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The day when you can twist your wrist to see who's calling may soon be at hand. Because the Federal Communications Commission has just approved Fossil and Sony Ericsson's new Bluetooth-enabled Caller ID watches for release in the U.S.

When PDAStreet spoke to Fossil VP of Watch Technology Bill Geiser last month, he said the timepieces would start to ship in mid October, but that obviously didn't happen. Of course, the FCC must give its blessing to all devices that use American airwaves. So waiting for the government agency's approval may have been the hold up that kept the four variations on the Bluetooth watch out of user's hands past their original due date. We'll find out soon enough.

Update: A Fossil reprehensive has informed PDAStreet that the company just received the charging clips for the Bluetooth watches last week. This is definitely a good reason to delay the device's release, and could be why it has taken until now for the FCC to give its okay.

In addition to the usual array of external and internal photos of the device - as well as the testing report, letters and other data - the FCC site includes the user manual for the watch; worth perusing if you're thinking about getting one.


 from user manual

The Bluetooth watch displays time in a traditional analog format, but includes an small OLED screen underneath the clock to deliver Caller ID and number information. The almost hidden display only comes into play when needed. If a caller's name is in the phone’s address book, you see the name, if not, you see the number.

One button push on the watch mutes the phone's ringer, while two reject a call. The lithium rechargeable battery is supposed to last for about 5-7 days.

A vibration alert indicates when there are incoming calls or SMS/MMS messages. And an out-of-range warning vibrates when the phone and watch have been separated by 10 meters or more: Sounds like a great feature for those prone to leaving their handsets behind.

The watches will work only with Sony Ericsson phones initially. However, Fossil plans to soon add support for the S60 platform, running on Symbian OS version 7, 8 and 8.1 shortly. Symbian 9 compatibility will be added to the list once some technical issues are overcome. Geiser said the company would aggressively expand the compatibility list to other platforms and handsets as well.

There's going to be four versions of the Bluetooth watch: three Fossil branded and one under Sony Ericsson's banner.

The Caller ID FX6001, with a black ionic plated stainless steel case and bracelet-style strap, will sell for $250 directly from the watchmaker, while two $200 ABACUS MobileWear versions will become more widely available at retail. The AU6001 features a stainless steel case and bracelet, while the AU6002, which is also stainless steel, comes with a black strap.

Sony Ericsson's edition, called the MBW-100, is stainless steel as well. But it adds the ability to control the music player (play/pause and skip tracks) capabilities for the phone vendor's popular Walkman line of mobile handsets. The MBW-100 will come in silver, and Aalimited edition black edition will also be available for a short while. Both are due to ship worldwide during the fourth quarter for about 300 Euros (around $382).

Update: Fossil just informed us that Comp USA should have the watches in store by the second week of November. It will also begin appearing on retailer web sites (Amazon.com, Newegg, etc.) shortly thereafter for pre-sales.