Pebble Development – Minimal Analog Watchface

The past several years I have been working for various companies doing coding as my day job. Recently, I have started doing less of that and have gone back to coding in my free time. Before Christmas, I got a Pebble Steel watch and that has given rise to my desire to code things for it. The watch is capable of running (mostly) any C code and/or JavaScript that you care to use.

First Problem — I don't know C. Well, the library had a bunch of books, the internet has one or two (thousand) tutorials on how to get started. So a couple weeks of study and a lot of trial and error produced my first public release of my "Minimal Analog" watchface.

I couldn't find a watchface that gave me the look and features that I wanted. I put together some ideas from a lot of digital, analog, and physical watches that I had seen, but most of them used static bitmaps for the graphics. This means that the user can't change the color of everything on the watch without the developer having to generate hundreds of different bitmap files. To overcome this, I use only code-generated graphics for the hour-ticks, numbers, hands, and battery indicator. The user can select any of the supported colors they like for any of the elements.

This face auto-detects your location, and every 30 minutes updates the weather condition. It also has a Bluetooth disconnect notification that buzzes the watch and displays if you go out of range of your phone for too long. It has options for temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit, and to display a seconds hand.

This is a first run, but has gotten a favorable reception by the Pebble community. More improvements are planned, especially once the official color SDK is out.

UPDATE 5/15/2015 — Version 1.3 was released, adding a user-option for showing or hiding the battery indicator based on remaining charge. By default it hides until 40% or less, giving you plenty of time to top it off before you run out of battery.

UPDATE 9/17/2015 — Unfortunately, I have had to give up on this project; there will be no further development. My C skills aren't up to the task. The source is available on GitHub: https://github.com/GhastlyJack/minimal-analog. Take and enjoy, make of it what you wish. I do not need to be credited.

UPDATE 8/17/2016 — Keith Harp has taken over development and improvement of this watchface. He has finished the color-picker for 3 foreground colors and a background color, added font-size selections, and a choice of hand styles — all without needing a configuration webpage. Nice work Keith!