Withings has returned with the ScanWatch Horizon, an all-new version of its health smartwatch, remodelled as a diving watch.
The Withings ScanWatch was launched in 2020, and in the vein of Withings smartwatches, put health tracking smarts in the body of an analogue watch with a month of battery life. The ScanWatch Horizon does the same, but with a diving watch aesthetic.
It’s certainly a looker – and the 43mm smartwatch boasts a laser-engraved rotating bezel and luminous hands, with green or blue faces.
It still uses the inset OLED display to show activity data and notifications – and the secondary activity goal dial. It also costs – so it retains the reassuring expense of a true diving watch.
And naturally, Withings has upped the water resistance to 10ATM, so you can take it snorkelling or swimming. We’re not sure it’s actually rated for deep sea diving, mind.
It comes with stainless steel link and rubber sport bands in the box.
In terms of new features, the Horizon is pretty much business as usual.
It features ECG and blood oxygen monitoring – and puts a focus on breathing tracking and spotting conditions such as sleep apnea or afib.
And that’s on top of standard heart rate tracking, daily activity monitoring, and it will use connected GPS (piggybacking on your smartphone) to track runs – although ScanWatch devices have never been great running companions due to the lack of glanceable feedback.
And the ScanWatch Horizon offers 30 days of use between charges – which means it’s a drastically different proposition to the likes of the Apple Watch Series 7 while offering many of the same features.
The original ScanWatch scored well in our in-depth review – and we love the balance Withings has found with analogue design and digital smarts. But the company has struggled to get sign off by the FDA, thus it’s only been on sale in Europe.
Perhaps the timing of the ScanWatch Horizon release, after a long period of quiet from Withings, signals some movement that could see its best products fulfil their potential.
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James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.