Save the silliness for the Pixel 7 — this smartwatch is serious business
Two weeks out from its biggest event of the year, Google is on a marketing blitz. After an appropriately pixelated teaser for the Pixel 7 Pro revealed the official pre-order date for the phone, we’re getting a new video showing off the Pixel Watch in all its glory. It’s an exciting ad, showcasing what could be one of the best Wear OS smartwatches ever to arrive on the market, all while cementing its status as a high-end wearable.
This promo is focused entirely on the design of the Pixel Watch, matching a chill beat with close-up shots of its build and how it looks on the wrist of someone wearing it. There isn’t much new information here — we’ve seen these bands, these colors, and the large circular dial before. Instead, the video establishes how Google wants us to think of its first wearable. While that recent Pixel 7 promo had a fun, goofy vibe to it, this one feels more in line with designer watch ads. It makes you think of elegance, not exuberance.
It’s only been a few days since we learned what Google plans to charge for the Pixel Watch, with its price tag closer to Apple Watch territory than many of its fellow Android rivals. This marketing works to underscore that, yes, this watch might be relatively expensive, but this level of luxury comes at a cost. Whether the specs and performance of it will align with this way of thinking, however, remains a mystery.
Even if we’ve seen the Pixel Watch in most of these angles before — this isn’t like the Pixel 7, which Google only just started showing from the front — it’s still fun to see the twisty band mechanism and its fancy watch faces in action. This wearable is set to be one of the first to really challenge Samsung’s dominance in Android-friendly wearables since the Watch 4 series arrived on the scene over a year ago. While other watches have come and gone, none have been able to establish the foothold Samsung’s Galaxy lineup has in this space.
As for those watch faces, some of these haven’t been seen in official Google promos before today. While many of them were included in a leak dating back to last December, it’s exciting to know they made it through development. Personally, I’m a huge fan of what Google’s doing with its face design here. It’s different than anything we’ve seen from Samsung or Apple, with a minimalist feel that’s a far cry from the usual over-designed UI. Presumably, we’ll see even more styles when Google takes the stage on October 6th.
