TL;DR
- Eric Migicovsky demoed the Core 2 Duo smartwatch in the first episode of his new podcast.
- The watch is still being tested, but PebbleOS is running with watch faces and Bluetooth.
- US buyers could face a small price hike due to tariffs, but July shipping is still the goal.
Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky posted a new video from his garage last week. The video showed off an early version of the Core 2 Duo smartwatch and discussed the project’s current status. It gave us our best look at the upcoming smartwatch yet, and Migicovsky also answered fan questions about the future.
In the first episode of a new podcast called Tick Talk with Eric Migicovsky, he gave a quick demo of the device, which is still in the testing phase. The unit he showed on camera isn’t even sealed up — it’s held together with tape and can’t actually tell the time yet — but it’s already running PebbleOS. Despite being a work-in-progress, features like Bluetooth and watch face support are in place, with some pretty cool examples demonstrated. The strap and charging dongle that will ship with the watch were also shown.
According to Migicovsky, the plan is still to start shipping Core 2 Duos in July, but he warned that new US tariffs on China could cause some headaches for buyers in the States. He said Core Devices will try to minimize the extra costs — currently estimated to be between $10 and $25 per watch — by bulk importing the units. Customers outside the US shouldn’t be affected, as those orders will ship straight from China.
Migicovsky answered several questions from fans, including ones about new features. He’s thinking about adding complications, which are little widgets like weather or calendar data that show on the main watch face. He’s also keen on better integration with Beeper so you can see chat history, and deeper support for voice-based AI agents like Bobby, which is a Gemini-based platform he has on his Pebble watch. He goes on to mention small tweaks he’d like to see, such as making the backlight less harsh at night and increasing the font size for the clock on the notification screen.
While the focus right now is getting Core 2 Duo out the door, Migicovsky hinted at broader plans. Core Devices is working on making PebbleOS easier to port to different hardware. Once the groundwork is laid, creating new hardware running PebbleOS should be easier, whether from Core Devices or others.
As always, the Pebble spirit seems to be very much alive. “I love having a device in my life that just makes me feel happy,” he said, showing off a watch face on his current Pebble with an octopus holding an ice cream cone.
