This hybrid smartwatch finally convinced me to ditch the Apple Watch

I used dozens of Wear OS smartwatches over the years, but I ultimately settled on the Apple Watch because of its hassle-free usability and feature-set. My biggest annoyance with the Apple Watch is that it’s unmistakably a tech product; it doesn’t look or feel like an actual watch.

This is where hybrid smartwatches come into the equation. These products look like regular watches, but they come with the usual smarts that you’d associate with a smartwatch, including health and activity tracking, workout logging, and even blood oxygen and ECG monitoring. So when Withings asked if I wanted to take a look at the ScanWatch Nova, I was interested.

I knew Withings made hybrid smartwatches, but I didn’t pay particular attention to its products, so I had no idea what to expect with the ScanWatch Nova. I liked the design and thought it was an intriguing product, but it’s only after I started using it that I understood its true potential.

Now, before we get started, you’ll need to know that the ScanWatch Nova is pricier than most smartwatches in the market, and only the Apple Watch Ultra and Huawei Watch Ultimate demand a higher price. The hybrid smartwatch costs $599 on Amazon, and that’s twice what you’d pay for a standard Galaxy Watch 7.

Thankfully, Withings justifies the cost by delivering what is the best-looking hybrid smartwatch around. The ScanWatch Nova has a gorgeous design, and the dive-inspired dial immediately allows it to stand out. I’m a huge fan of Citizen’s products — I own a half-dozen Promaster watches — and the Nova looks like the Promaster Dive. It even gets a Super-LumiNova coating that allows the indices and hands to glow in the dark.

The Nova has a 42mm watch face, and it has a stainless steel case with polished edges, a ceramic rotating bezel, steel rotating crown, and anti-reflective strengthened glass. The watch has a metal bracelet out of the box, but Withings includes a fluoroelastomer band in the package, along with the requisite tools to adjust the links on the metal band, which is a nice touch.

On that note, the ScanWatch Nova is available in black, blue, and green dials, and I went with the green option as that looks particularly striking. The Nova still looks pristine after a month of use that included travel to three countries, and that’s after my 21-month-old got a hold of the watch and decided to throw it about.

The design combined with the attention to detail makes the ScanWatch Nova one of the best-looking watches around, and the elegant design is a clear selling point. Coming in at 63g, the Nova isn’t heavy that you’d notice, but it has the right amount of heft to feel like a regular watch — this is an issue with most smartwatches, which end up being too light.

At a quick glance, it isn’t evident that the ScanWatch Nova is a hybrid smartwatch, and the only indicator to its smarts is the 0.63-inch dial that houses an OLED panel. It is a monochrome panel with a pixel density of 282PPI, and text looks clear without any fringing.

Text is easily readable even under sunlight, and while the size of the panel means you’re limited in what notifications show up on the watch, it wasn’t a big problem as such. It’s easy to navigate the menus via the rotating crown, and you can view heart rate info and activity data with relative ease.

Although the ScanWatch Nova is a hybrid smartwatch, it has a full suite of health monitoring sensors. You get an optical module to measure heart rate, an SpO2 sensor, a new TempTech24/7 sensor that measures skin temperature throughout the day, and an electrocardiogram module that lets you take ECG readings on the watch itself.

In this regard, the Nova is just as good as a regular smartwatch, and if anything, Withings has an edge thanks to ECG readings. The feature does a good job, and even with regular heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring, the Nova held its own against the best smartwatches.

There’s also a cardio check-up that’s bundled with the Withings+ subscription. I’m not a fan of subscriptions, and I don’t quite see the point of Withings+; it has workouts and meal plans, and provides a scorecard based on your health and activity data, and while I used the trial, I didn’t see enough value in paying $10 a month. Considering the cost of the Nova, Withings should have offered a free year of Withings+, but that isn’t the case.

Coming to activity monitoring, the ScanWatch Nova does a good job logging steps, and it even has automatic activity detection. I tested it with my indoor bike, and while it took a little while to notice the activity, it logged it without any intervention. The data is in line with other smartwatches I tested, and while you don’t get much metrics on the Nova itself, the mobile app does a great job highlighting activity data.

The only issue in this area is that the Nova doesn’t include a built-in GPS, so if you’re running outdoors, you’ll need to bring your phone along. That is an annoyance, and other than this omission, there isn’t anything missing on the smartwatch. I had no issues with notifications either, and while not as customizable as a regular smartwatch, it serves the need — and that’s what I want.

The biggest advantage with a hybrid smartwatch is battery life, and the ScanWatch Nova excels in this area. I got close to three weeks of battery life before having to charge the smartwatch, and not having any battery anxiety is a genuine differentiator. The Nova uses a custom charging cradle, and it takes over two hours to charge, but you’ll only be doing so once a month.

Ultimately, the ScanWatch Nova does everything I need in a smartwatch, but it doesn’t look or feel like one, and the elegant design combined with extensive health and activity monitoring make it a great — if costly — choice. I used the watch for a month now, and in that time, I didn’t feel the need to go back to the Apple Watch — which in itself is the highest praise I can give the Nova.