Nowatch: Chic, AI-Powered Stress Tracking Wearable Debuts New Faces At CES 2024

Nowatch, the AI-powered wearable that made a mark last year due to its no-interruption stress level tracking abilities, is once again in the spotlight after it unveiled new inserts for the chic smartwatch at CES 2024 on Thursday.

The wearable promises no interruptions to the user as it quietly “calculates a personalized balance zone” and makes only “subtle vibrations” to make the user aware of his or her stress levels, which can be balanced through various exercises found on the Nowatch companion app.

Its latest inserts that can be paired with 12 different watch straps provide users with more flexibility in styling up.

The new interchangeable Chronos faces are easy to add and remove. They come with two options: the traditional watch style or the magnetic face that allows the user to choose gemstones of their preference.

For environmentally aware users, the wearable’s straps are made from either of the two: woven recycled plastics, or vegetable-tanned bioleather that the company says is “sleek enough” for any occasion.

Specs:

• Screenless design – with interchangeable gemstones, watch faces and metal discs
• Bluetooth low-energy connectivity
• EMF (electric and magnetic fields) safe
• Waterproof (5ATM)
• Temperature resistant
• Battery lasts up to 14 days with a two-hour charge time
• AI-powered companion iOS and Android app

Sensors:

• Red and green PPG (photoplethysmography)
• Accelerometer
• Barometer
• Temperature
• EDA (electrodermal activity)

Data ownership:

• Nowatch provides “absolute” data ownership and control by the user
• Decentralized data-sharing enabled
• Compliant with EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Pricing:

• Starts at $449
• Watch face gemstones (8 options) and Chronos watch faces (2 options) are sold separately

Tracking:

• Heart rate
• Skin conductance
• Sleep
• Breath rate
• HRV (heart rate variability)
• Walking activity

Founded in 2020 by Hylke Muntinga and Timothee Manschot, the Netherlands-based company has an AI backend, which is used to learn the user’s biorhythms so that the wearable can remind the user to calm down when stress kicks in. The company says its wearable makes “highly accurate” estimates of stress or heightened emotional activity.

Nowatch Insights, the wearable’s AI companion, “separates Nowatch from other wearables,” the company said in a press release. The app uses “proprietary” and “inherently private” language models that synthesize data streams to provide coherent narratives that recap the user’s daily fitness activity.

A huge plus is that users can personalize the length and tone of Nowatch Insights’ narratives – descriptive, creative, direct or “more caring.” Manschot says the AI companion app stands out because of its priority for “thoughtful, high-quality responses” over chatbot-style exchanges.

This lightweight wearable is available on the Nowatch website or through the Nowatch flagship store in Amsterdam.