Pebble's miraculous relaunch complete – new smartwatch due to ship "soon"

The world of smartwatches may have felt a little stagnant in the last few years, but that's all about to change thanks to the return of a classic brand. Pebble smartwatches will strike a chord with any readers of a certain age, and the brand is almost back to life.

That shouldn't come as any surprise to those with their finger on the pulse. The brand – revived by original founder, Eric Migicovsky – has been talking about the project all year.

Now, in a new blog post, we've learned just how close the new models are to launching. That states that just shy of 3,000 Pebble 2 Duo models were produced in September, which are set to ship shortly.

Those are all in the white finish, though – the black models were apparently late to start and then held up by a holiday in China and Hong Kong, which has delayed their arrival.

Still, it's exciting news for lovers of the brand. It's totally feasible that the first run will be in the hands of users prior to the end of the calendar year, which will have many feeling giddy.

The brand has retained a cult following since its demise, which the post says has been critical to its reemergence. The Rebble Alliance has been key to continuing the brand's existence, and is now being paid to keep the app store alive.

It's already live – just head to apps.repebble.com – and looks almost identical to how it did way back when. That's where users will be able to download apps and watch faces, built by a community of passionate developers and enthusiasts.

The Pebble 2 Duo is the model which is on its way as we speak, and costs US$149 (approx. £112 / €129 / AU$230). There's also a Pebble Time 2 model, which adds a touch screen, a metal body and a heart rate sensor. That one is coming a little further down the line, and will cost US$225 (approx. £169 / €195 / AU$349).