David Pride's Qwatch Is a Fully-Customizable, 3D-Printable Espressif ESP32 Smartwatch with Style

Maker and computer scientist David Pride is preparing to launch a crowdfunding campaign for the Qwatch, a 3D-printable, customizable smartwatch built around an Espressif ESP32 microcontroller and a full-color circular touchscreen display.

"Qwatch [is] the fully customizable smartwatch you can build, modify, and extend yourself," Pride says of his creation. "Choose from multiple case designs, swap straps and watch faces or create your own. It runs on a widely available [Espressif] ESP32 platform with our custom firmware that’s ready to install. We designed Qwatch to keep the physical build deliberately simple. At its core, it's just the case, the fully assembled main board, and the battery. That's literally it."

The aforementioned case forms part of the Qwatch's "fully-customizable" promise: it's designed to integrate with 3D-printable bezels and straps, with the latter available in print-in-place articulated link-strap or TPU-compatible flexible variants. The designs of both can be adjusted as required from their base small-medium-large model variants, while those who value comfort over customizability can opt for any standard 22mm-spaced off-the-shelf strap instead.

The software side is the other half of the customizability pledge. In its standard form, the Qwatch comes with a ready-to-run firmware offering a browser-based interface for selecting between six pre-installed themes in digital and analog variants and with apps including step-counter, stopwatch, and weather display. Those who want more can opt for the "mod edition," with an open firmware written in the Arduino IDE and parametric model generators for the two strap types.

"The goal behind Qwatch was straightforward: build a smartwatch that is transparent, modifiable, and genuinely owned by the person who builds it," Pride explains. "We see Qwatch as a platform others can create with. Our goal is always to make it easier to create, adapt, and extend."

More information on the project is available on MakerWorld, where interested parties can sign up to be notified when the Qwatch crowdfunding campaign goes live.