circular bezel. The curved edges and the polish finish of the 316L stainless steel reinforces Pininfarina’s aesthetically powerful and boundary-pushing designs.

The pushers are of a decent size and they do feel the part. They are hard enough for you to hear the click when pressed. The crown is not your usual crown. It is used to control the OLED display. When rotating, a clicking noise is made, which does remind you this is not a smart watch.

Using anti finger print sapphire crystal glass is a good choice. A strong and durable glass, with glare at its minimum. The anti finger print coating does work and in all honesty, more watch companies should do this.

The lugs have curved and this is very much needed. This helps to press the casing on the wrist and does not make the watch stick out too much.

Technology

Weather

The OLED display shows the weather for the next 7 days. Little weather widget appears on the display and works perfectly.

Remote

This feature gives access to music and camera. The music feature works fine and you can play, pause or skip the song via the watch. The camera however is a bit on and off. To take picture, you will need to open the camera app on the phone and then press the crown to take the picture. If you do not open the camera app, the crown will somehow control the volume setting on your phone.

Heart Rate

The HR monitor works well. It does take a bit of time and you will need to place your hand on the dial, pushing the sensors on your skin, but the reading a good. It also shows your live HR and the data is stored on a graph on the app.

ECG

Well, we are not expert on this but to get an accurate reading you will need different wires connected to your body. The best part of getting the ECG reading is how the app shows the live monitoring of the graph. However, the accuracy is questionable. The reading we done showed that an abnormal ECG reading, so we are going to take this with pinch of salt. The manual does say do not take the reading as the truth. It is a good feature to have and play with.

Oxygen Reading

Again, not expert on how the sensor or mechanic works, but after a trial to get our oxygen reading, it said it was 99%, which according to the manual is very good.

Sports

There are lots of options for sport tracking and monitoring. You have soccer, cricket, running, boxing. The watch will track your steps, calories and other health KPIs for the sports which is recorded on the app. It works well but there is a slight issue we found. When trying to exit the sports mode for example running, the watch says to press for the crown for a while to exit. However, we found out that sometimes this does not work. Despite pressing the crown for a long time, it does not register this and the message keeps popping up. The sports features and target tracking is great, but would you want to wear a 44mm watch while running or playing soccer?

Compass

This feature on the Pininfarina Senso is accurate. The hands and the display will work in tandem to show you the direction you are facing and it is very fluid and reactive.

Strap

The strap is 22m in width. It is soft, flexible and comfortable around the wrist. There are enough holes for smaller wrist. Quick release pins have been added to the strap for effortless removal, if you wish to change to a different colour or go for Pininfarina’s sportier rubber straps.

Buy, Shortlist or Avoid?

As always, the price of the watch needs to be discussed first. The Pininfarina Senso is priced at £/$399. It is quite an outlay for any watch, not just for the Pininfarina Senso hybrid.

As there is no movement, we need to talk about the battery life. It is said that the watch will last for 30 days on a full charge, but that it if all features and vibration are turned off. However, after a couple of days using all the features, the battery does drain quite quickly. We would say on a full charge and full feature use, seven days is the expected battery life until the next recharge.

Navigation is key for this watch. Using the crown and pushers to navigate can be tricky and will take sometime to get used to. But after a while, it does work seamlessly. There are instances where you press the pusher to return to the main page, but it takes sometime to register this and will need another push.

Overall, Pininfarina Senso has created a great hybrid watch. Other brands are entering this market and we will not be surprised if the market will be flood with hybrid watch in the near future. On the hardware and style of the watch, it works perfectly. If the OLED display is turned off, you will not know this is a hybrid watch. The colour theme works well and the overall aesthetic of the watch is fantastic.

The software is okay. Some more work needs to be done especially when it comes to response.

We will say that given the price range of the watch, we will shortlist it.

Do not forget to subscribe to New Labels Only and do follow New Labels Only on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin and Youtube   @Newlabelsonly where New Labels only is most active!