Introducing the minimalist smartwatch

Meet Core Watch 1.

A smartwatch built around absolute simplicity on the outside, and a genuinely serious embedded platform underneath. Premium hardware, honest health tracking, and a custom operating system crafted to quietly stay out of your way.

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The design

A form that disappears on the wrist.

Milled from a single block of 6061 aluminum, the case is finished by hand and capped with an Asahi glass lens. No screws on the face. No unnecessary seams. Two finishes, one shape.

Display1.39″ AMOLED, 454×454

Case41mm, 6061 aluminum

LensAsahi glass, 6H+ scratch resistance

Battery400 mAh

Weight50g, case only

Core Watch 1 does not currently carry a water or dust ingress rating. We'll update this page if that changes ahead of launch.

Materials

Every material was chosen for how it ages, not just how it photographs. Nothing plated, nothing painted — what you see is what the watch is made of, all the way through.

CNC machined aluminumCase body, bead-blasted and anodized

Asahi glass lensDisplay cover, 6H+ scratch resistance

Aluminum compositeBack plate, sensor housing

Recycled siliconeWorks with any standard 22mm band

Under the case

Minimal outside. Considered inside.

Most watches this quiet are running on modest silicon. Core Watch 1 isn't. It's built on a real-time crossover MCU running a custom RTOS we wrote in-house, purpose-built for a device that has to be instant, all day, on a coin-cell-sized battery budget.

ProcessorRT595 crossover MCU

Memory5MB RAM

Storage32MB flash

Operating systemCustom RTOS

The software

An operating system with restraint.

Core OS is a custom RTOS built from nothing, not a phone OS shrunk down to fit a small screen. Running directly on the RT595 crossover MCU, it boots in under a second, runs for days on a single charge, and asks for your attention only when something actually needs it.

Instant response

A real-time scheduler means every tap registers in under 16 milliseconds — no spinner, ever.

Quiet by default

Notifications are opt-in per app. Most people enable three.

Works with any phone

Full functionality on iOS and Android, no ecosystem lock-in.

Health tracking

Continuous, silent, honest.

Core Watch 1 reads heart rate, sleep stages, and steps in the background, all day, without turning your wrist into a dashboard. Check in when you want to. It's tracking either way.

Heart rate

Optical sensor sampling every few seconds, resting to peak.

Sleep stages

Light, deep, and REM, tracked without a companion habit tracker.

Steps & activity

Counted quietly. No streaks to protect, no guilt notifications.

Resting heart rate

58 bpm

Live

Battery

Charge less. Wear more.

Ultra-low-power hardware and a lightweight custom RTOS mean fewer nights on the charger.

Core Watch 110 days

Typical AMOLED smartwatch1–2 days

Typical fitness band5–7 days

Based on internal testing with always-on display disabled and typical notification use. Actual results vary with settings and usage.

Why Core

Designed with purpose.

Three decisions run through everything, from the case to the code.

Minimal hardware

Every part serves a deliberate function. A clean exterior chassis engineered with premium materials, nothing added for the sake of it.

Serious silicon

An RT595 crossover MCU, 5MB of RAM, and 32MB of storage run underneath a case that never advertises it.

Intelligent health

Continuous heart rate, step count, and sleep tracking, monitored silently and surfaced only when you ask.

Opt-in notifications

Nothing reaches your wrist unless you decide it should. No default noise to turn off on day one.

One update path

Software updates are small, tested, and reversible. No forced redesigns of a watch face you already learned.

Any phone, fully

Every feature works the same on iOS and Android. No half-supported ecosystem, no missing menu on one platform.

Questions

Before you ask.

When does Core Watch 1 ship?

We're finalizing manufacturing now. Waitlist members will get an invitation to pre-order in the order they joined, with shipping updates sent by email.

What's actually running the watch?

An RT595 crossover MCU paired with 5MB of RAM and 32MB of storage, running Core OS, a custom RTOS we built specifically for this hardware rather than adapting an existing phone or wearable platform.

Is Core Watch 1 water resistant?

Core Watch 1 does not currently have an official water or dust ingress rating. We'd rather tell you that plainly now than have it come as a surprise after launch.

Does it work with my phone?

Yes. Core Watch 1 pairs with any iPhone or Android phone through the Core app, and every feature works identically on both.

Is there a subscription?

No. Every health and software feature is included with the watch, permanently. There's no premium tier hiding behind a monthly fee.

What sizes and colors are available?

Core Watch 1 ships in a single 41mm case size in Graphite and Silver finishes, with three included band lengths to fit most wrists.

What's the display made of?

A 1.39″ AMOLED panel at 454×454 resolution, capped with an Asahi glass lens rated 6H+ for scratch resistance.