If you happen to be in the market for a rather high-quality, high class smartwatch, Swiss luxury watchmaker Montblanc wants to provide that style, with the additional tech in its new timepiece. The company celebrated the first hours of of 2015 with its brand new Montblanc Timewalker Urban Speed e-Strap watch line. The e-Strap ($300), which is optional, features an interchangeable strap offering notifications, an activity tracker, and many other functions.

The leather strap, which connects via Bluetooth LE to specific Android and iOS smartphones (there isn't a list), has a 22mm-wide OLED touchscreen display, with a 128 x 36 pixel resolution, that sits on the underside of the wrist. It notifies the wearer of smart notifications, including incoming calls, emails, and texts, by vibrating.

If you're waiting for the bells and whistles to intrigue you, then this might. Since the smartwatch works in tandem with a smartphone, a variety of functions can be controlled using the e-Strap as a remote control. For example, you can use the e-Strap to work in tandem with your smartphone camera, music player, and more. For the fitness elites, Montblanc's e-Strap comes with an activity tracker, standard for smartwatches these days, which can measure steps, calories, and distance (Forbes). Although this feature isn't as extensive as others, it's really all one would need. It also can run about five days on a single charge.

The Guardian points out that there may be significant in evolution of the smartwatch happening. In addition to Montblanc, as companies like Timex, Fossil, and Swatch are building tech around their own sophisticated devices, they are proving that “smartwatches are no longer just the domain of technology companies”. Since interest in connected watches continues to grow, these companies are right in time to show their potential. Expectations will be high during this month's CES, but companies doing what Montblanc is doing- creating a way for “dumb” watches to stay relevant, might be giving consumers exactly what they want. After all, some of us desire to keep our smartwatch looking high-end. Not all of us are Pebble people. Maybe having an opt-in smart component, like Montblanc's strap, could be the next fad in smartwatches.