Our New Favorite Smart Thermostat Looks Straight out of the 1950s

The biggest tech show of the year, a.k.a. CES, is happening now, full of cars, laptops, and even self-sealing trash cans—but my favorite product is a smart thermostat, and it looks straight out of the 1950s.

Thermostats have been a mainstay of smart home technology since its beginnings. In 2011, the Nest Learning Thermostat kick-started what a connected home could really look like, and how it could actually make lives easier and save consumers money with technology that adapted to your lifestyle by taking over a gadget people already have in their homes. Since then, connected products for the home have covered everything from refrigerators that generate shopping lists to trash cans that change the bag for you.

Honeywell Home’s new thermostat, named the M5 Classic, stands out from the last decade of smart thermostats. It’s a beautiful combination of new technology and retro style. The design is an homage to Honeywell’s original The Round thermostat, a T86 thermostat designed in 1953 that can be found today in the Smithsonian Museum. “ Our design team took the simplicity and beauty of the original, classic design and updated it for today’s connected world,” says Chris Heintzelman, director of product management for Resideo, Honeywell Home’s parent company.

The thermostat still packs plenty of smart features, even without a touchscreen. It works with Resideo’s smart home system and other devices to monitor things like indoor air quality, water leaks, and security, and it has lights on the bottom half of the thermostat to notify you there’s an issue (which you can review on your phone). You can use the dials to adjust the temperature, while still deploying automated controls and schedules using the app.

The M5 Classic doesn’t have pricing or availability yet, but the thoughtful combination of design and technology is one we’re willing to wait for.