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Nearly a decade after its demise, smartwatch maker Pebble is back—sort of. Today, the company’s founder, Eric Migicovsky, has unveiled new hardware running open source PebbleOS. However, since Google owns the Pebble trademark, these are not Pebble smartwatches. Instead, say hello to the first watches from a new brand called Core Devices: Core 2 Duo and Core Time 2.
For a brief history lesson, Pebble skyrocketed to fame in 2012 through a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign. The company’s smartwatches had e-paper displays and arrived ahead of the first Apple Watch, offering wearers the ability to see notifications, create custom watch faces, and even access an app store—all with battery life that lasted a week despite an always-on screen.
But the company scaled too quickly and then didn’t meet its sales targets, eventually deciding to sell to Fitbit. A few years later, Google bought Fitbit, which meant it owned Pebble’s assets.
The original Pebble smartwatches didn’t die off—Fitbit kept the lights on for some time, and thanks to Pebble’s cult-like fanbase, a coalition of developers and enthusiasts helped launch the Rebble project to replace Pebble’s web services when Fitbit eventually shut everything down, so that core functions of the watches kept working.
But what’s enabled Migicovsky to introduce new hardware running PebbleOS is Google’s decision to release the source code in January. “I asked politely if they would open source the operating system, and they very graciously did,” Migicovsky tells WIRED. “We wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing now if Google hadn’t done that, so we’re super appreciative.”
New Leaf
That brings us to Migicovsky’s new brand—Core Devices—a nod to the Pebble Core, the screen-less wearable that never shipped. This is a very small operation that consists of Migicovsky, another full-time employee, and a few contractors—he says he’s taking things a bit more cautiously this time around. That’s why there will only be roughly 10,000 units available for the Core 2 Duo and a little more of the Core Time 2—preorders are live today if you want to reserve one.
“I’m intentionally trying to build something that’s sustainable, rather than a fast-growing do-or-die company,” Migicovsky says. “We’re taking small risks, we’re doing a couple of products, one at a time—and cautiously, carefully building this company to be sustainable. If we can do our jobs, build these watches and make people happy, we’ll build more. There’s always more time.”
Core 2 Duo
Photograph: Core
The first to arrive this July is the Core 2 Duo, which shares many characteristics with the Pebble 2 from 2016. This $149 wearable has a 1.26-inch monochrome e-paper display embedded into a polycarbonate frame that comes in black or white. Like the original, it has a microphone, is IPX8 water resistant, and features step and sleep tracking.
So what’s new? Battery life has been beefed up significantly from 7 days to 30. There’s a newer Bluetooth chip inside, a barometer and compass, a quieter and stronger motor for better vibration alerts, and more reliable buttons (the old buttons had a history of degrading over time). Migicovsky says the new pushers should offer up to a 30 percent longer lifetime in testing.
Core Time 2
Photograph: Core
Next is the Core Time 2, which resembles the Pebble Time 2 that never shipped. It has a few enhancements over the Duo, such as a larger 1.5-inch 64-color e-paper screen, an aluminum frame and buttons, and a heart-rate monitor. It also has a touchscreen. While the operating system is not built for touch interactions, this capability will initially let you hop into apps by tapping on a “complication” on the watch’s face. Over time, the touchscreen interactions will expand. These upgrades mean a higher $225 price, and it won’t ship until December.
Classic Pebble
Like the Pebbles of old, Core’s smartwatches buzz when notifications arrive, have customizable watch faces, show the time on an always-on display, can control music playback via physical buttons, and offer rudimentary health tracking. They can access more than 10,000 PebbleOS apps and watch faces published through the Rebble Foundation.
Some apps may try to access web services that aren’t available, and watch faces for the Core Time 2 will have a border until developers update them to take advantage of the larger display. Migicovsky says there will be a companion app for Android and iOS, and an updated software development kit for developers who want to create new apps.
Core Time 2 (left) and Core 2 Duo (right)
Photograph: Core
One new app Migicovsky is toying with is a ChatGPT app that lets you push one of the buttons to activate the AI assistant. The new built-in speaker will let you hear answers without having to pull out your connected smartphone, which powers the whole experience.
Even with capabilities like this, these watches are not designed to have all the features you might find on an Apple Watch. “This is not for everyone,” Migicovsky says. “Most people like the Apple Watch. Most people are happy with the Apple Watch. This is for the people who aren’t. This is for the people who don’t feel like they’re well served by the status quo.”
Furthering this view that the Cores are not for everyone, in Migicovsky’s blog post announcing the two watches, there’s a section that nudges people to avoid Core’s latest if they want a fitness watch, a full-featured smartwatch, or even a device that is super polished. Migicovsky says some features may not be ready at launch, there could be delays, and the whole project could also not last as long as expected.
“We’re not predicating our entire lives on the success of this,” Migicovsky says. “We’ll move on and build other products if people don’t want these.” Perhaps this more measured approach will mean Migicovsky’s latest won’t befall the same fate as Pebble, or perhaps not—early-adopting consumers will again have to run the risk of buying in to a product that could die before its time.
Migicovsky is at least trying to mitigate this risk, though, as you can preorder the Core 2 Duo and Core Time 2 now to secure your unit—but if you get cold feet and change your mind, you can get a full refund if you cancel before your watch ships.
