I've worn Nowatch’s distraction-free smartwatch for two weeks, and it made me question how much health tracking I really need
Beautiful distraction-free wearable, but sleep tracking needs work
As someone who earns a living reviewing smartwatches, I appreciate a wearable that looks nothing like an Apple Watch or Garmin. Don't get me wrong; I like the look of modern smartwatches, but admittedly, they can start to feel a bit samey after a while.
Not just that, but they can also be quite distracting due to their ability to connect to your phone. Most smartwatches act as extension screens for your smartphone, which I think we can all agree is the single most distracting thing many of us own.
If only there were a way to track your health stats without notifications, app alerts and glowing displays constantly demanding attention. Of course, there is: hybrid smartwatches. Somehow, the category has remained relatively niche since its inception, despite efforts from brands such as Withings to bring it into the mainstream.
Nowatch is a relatively young company based in Amsterdam. It first gained attention with screenless wearables before moving into what I'll be talking about here: a traditional-looking watch equipped with health sensors. Its latest models are undeniably handsome and promise real-time health tracking without the distractions of a conventional smartwatch.
The Nowatch B, the model I've been testing, comes in two sizes (36mm and 42mm), three finishes and four strap options. At 10.9mm thick, it's comparatively slim and sits elegantly on the wrist. I opted for the gold finish paired with the black woven strap, a combination that looks classy without appearing overly flashy.
The strap felt a little stiff out of the box, but it has softened during the couple of weeks I've spent with the watch. I generally prefer nylon or fabric straps for round-the-clock wear, though in this case the woven option felt like the best match for the watch's aesthetic.
A smartwatch that doesn't look or feel like one
Speaking of all-day wear, it feels somewhat strange to wear a watch like the Nowatch B to bed. It looks like a dress watch rather than something designed for sleep tracking or exercise. Yet, for the best results, that's exactly what you should be doing.
And arguably, that's the entire appeal. The Nowatch B looks like a traditional watch while quietly monitoring your health in the background. The idea behind the product is simple: give users the benefits of a smartwatch without the distractions.
Through the Nowatch app, you can track sleep, exercise, heart rate and general activity. There is also a feature called Reactivity, which is essentially the company's interpretation of stress tracking. During setup, you'll regularly check in with the app and log how you're feeling so the algorithm can learn how your body's physiological responses relate to your mood and stress levels.
It took around five days for the app to calibrate and begin tracking Reactivity continuously. Once it does, you'll generally find yourself categorised as either low reactivity, homeostasis or high reactivity. I typically hit low reactivity while sleeping and spent most of my day in homeostasis.
High reactivity appeared during workouts and periods of stress. To the app's credit, it seemed capable of distinguishing between exercise-induced strain and everyday stress, something not every recovery-focused wearable manages particularly well. The results broadly aligned with how I felt throughout the testing period.
Syncing can occasionally be slow if the app has been closed in the background. I'm used to seeing data appear almost instantly on competing platforms, whereas the Nowatch B sometimes requires a little patience before everything updates.
Sleep tracking is where things fall apart
That's all well and good, as long as the data is accurate.
Stress tracking is notoriously difficult to verify, but activity detection seemed reasonably reliable. Walks and general movement were picked up without issue. Where the watch struggled, surprisingly, was sleep tracking.
Across two weeks of testing, the Nowatch B repeatedly missed large portions of my sleep. This wasn't a one-off anomaly. Night after night, it struggled to recognise when I had actually fallen asleep.
One example showed the watch recording my sleep between 3:18 am and 7:02 am, even though I was asleep for significantly longer. The latter timestamp also coincided with my opening of the app that morning.
The watch even recognised that I had been awake before opening the app and suggested I take a nap, yet still failed to log the majority of my overnight sleep.
Because those hours weren't detected, the watch couldn't provide meaningful sleep-stage information either. If the device doesn't know you're asleep, it can't tell you how much time you spent in deep, light or REM sleep.
Of all the things a health-focused wearable needs to get right, sleep tracking sits near the top of the list. Throughout the testing period, both the Oura Ring 5 and Xiaomi Watch S5 produced results that aligned much more closely with my actual sleep patterns.
Battery life raises questions too
Battery life is another area where I came away slightly underwhelmed.
Five days would be perfectly respectable for a smartwatch with a bright AMOLED display constantly lighting up notifications and workout metrics. For a wearable with no display at all, however, it feels less impressive.
Competing hybrid watches such as the Withings ScanWatch 2 can last for weeks between charges while still offering health-tracking features and a small display. Five days isn't bad, but it does leave you wondering where all that battery power is going.
So where does that leave the Nowatch B?
I'm conflicted about the Nowatch B.
On one hand, it's one of the nicest-looking health wearables I've worn in a long time. The no-distraction philosophy is refreshing, the hardware feels premium, and the Reactivity feature appears genuinely interesting.
On the other hand, the fundamentals still need work. Sleep tracking is inconsistent, syncing can be slow, and battery life falls short of what I'd expect from a screenless wearable.
For a wearable that costs more than the standard Apple Watch, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect accurate sleep tracking.
That doesn't mean the Nowatch B is without merit. There will undoubtedly be people who value its traditional watch styling and distraction-free approach above absolute tracking accuracy. For those users, it offers something genuinely different from the sea of smartwatches currently on the market.
But based on my experience so far, the sensors and algorithms need further refinement before the Nowatch B can fully deliver on its promise.
The Nowatch B is available now from Nowatch, with prices starting at £356 / €399 / $499 (~AU$651).
