Smartphones are no longer on the cutting edge of technology, and luxury brands had plenty of time to figure out how to give mobile devices that special glamorous touch. Now, smart watches and wearables are the fancy new toys, so of course the super-rich will also want to start playing with them. This is where new companies like Christophe & Co. come in, creating things which could be described as ‘hi-tech jewelry.’
The British luxury brand‘s first release is the Armill collection of ‘smart bracelets,’ comprising three models: the entry-level Virtus, the Orion, and the highly exclusive Apollo. In order to get the look just right, Christophe & Co turned to an established name in the luxury industry: Pininfarina. The Italian company used its expertise in automotive design to give these bracelets a classy, masculine vibe, even though we’re essentially talking about delicately decorated, diamond-studded, Alcantara leather-clad, gold items of jewelry with some technological capabilities under all that glitz.
It is unclear at this point exactly what these capabilities are, since the Armills don’t have any screens or input systems, though it seems the bracelets use Bluetooth of near-field communication (NFC) to integrate with a Christophe & Co. app or different exclusive clubs with which a partnership has been set up.
The limited edition release includes 300 Virtus, 100 Orion, and just 25 Apollo units, priced at $75,000, $93,000, and $149,000 respectively.
