My retro dreams are coming true. The Pebble Watch, my favorite wearable of the early mid-2010s, is making a comeback. Even better, though, is that the new Pebbles have a battery life that can last a month on a single charge. Yes, Pebbles plural, because there’s a lower-end black and white model and a fancier color one with heart rate monitoring.
The two new Pebble watches have been revealed and are up for pre-order. They’re familiar designs, too: the Pebble Core 2 Duo and Core Time 2 are like remastered 2025 versions of the Pebble 2 and never-released Pebble Time 2. Both run 10,000 older Pebble watch faces, Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky told me over Zoom ahead of the news. They’re hackable, too, so anyone who’s been working on clever Pebble ideas over the last decade could run them on these new watches.
What surprised me the most are the upgrades. These new Pebbles have massively improved battery life, both up to 30 days, which Migicovsky credits to improved battery and chip technologies. They also have microphones and speakers onboard — not to answer calls but for apps that might dip into the functions. Migicovsky says he’s working on an app that might work with ChatGPT.
Another look at both watches side by side. The Core 2 Duo (left) is smaller, for sure, but they run the same watchfaces and apps.
The $149 Core 2 Duo, arriving in July, is like the return of the basic plastic Pebble watch: simple black and white, with a 1.26-inch display that’s also backlit. There’s step and sleep tracking and dedicated buttons, just like before.
But the $225 Core Time 2, arriving later on in December, gets interesting: it has a larger color 1.5-inch display, optical heart rate monitor, and a touchscreen. There are still side buttons, too, but the glass touchscreen will be available to tap on complications or work with apps that could take advantage of it. Pebbles never had touchscreens before. The Core Time 2 has a metal body.
