Facer hired Fossil's old Wear OS exec, and it sounds like a perfect match

Brook Eaton, the former Fossil VP who spearheaded their Wear OS watches across brands like Skagen, Michael Kors, and Fossil itself, is taking his experience and close relationship with Google to Facer. And I can't wait to see where this partnership leads.

Facer CEO Ariel Vardi, who worked with Eaton when they preloaded Facer on Fossil watches, described some ambitious-sounding goals for Eaton to "lead Facer's next phase of growth," with his role focusing on the following:

• "Bringing Facer to even more smartwatches and exploring integrations with other connected devices."
• "Elevating Facer's user experience, marketplace, and personalization features."
• "Pushing the boundaries of smartwatch customization and how users interact with their devices."

"Customization is a core part of the smartwatch experience, and there's still so much potential to explore," Eaton says. "My goal is to expand Facer's footprint across more devices and platforms while continuing to innovate."

I wrote last year about my frustration that Wear OS 5 blocks Facer because Google shifted to battery-saving XML watch faces (good), banned old formats that allowed for more creativity (reasonable but disappointing), and required users to buy watch faces from the Play Store (baffling and unnecessary).

Facer announced at the time that it was "working hard with Google to bring the Facer service" to watches like the Galaxy Watch 7 and Pixel Watch 3, but couldn't resolve things before Wear OS 5 launched. It's been months since then, and we're still waiting for better watch faces.

I don't know if Eaton can break through Google's gridlock before Wear OS 6 arrives. But we definitely need better watch face "customization" across brands, and we should watch closely to see where Facer goes next with Eaton's new direction.

Unfinished business

I'm sure long-time Wear OS fans might have mixed feelings about Fossil watches. They carried the brand for years when Samsung Tizen was all the rage, but at a time when Wear OS 2 wasn't all that good. Then Google left its old partner in the lurch to focus on a more profitable partnership with Samsung — leaving Fossil struggling to keep up with updates until it exited the business for good.

I came into Wear OS after the transition, but I still feel the absence of Fossil's more stylish designs compared to the distinctly techy vibes of most Android watches. Considering the current Wear OS lineup — Google, Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Mobvoi — it's clear we're trending toward the ecosystem being dominated by mobile brands rather than watch brands, with Mobvoi as the one holdout.

With that context, I look at Fossil's Android watch tenure as holding out against a stacked deck. And since Eaton kept Fossil watches relevant for all those years while dealing with bigger brands like Google, I hope that experience will pay off at Facer.

Where Facer can go next

Facer's press release talked about "deepening platform integrations across Apple Watch, Wear OS, Android AOSP, and RTOS," so Eaton's work won't focus solely on Android watches. Aside from Garmin, most RTOS fitness watches only have a handful of watch faces despite the recent push toward AMOLED displays. Facer support on more watches would certainly give them a breath of fresh air and creativity.

Still, I think that if Eaton could make Facer a closer partner with Google, in particular, that would be the ideal outcome.

Health Connect and Android's open system make it easier to allow for the best possible complications on Wear OS watch faces; that way, choosing a fun watch face doesn't necessarily preclude you from seeing relevant data, too.

The Play Store just isn't a great place to search through watch faces, so developers and artists don't have much incentive to make watch faces and Wear OS 5 users may not bother to look or spend money. Letting Facer handle curation and categorization — as it has for a decade — is a better system, and it should be easy to filter out and disable downloads for non-XML watch faces.

And I'm certainly curious how Eaton intends to "push the boundaries" of customization through Facer. Will this involve AI art, which would give users limitless options but potentially annoy the creators on Facer's platform? Perhaps watch faces that change based on your health and fitness progress?

Wherever things go next, I'm optimistic that Vardi and Eaton can take things in an exciting new direction for Wear OS watches — if Google lets them.