This luxurious smart alarm clock kept my phone out of the bedroom

When you read the words alarm clock, What comes to your mind? I bet it’s either one of those old numbers with the bells on top or the red numbered clock radio your dad bought from Radio Shack in 1983 and hasn’t been replaced yet. You probably don’t have one. Why? Your phone is working fine. It may seem like an anachronism, but even as our phones take on more responsibility in our daily lives, discrete bedside clocks have continued to evolve. Enter Loftie, who hopes to “take back control of Sleeping Land” with her stylish, internet-connected watch. These ambitions may be a bit high, but it’s certainly a nice way to wake up.

If you’re wondering why you should want to use an alarm clock at all, I’m with you. Smartphones have been a dream for those of us who don’t necessarily want to own a bunch of stuff: they’re MP3 players, handheld gaming consoles, point-and-shoot cameras, calculators — and yes, our mornings. warning. But technology and sleep hygiene don’t always go together, and for some people, having all of the internet on their nightstand makes it hard to turn it off at the end of the day (or in my case, makes it too easy to waste time). in the morning).

You can definitely get a perfectly working alarm clock for under $20 on Amazon. But let’s say you’re looking for something a little more luxurious. This is the niche the Loftie watch fills.

At a quick glance, the Loftie looks like a luxury alarm clock. It’s a large, pill-shaped piece of dark, translucent plastic, with an LCD screen underneath to show the time on its front side, buttons and a speaker grille on top, and a nightlight on the bottom. It’s simple but stylish in a 2021 way. There’s a built-in battery in case the power goes out, and the power supply connects via USB-C. elegant.

The clock comes with a number of soothing alarm sounds that are triggered in two stages. First, a “wake-up tone” designed to gently wake you up—options include Paradise, which features chirping tropical birds, and Temple, a deep but soft series of tinkling bells. Followed by the “wake tone,” which, although more kinetic and harder to ignore than the wake tone, is also intentionally non-abrasive—the tone, for example, is a rhythmic beat evocative of the ticking of a large clock. Alarms can be set for different times on different days, either on the watch itself or using the companion app. It’s noticeably nicer to wake up to than traditional alarm clock sounds.

The paradox of having an app-controlled device is meant to reduce the time you spend looking at your phone. But after you set up your Loftie watch for the first time, you don’t need to use the app: the watch itself has four buttons at the top, and you can do Everything using just those. The wide button on the far left snoozes alarms, controls the built-in night light, and returns to menus; The two middle buttons, arranged like a volume rocker, navigate those menus; The right button turns off alerts completely and makes menu selections.

The night light of the Loftie clock is fun. (The clock is on its side here.)

Aside from waking you up in the morning, the Loftie watch has a few other tricks up its sleeve: It can play relaxing sounds to help you sleep (think white noise or crashing waves), guide you through meditations, and even play built-in classical music. Any music you like, technically — it has Bluetooth — but the speaker is on par with something like the Nest Mini, so you might not want to use it for media.

You’ll find traditional sleep noises among the sounds in the watch menu, while meditations, royalty-free soothing music, less traditional dreamy sounds, and even some soothing stories (referred to as “sleep broadcasts”) are included under the playlists option. It’s all very nice, and Loftie promises new content in future updates.

My only real issue with the Loftie watch itself is the LCD time display, which has to be fully lit to illuminate the numbers. To the Loftie’s credit, at night levels, it’s not bright enough to be a nuisance, even for light sleepers like me. You can also turn it off until the next alarm by long pressing the night light button. However, this thing is sold at retail $149 (Currently on sale for $119). It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect the small display to be OLED for true blacks. But that’s not enough to drown out the experience for me.

So should you buy this $149 alarm clock? If this sentence makes you scoff, no, you shouldn’t. It’s also hard to get around the fact that you can get a smart display that does almost everything this watch does and more for less money. But if you’re the type who likes to spend on luxury home goods and want an unabashedly high-end, unnecessary watch for your bedside table? This thing is so cute. Treat yourself.