The new $225 Pebble Time 2 smartwatch feels like a toy, and we mean that in the best sense of the word. The refreshed version of the indie smartwatch brand, rebooted by its original founder, feels casual, fun, and playful — not like a mini-computer on your wrist. Its quirky watch faces and simple apps and games give it a sort of hacker energy, while its physical buttons, e-paper screen, and long battery life provide its retro vibes.
The first thing you’ll notice about the new Pebble Time 2 is that the device looks nothing like an Apple Watch. Where the Apple Watch has an OLED touchscreen display, the Pebble opts for a color e-paper screen. Where the Apple Watch comes in a range of band types, from sporty straps to high-end metals and leather, the Pebble Time 2 has a silicone watch band, making it feel more like a Swatch rival than a fancy smartwatch. And instead of picking between different aluminum finishes, as with the Apple Watch, the Pebble Time 2 offers a choice of colors: blue, red, silver, or black wrapped around its stainless steel frame of silver or black.
Pebble really differentiates itself from other smartwatches is its software and, especially, its community. The community is really the reason the watch still exists at all — after the company behind the original Pebble shut down. Fitbit kept the watch’s servers and app store alive until mid-2018. After that, the job was taken over by Pebble’s own user community, an unusual show of brand loyalty that effectively kept the product on life support for free. Then, in 2025, Migicovsky, with the help of some ex-Pebblers and Fitbit folks at Google, convinced the tech giant to open source the original Pebble operating system. This made it possible for him to take another crack at building Pebble watches under his new company, Core Devices. Core Devices has since shipped a limited-edition Pebble 2 Duo watch and has now sold more than 25,000 of its Pebble Time 2 watches across 93 countries. Its third device, the Pebble Round 2, is expected to begin shipping in September.