Pebble smartwatches are officially back – including the iconic brand name

Back at the beginning of the year, we heard the news that Pebble – one of the original smartwatches that launched long before the likes of Apple Watch – was making a comeback. Its founder, Eric Migicovsky revealed on his blog that himself and a small team were working on new smartwatches under the name Core Devices.

Now in a new blog post, he's given us an update on where that smartwatch is at and when you can expect it to appear.

The Core 2 Duo, as it was going to be called, will now be called the Pebble 2 Duo after Migicovsky and his team were able to recover the trademark for Pebble.

The Core Time 2 meanwhile, will be called Pebble Time 2*, which was the last smartwatch the original Pebble team made but never shipped.

On his blog, Migicovsky said: "The asterix may actually be part of the name, but I think most people will just call it Pebble Time 2. We never actually shipped that watch, and this new watch uses the exact same display.

"Pebble Time 2 is dead, long live Pebble Time 2."

When will the Pebble 2 Duo ship?

The blog post also revealed details on when the new Pebble devices will actually launch. According to the company head, Core Designs has "shipped over 100 watches to 'alpha’ testers", which is part of the process to enter mass production.

He said the estimate shipping date of 1 July wouldn't be met – which won't come as a surprise given we are nearly at the end of July – but did give an estimate of the end of August for the first batch. That will be followed by mid-September for the second batch.

The reason for the delay is said to be improving the waterproof rating.

As for the Pebble Time 2*, that smartwatch is in the engineering verification test (EVT) phase. Migicovsky added that the company has made some improvements to the design and to "expect a full Core Pebble Time 2* update (with pictures) very very soon".

The blog post also revealed the new Pebble mobile app is close to being released. It is currently being tested on TestFlight.

Migicovsky said in the post: "As of right now, we think we can release it to an open beta test in 2-3 weeks (subject to winds changing).

"Remember – this app will be fully compatible with old Pebbles (except OG Pebble/Steel, we’ll add support for those later) so even if you don’t have a new watch yet, you can still bask in the glory of a new Pebble app that has fewer features than the old one (for now)."

He added: "We haven’t sent out order confirmation emails yet, so don’t worry – you haven’t missed anything. As soon as we figure out the final few tasks before mass production, we will send out an email with a link to change/confirm your address and pay any outstanding tariffs/taxes/duties."