The question “which smartwatch should I buy” sounds simple, but answering it honestly and in detail is hard. The market is packed with models for every budget, and most of them are decent or even good. But decent watches won’t push someone to sell their current watch — one they already have and even like — just to buy new ones. And they certainly won’t make you pay a pretty large sum right away. I belong to the first category. For a long time, I had one watch that I periodically upgraded to current generations, then I found my new One Love. Three years have passed now, and I can tell you what I encountered along the way.
The price range for smartwatches is enormous. There are models for 5,000 rubles and ones for 70,000 and more. But few people know how to choose watches correctly.
How to Properly Choose a Smartwatch
Over three years, I tried enough to formulate simple criteria for myself. The first is materials. A plastic case gets covered in micro-scratches within six months, and the watch starts looking tired. Steel is better but also not eternal. The only truly durable ones turned out to be models with titanium, ceramics, or alloys like zirconium — they look the same after a year as they did on the day of purchase.
The second criterion is battery life. A watch that needs charging every evening quickly turns into an obligation. The ideal is three to four days without a charger with full use including GPS, notifications, and health sensors. Anything less than two days is, in my opinion, incompatible with a comfortable life.
The third is the screen. On a sunny day outside, half of all smartwatches turn into a black mirror. If the brightness is below 2,000 nits, you’ll be squinting and shading the dial with your hand in summer. Good watches should be readable at all times — otherwise, why wear them on your wrist?
The screen is an important part of any smartwatch.
And finally — sensors. Every watch can measure heart rate, but accuracy varies dramatically. ECG and blood oxygen levels are a separate conversation. If a manufacturer includes these features not just for show but with additional sensors and clinical validation, you immediately feel it in the data quality.
It was precisely these criteria that ultimately led me to HUAWEI — first to the Watch 4 Pro Space Edition after the Apple Watch Series 7, and then to what I’m wearing now.
Watch 4 Pro Space Edition was a watch you couldn’t fault. Titanium case with aerospace coating, sapphire glass, a battery lasting 4–5 days, full health monitoring. I wore them almost every day, got used to the weight, the tactile feedback of the crown, and how they sat on the wrist. But then I saw the Ultimate 2 — and realized it was time to let go of the Watch 4 Pro. The difference between “good watches” and “truly good watches” turned out to be noticeable.
At the same time, I had seen the first generation Watch Ultimate and even used them for a few days, but they didn’t impress me back then, while the second generation is a completely different story. The thing is, I’m not a big fan of the color blue, so I circled around them for a long time, but I truly wanted to buy them only when the green version came out.
Watch Ultimate maintains its style from generation to generation.
I’m not a professional diver and I don’t run marathons through the desert, so I don’t use all the capabilities of the new watch, but I still consider them great, and using this model as an example, I’ll try to explain exactly what you should buy and what to pay attention to.
Big Smartwatches You Can Wear All Day
The first thing that catches your eye is the design. It’s so self-sufficient that you can wear the watch as jewelry, treating everything else as a nice bonus. I have the new green version, which has just recently gone on sale. Officially, Huawei positions this watch series as for golf enthusiasts and divers, but let’s be honest — green with white on the wrist looks fresh and expensive regardless of whether you play golf or not.
The case remains the same as the blue version. It’s big: 47.8 mm in diameter, liquid metal based on a zirconium alloy, and sapphire glass. In practice, this means that even after several months of wear, there won’t be a single scratch on them, unless you deliberately smash them against rocks or roll around on the beach after diving. Let’s be honest, city dwellers do this extremely rarely, meaning the durability here will be like that of a big body-on-frame pickup truck that only goes to the store twice a week.
The watch case is large, but that’s more of a plus than a minus.
The bezel is made of nano-ceramic in two tones — green and white — with engraved number indices in the spirit of real mechanical chronometers. It looks like something between a diver’s watch and an accessory from a jewelry boutique display. The era of smartwatches as exclusively sports accessories has passed. Now they can be worn with any clothing style. And this is always important to pay attention to when choosing wearable electronics.
The nano-ceramic bezel.
The fluoroelastomer strap is also green, with white inserts and decorative white thread stitching. It’s not real stitching, but it looks as if the strap was actually sewn. It’s soft, doesn’t cause irritation, and doesn’t absorb sweat. However, 80.5 grams on the wrist is noticeable — it’s no feather. But I, as a true fan of mechanical watches, love big watches. And after the Watch 4 Pro with a titanium bracelet, the difference is minimal. Over time, the weight starts to feel like a sign of seriousness rather than a hindrance. Sure, for a delicate female wrist there are other models, but on a serious man’s hand, the watch will fit like a glove.
The strap is a beauty in itself.
