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The Nowatch flashes on the wrist, even without a digital screen. The elegant, high-end wearable is half health tracker and half luxury bracelet. As the name implies, where the watch face would be on a typical smartwatch, there is instead a luminous semiprecious stone. All the health tracking data is stored in an app away from the phone, meaning you have to check your data intentionally rather than getting interrupted with it throughout the day.
Could it be the perfect last minute holiday gift for the health conscious and screen addicted fashionista in your life?
It depends. The device overlaps in function with smartwatches like the Apple Watch, although its lack of a screen means there are tradeoffs. Perhaps a better point of comparison would be other screenless wearables like the Oura Ring, especially since Oura recently rolled out a stress tracking feature, something Nowatch sells itself on. But with promises of being a mindfulness oriented “awareable,” Nowatch strives to differentiate itself in how it does its job. The result is something special, if you don’t mind losing a display and dealing with some early adopter issues.
Pros:
- Eco-friendly packaging
- Beautiful craftsmanship
- Excels in tracking stress
- Journal feature chronicles subjective stress
- Filled with scrollable graphs and accessible data
- Tracks workouts based on impact on overall health
- Built-in alarm
- Personalized recap of the day that ties in sleep with activity
Cons:
- No notification when the battery runs low or when the watch is done charging
- Price runs high
- Sleep tracking could use improvement to make the experience consistently accurate
- Graphs and data could do with more interpretation to make them readable at a glance
Unlike the Oura Ring, which continuously scans temperature, motion, heart rate, and heart rate variability to measure stress, the Nowatch uses skin conductance, or changes in sweat production, to monitor stress, while also tracking temperature, heart rate and other metrics. When the Nowatch thinks a user is stressed out, it sends them a small vibration through the device to let them know. It also calculates an individualized balanced zone or baseline for when a user is in homeostasis, so it can tell when the user’s body deviates from their individual norm.
When it comes to sleep, the Nowatch includes a hypnogram as well as a breakdown of each stage of sleep achieved over a night.
The watch doesn’t focus on calories burned through exercise, preferring instead to show heart rate, breath rate, and estimated decreases in stress after activity. This in-depth analysis is intended to reflect more of the benefits of exercise than a page merely showing steps or calories burned.
The value of the Nowatch, when compared to less expensive alternatives, rests in its finer details. Nowatch promises that it uses durable materials in its product so that the watch can be “loved for decades, and even generations.” Having worn the Nowatch, I can vouch for its overall durability, from its thick straps to its dazzling but well-protected stones. I’ve made it a wardrobe staple for over two months now, and the stones have nary a scratch.
The company’s B Corp certification, which can further attest to its social and environmental impact, is pending.
According to the company, I was among the first to use a Nowatch, and I tested it for months to determine how well it lived up to its promises.
Nowatch Unboxing
The Nowatch’s packaging is biodegradable, sustainable, and bursting with different textures.
Each component came in its own stackable cube that felt soft to the touch.
The two stones included in my box were both unique, looking like a microcosm of natural terrain and a snapshot of Earth from space.
The back of each stone had an inscription with where the stone was made—the white agate was designed in Amsterdam and crafted in Jaipur, India.
The bands were thicker than what I was used to, but held up well over months of wear.
Setting up the Nowatch
An appealing aspect of the NOWATCH is the ability to switch out gemstone discs and bands, creating a new accessory every time. Even the case can be swapped for a gold or rose gold equivalent.
I panicked a little after I placed the lapis lazuli disc within the case, because it didn’t seem like the disc was going to come out any time soon — it clicked into place and didn’t seem to have an easy way to remove it. An instruction within the setup quickly addressed removing discs: the back of the charger acts as a magnet to lift them out.
Nowatch states during setup that all data collected by the device will be stored only on the user’s phone and that it will never share data with third parties. I had the option to share data with Nowatch, which would be anonymized before the company received it, so that the company could learn from my data. I said yes to that, but if I said no at any time, Nowatch stated that they would delete all of my sensor data from their servers.
I could also opt in to vibrations being sent through the watch if I was out of balance, or stuck in prolonged stress, throughout the day or if I wanted randomized vibrations to cue me in to the present moment.
The app features three tabs against a dark background: Now, Overview and Living Lab. The Now tab is the home screen, and it shows a simple glowing orb made of tiny particles that frequently move around. Tapping on the orb reveals a current balance gauge of how stressed the wearer feels at that moment, from deep relaxation green to high stimulation orange, as well as heart rate, steps for that day and breaths per minute.
The Overview tab details stress levels, sleep, heart rate and movement. It also has space at the bottom for personal, typed-out reflections underneath the Journal section.
At time of review, the Living Lab tab had one resonance breathing exercise and reading material about sustained stress, how stress is measured on the Nowatch and more.
Alignment matters with the NOWATCH. The company promotes awareness when using its product, but it also requires awareness when doing something as simple as lining up the product with the charger. I had to place the watch on the charger in a specific way for it to work; misalignment meant that the watch couldn’t recharge.
A full charge takes up to 3 hours and lasts at least 5 days at minimum and up to a week at most. I found that after about a three-hour charge, the Nowatch lasted about 5 days with continuous use. I did not receive a notification on the app or an indicator on the watch when the battery was running low — I had to monitor the battery through the app.
The charger will blink when the Nowatch is fully topped off.
Price breakdown
I wore the 37mm coated stainless steel silver case with both a vegetable-tanned Italian biological leather strap in the oak (reddish brown) color and a 100% recycled ocean plastic band in a dark blue Pacific color. I switched between two stones, one a starry lapis lazuli and the other an intriguing white agate.
The grand total? $874. Shipping and taxes not included.
The silver case was $363, the charger was $53, the leather strap was $64, the woven strap was $42, the white agate stone disc was $117 and the lapis lazuli stone was $235.
The nearly thousand-dollar Nowatch package I got charges a premium price for customizability. This watch isn’t within everyone’s budget, but may appeal to a luxury market. You can get fewer accessories to bring the price down a bit, but swapping out discs and bands is half the fun.
The craftsmanship of the Nowatch is appealing. For example, the bands fit well, but not so tightly that they left a mark.
Sleep tracking on the Nowatch is subpar
Sleep is a cornerstone of stress management, so I was curious how the Nowatch measures up when compared to other sleep trackers I have on hand. Budget wearables like the Fitbit Charge 6 still hold up well in sleep tracking when compared to the more expensive Oura Ring, so I had high hopes for the even more expensive Nowatch.
The Nowatch initially underperformed here. On my first night wearing it to bed, the watch only recorded about two and a half hours of rest, although according to the Oura Ring and the Fitbit, I got at least 8 hours of sleep.
I wore the Nowatch to sleep again, and this time, its measurements were in the ballpark I was expecting, though they were still about 15 minutes off.
The user interface of Nowatch’s sleep report could use some improvement — I found myself scrolling through insights about my sleep, seeing numbers and notes, without having an easy option to see what each number meant. Leading with the hypnogram is a dizzying choice for the eyes, especially as it’s accentuated by green colors against a dark background. Maybe I felt that way because I checked my sleep in the morning, when all I really wanted was soothing colors and a simple report.
I would have liked to see the sleep report reorganized with easily understandable measurements and explanations leading the way. The hypnogram can live at the bottom of the page and summarize the report.
I gave the Nowatch chance after chance when it came to sleep tracking, but the watch often didn’t precisely capture my night. As a control, I could tell when I woke up by simply looking at my wake-up light when I opened my eyes, and the time displayed often did not align with what the Nowatch showed me.
Sometimes it underestimated my sleep, other times it overestimated it. When it got it right, its deep and REM sleep measurements were noticeably different when compared to the Oura Ring.
The heart rate variability and heart rate measurements also showed different patterns from the Oura Ring.
Regardless of which tracker was right, the Oura gave me average heart rate variability, with a max number and lowest heart rate for the night, plus an average bpm reading and a visual representation of my sleep over time at the top. The Nowatch simply gave me graphs of data with a general description afterward, which I found more difficult to interpret.
I noticed that, over time, the watch did a better job of tracking my sleep, perhaps as it got more used to me or as its internal workings improved. It went from being off by hours to getting the overall sleep and wake-up time right.
Before and After
The Nowatch sent me a recap of my day at around 9 pm that linked sleep to my steps and activity levels throughout the day.
Testing the alarm
The Nowatch takes things up a notch compared to the Oura Ring and certain other wearables by including a noiseless, vibrating wake-up alarm within the device that can be scheduled through the app.
Not bringing my phone to my bedroom to wake up on time was an exciting, if unfamiliar, prospect. I had high hopes that the vibrations wouldn’t be as jarring as an audio alarm.
I don’t have to raise the alarm on this feature — it works perfectly. I woke up to a steady buzzing on my wrist, almost like a small phone vibration, without any accompanying audio. Pressing on the crown of the watch stopped the vibrations instantly, but if I let them run their course, they would stop when the time changed from, say, 6:50 am to 6:51 am.
The alarm doesn’t have a snooze option, so when it ends, it ends. I could see this being useful for students who want a scheduled reminder of when to study, or for light sleepers.
Activity tracking on the Nowatch is great
The Nowatch takes a sophisticated approach to activity tracking by giving users detailed reports of their activity sessions, which can be anything from workouts to meditations.
I had the option to sync my Nowatch with Apple Health, which would keep the device in the loop with the data that any other trackers I wore sent to Apple Health too. For the sake of this review, I decided not to sync up the watch and let it shine on its own, although I could see the connectivity being useful.
The watch automatically detects activity, like an evening walk.
Confirming the activity, or manually recording new activity by logging a session, yields a graph of how stimulating and relaxing the activity was.
The app reveals more details about the body’s response to physical activity, including factors like heart rate decrease, HRV, estimated stress decrease and breath rate increase if detected. These are all highly motivating factors to keep working out.
One thing noticeably absent in this detailed workout tracking is calories burned. The Nowatch focuses on tracking activity based on its overall benefit to the body, which is a refreshing and new perspective.
Stress reports
What’s more stressful than opening up an app to determine how stressed out you are throughout the day?
I never knew what to expect underneath Stress levels on the Overview tab of the Nowatch app, but I knew I was hoping for calm — even if I didn’t always feel it. The Nowatch accurately showed me the points in the day when I was most stressed out, even more so than the stress tracking I’ve seen from other wearables.
Besides overall stress and stress estimate graphs, the Nowatch showed graphs for breath rate, heart rate, heart rate variability, steps and a hypnogram. Every chart was scrollable and brightly colored, which I appreciated because I could see the exact times my stress spiked or diminished and trace those points back to events.
Pairing issues
About two weeks after I started testing the watch, I encountered difficulties pairing it with the app. Luckily, the company has a support page for that issue and I was able to connect after soft-resetting the watch (pressing the crown for about 10 seconds).
For a moment as I was troubleshooting the issue, I thought about the Nowatch’s value. The app and tech features add to the watch’s appeal, for sure, but one thing this smartwatch has that others do not is a touch of standalone luxury. The Nowatch’s materials, from its shining stones to its varied bands, set it apart from more straightforward fitness trackers or wearables. It is arguably worth it just as a fashion statement, even divorced of health metrics. While premium, there are certainly more expensive bracelets out there.
Is the Nowatch ready to compete?
Aesthetically, the Nowatch is ahead of its time. When it comes to functionality, it could do with some tweaks to get its sleep tracking on par with competitors.
I expected the in-app experience to reflect the luxurious feel of the watch, but I found myself questioning the app’s design choices. I wanted an overview of my sleep, activity, and other metrics, not a glowing orb, on the home screen. I had to hunt down the information I wanted to see instead of having it all unfold naturally in front of me.
I’d also like to see the journal feature take center stage, because it’s a standout feature that the Nowatch offers that other wearables don’t have yet. By emphasizing subjective experiences of stress, the Nowatch could unite how people consciously feel stress and other emotions with how their bodies process it. The journaling feature right now feels a little bit like an afterthought, or a mere addition to an activity or meditation session. I could see it becoming a way for people to process poor sleep and what could have caused it, or think about the impact that higher levels of activity have on their emotions.
The Nowatch can, theoretically, collect data for sleep, activity and stress, but as a user, I wanted to know why this data matters. How could I improve my sleep if I fall short one night? What impacts heart rate variability and how does it affect overall well-being? The device has all of the necessary components to bring us into the here and now, and to do it with style, but once we’re there, what is it telling us?
I enjoyed wearing this watch overall and I couldn’t believe how pretty it looked in person. Even though the Nowatch’s sleep tracking and app design don’t feel optimized to me at the moment, it’s a solid activity tracker and the way it measures stress (through sweat!) is pretty innovative. It stands apart from the competition in its attention to detail, which could make the price worth it for some.
I liked that the Nowatch stones were ethically sourced; the company owns its own stone-cutting shop and employs families that have been stone cutters for generations, guaranteeing that its products are free of exploitative labor. It uses biodegradable, plastic-free packaging, and fashioned the Nowatch case out of cork in collaboration with Corkhino Studios, a design practice in Belgium that focuses on stillness and contemplation.
The company pays attention to detail, with a higher level of awareness of impact that is remarkable for a brand this new. You don’t have to feel guilty about owning a Nowatch, except, perhaps, if you bought it even though it was out of your budget.
Nowatch continues to update its “awareable” with new features, and I have high hopes that the company will set a new bar for screenless activity tracking. If you like the look and you have the dimes, give it a try.
The Messenger’s score: 4 out of 5
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