2024's Top Apple Watch

The pinnacle of Apple Watch design is Apple’s newest model, the Series 9. It is, predictably, very sleek and polished. Any creases were ironed out generations ago, and it now falls to Apple to introduce tweaks and upgrades to keep the public’s interest year-on-year.

The most recent watch has something a little different. The latest S9 chip is a leap forward in Apple Watch terms. Using the same architecture as the A16 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 Pro, the S9 silicon comfortably outperforms the Series 8’s S8 chip.

What else is new in the S9? There’s double tap gesture control, enabling users to control the Watch without even touching it by tapping their fingers together. For now, it’s a very impressive party trick without a killer application. As the Series 9 makes its way into more hands and the tech becomes more mature, you’ll see more and more use cases for it. But is it a case of a solution to a non-existent problem? That remains to be seen.

The new display is one feature that’s worth the price. With 2,000 nits of peak brightness, it’s twice as bright as the Series 8. More impressively, the one-nit minimum brightness means it won’t disturb a sleeping partner or ruin a cinema experience by lighting up everything like the 4th of July every time you tap the touchscreen.

The latest Apple Watch is a must-have upgrade. It’s as slick as always but now boasts the performance to match the latest iPhones. If you’re looking for even more detail on this device, check out our Apple Watch Series 9 review.

If you’re looking for the watch with the best style options, the Apple Watch Hermès takes center stage. The Hermès and Apple collaboration began back in 2015, mere months after the original Apple Watch released, and has been a staple of the range ever since. The latest Apple Watch Hermès shares an identical feature list with the Series 9 as it is a Series 9. Which begs the question, what do you get for the additional $800 premium? Well, you get an exclusive Hermès strap, a sport band, and a specially-designed Hermès watch face.

For 2024, the Apple Watch Hermès features webbing, knit, and rubber straps, reflecting the brand’s rich textile history and craftsmanship. The options include two woven bands – Toile H and Twill Jump – and the Bridon – the first-ever knitted Apple Watch strap. Additionally, the Clou de Selle – a strap made from prized Barénia calfskin – pays homage to the brand’s leatherworking prowess, and, finally, there’s the Kilim, a matte, waterproof rubber strap.

The final touch is the new Hermès Radial watch face, inspired by Cape Cod’s nautical history, with numerals that light up to mirror the stars guiding ships home after nightfall.

If you hanker after the ultimate combination of smartwatch functionality and style – and have the budget to match – the Apple Watch Hermès is the closest thing to a proper designer smartwatch. You could argue the case for Tag Heuer’s Connected Calibre E4, but this Hermès model offers better functionality and a larger helping of fashionable styles.

If you love the great outdoors and want a smartwatch that can keep up with your active lifestyle, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is perfect for you. Whether you enjoy running, hiking, hitting the gym, or even kayaking and swimming, this little beauty is ready to take anything you throw at it.  The Ultra 2 offers some brilliant fitness, health, and sleep-tracking features that are valuable to those of us keeping fit.

The second most expensive (the Hermès model trumps it by $400), most rugged, and most powerful watch in Apple’s range has a 49mm, MIL-STD 810H-tested titanium case, which means it’s as tough as they come and can take anything you care to throw at it. Its size can make it look a little daft if you have slender wrists, and it’s expensive, but those are the only two major criticisms you can say about the Ultra 2.

In addition to its rugged exterior, it has a few internal tricks up its sleeve. It features a depth and water temperature gauge for a start, and it’s EN13319-certified, so it can be used as a dive computer for recreational dives up to 40m in conjunction with the Oceanic+ app. It also boasts the battery power to match its outdoorsy potential, with up to 55 hours on a single charge.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is a seriously impressive piece of tech that’s as comfortable sitting on a sofa as it is halfway up a mountain or 40m under the sea. It’s arguably the most useful Apple Watch we’ve seen to date, and the idea of this tech filtering down into the standard models is a really exciting proposition.

So, the Apple Watch SE is for you if you’re new to the world of smartwatches and want the best one a limited budget can buy, or if you want to give an Apple Watch to someone in your family that doesn’t already have an iPhone. Family Setup means you can configure it for a family member without them having an Apple smartphone themselves.

As Apple’s entry-level model into the smartwatch ecosystem, the Apple Watch SE – like its iPhone SE counterpart – is a year or so behind in terms of tech. In this case, the Apple Watch SE has remained the same since 2022 and doesn’t have the feature set of even the older Series 7 watches; things like blood O2 and ECG functionality are missing.

However, the SE represents serious bang for your buck at a much keener price than even a refurbished Series 7 and around $150 less than the base model Series 9. And it’s easy to dwell on the features the SE lacks, like the U1 ultra-wideband chip that allows pinpoint location of other Apple devices, or the bigger, brighter screen found in the Series 9, or the latest S9 chip – it does have the S8 version from the Series 8 Apple Watch, however, so it’s only one generation behind.

Ultimately, the Watch SE isn’t for the spec-obsessed, die-hard Apple aficionados. It’s for people who want the convenience and feature-rich experience of a smartwatch that works seamlessly with their smartphone.

For around the same money you’d spend on the Apple Watch SE, you can get hold of a refurbished Apple Watch Series 7. Yes, it has the older S7 chip – although there’s precious little difference between the S7 and S8 chip anyway – but it also adds the ECG and blood O2 functionality that’s missing from the SE. If you want to use your Apple Watch to monitor your health, those features are pretty useful.

From an aesthetic perspective, you might be interested in the Apple Watch Series 7 for two reasons: the blue and green color options. Unique to the Series 7, if you’re looking for a standout color scheme, you might want to consider the Series 7. Then there’s the 50% thicker crystal face and the IP6X dust-resistant rating, features that still aren’t standard on the Apple Watch SE.

If you’re a bargain hunter looking for a deal on a great Apple Watch, the Series 7 is the way to go. While 2022’s Series 8 offered minor updates, it lacked the big sensor upgrade we hoped for. As a result, the Series 7 has remained popular. Refurbished models represent spectacular value for money, and while it’s no rival to the Ultra 2, the Series 7 is water-resistant to 50m, so it can be used for swimming in the pool or the sea.

If you don’t have to have the absolute latest tech, you can save around 50% and still have an attractive and feature-packed Apple smartwatch on your wrist.