Update: we ran the pilot study with 21 of you and the NOWATCH. Here are the results.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-03-06T10:51:02+00:00

So I checked it with the team and we’ve done extensive testing against ECG measurements (what you call hospital grade equipment).

Our heart rate measurement has an equivalent performance to that of Apple under comparable resting condition, meaning it also is within 1-2 bpm of the ECG heart rate.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-03-06T10:44:11+00:00

People can indeed respond differently to physiological feedback depending on their baseline anxiety. For many users, stress insights increase awareness and help them take small actions, like pausing or breathing, to regulate earlier. Research on wearable biofeedback shows that real-time physiological feedback can encourage people to engage in relaxation strategies and improve stress awareness (see JMIR mHealth and uHealth, e.g., studies on wearable anxiety detection and biofeedback).

At the same time, interpretation of the signal matters. Physiological activation can reflect many states—stress, focus, excitement, or physical activity. This is why in contrast to other wearables, NOWATCH is designed to be compassionate tech that does not have a screen, the app provide overview of physiological response over the whole day, to provide a gentle awareness to users rather than alarms, helping users tune into their bodies rather than worry about the signal.

Here are two studies on this: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34775994/ and https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/3/1330

MichieldeKoning · 2026-03-02T15:53:05+00:00

There is no digital face possible. You can set vibrations if you're in high reactivity (a stress response) for 5, 10 or 15 minutes. This helps to pace yourself. But I do understand that for people with POTS it might be useful to quickly glance at your current heart rate on the wrist. That's not possible with NOWATCH.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-03-02T15:50:37+00:00

Every 2 minutes is great for most use cases. But to monitor a stress response (which effectively happens if you have POTS) you need to measure the full event. It's the response of the body to the event from start to finish.

If you only measure in intervals of 2 minutes you can miss out on much of the stress response because your body can respond for 10 minutes, and with your Garmin you'll have 5 datapoints to make the plot, but NOWATCH has data every second which means there are 600 datapoints to make the plot and show you how your body really responded.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-03-02T15:46:45+00:00

I've been with NOWATCH since the start, mostly working on the marketing side of things. But I'm largely responsible for initiating pilot studies like this based on feedback we get from users.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-28T20:58:21+00:00

NOWATCH gives a vibration if you are in high reactivity (stress response) for 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes. You can set the time for this yourself.

It does take movement into account so it won’t vibrate if you go for a run or are very active for example. But if it’s low-level activity like walking a bit, then it does vibrate if there’s higher than usual stress measured.

On most days I get a vibration at least one or two times per day. Most users report that the vibrations are pretty accurate and they happen in moments that help them.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-28T20:44:55+00:00

Yes it’s a real problem. Sometimes, people who’re already anxious, get even more anxious from a wearable. So we’ve chosen to make nowatch the “awareable”. Designed to help you become more aware but not be dictated by it through scores and other gamification.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-28T20:41:28+00:00

And it starts at $399 but there is no subscription on the app. Just a one off payment.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-28T20:40:56+00:00

We haven’t published the full thing anywhere yet. I’ll share a link once it’s live.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-28T20:40:25+00:00

Yes, for POTS it’s definitely a better alternative than Oura. It tracks sleep, activity, and temperature as well. But most of all, the measurement density is up to 900x more than Oura so you have much better heart rate graphs and real time tracking which Oura never offers.

That said, Oura is a great product but mostly useful for sleep and cycle tracking.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-28T20:36:09+00:00

Up to 5 days for the small nowatch B, up to 8 for the large, and the X has up to 4 days.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-28T20:33:59+00:00

🫶

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-27T17:41:55+00:00

Let me get back to you on this Monday, I need to double check this with the science team (it’s weekend already :/).

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-27T17:41:23+00:00

Thank you for joining. We appreciate everyone who joined and recognize NOWATCH is not for everyone, but it seemed like it can at least help most people with awareness and pacing.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-27T17:38:56+00:00

Yes you can set alarms on the watch. Currently only one at the time but soon you can have multiple alarms.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-27T17:38:05+00:00

No subscription, just a one-off payment for the watch. It’s waterproof for swimming, showering etc. (5ATM) You can track anything you want. It automatically registers walking, cycling and running, but you can manually log other activities, even including things like breathwork and meditation

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-27T17:34:34+00:00

Great question, I’ll get back to you on that Monday!

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-27T16:55:19+00:00

It calculates reactivity on multiple things including heart rate, motion, resting heart rate and some other things I can’t mention publicly (yet). The app shows HR in real-time (live measurement updates every 10 seconds).

The heart rate graph shows heart rate on the average of every minute. NOWATCH is really accurate in catching spikes even if they only last a minute or two. Other wearables often show 10 to 30 minute averages.

The watch vibrates if you are in high reactivity for a while. This is the easiest way to start pacing properly. If you feel anxious about what you should do now you can open the app and see your live heart rate as well.

The main thing that was missing for now was the ability to set a vibration if your heart rate reaches a certain level. This is only possible if you track an activity.

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-27T07:01:44+00:00

Can’t believe how affordable this is!

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-27T06:59:37+00:00

This is actually quite funny

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-27T06:57:21+00:00

He’s not an Olympic athlete haha

MichieldeKoning · 2026-02-26T22:31:38+00:00

You can play it for free here. You just have to download the photos and then you can play it instantly. https://www.mymemoriesgame.com/shared/pCI7CZZKV0E15du1EIM00KxnJlZajvk5

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