The Withings ScanWatch 2 is a hybrid smartwatch: an analogue watch with real steel hands, a sapphire crystal and a small monochrome PMOLED window punched into the dial. No touchscreen, no app store, no daily charging. It tracks heart rhythm, blood oxygen, skin temperature, sleep and activity, records a medical-grade ECG, and runs about a month between charges. I bought the 42mm blue on the steel case to replace my Apple Watch SE 3.
Overview
€349.95 for a stainless steel case, sapphire glass and 5 ATM water resistance puts this in mechanical-watch territory on materials alone. What you pay the premium for is the sensor stack hidden behind a watch that reads as a watch: hands, indices, a small seconds subdial, brushed and polished steel contrasts. The PMOLED window sits at 12 o'clock and stays dark until you turn the crown.
The trade is explicit. You give up a bright touchscreen, an app ecosystem, onboard GPS and rich notifications. You get 30 days of battery, a device you never think about charging, and something you can wear with a suit without it looking like a fitness tracker.
Detailed Specifications
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Price | €349.95 (EU, direct) |
| Case | 42mm stainless steel, brushed and polished; also sold in 38mm |
| Glass | Sapphire crystal, domed |
| Dial | Blue sunburst, hybrid, with embedded PMOLED window and small seconds subdial |
| Model code | HWA10 (engraved on the caseback) |
| Water resistance | 5 ATM (50m) |
| Strap | Fluoroelastomer (FKM) included, 20mm lug width |
| Battery | Up to 35 days claimed, around 26 to 30 days in reviewer testing |
| Sensors | ECG (Class IIa medical device), SpO2, multi-wavelength PPG, skin temperature, accelerometer |
| Metrics | Heart rate, HRV overnight, blood oxygen on demand, 24/7 temperature variation, sleep cycles and score, respiratory rhythm, 40+ workout modes, cycle tracking, readiness |
| GPS | None onboard, uses the phone's GPS |
| App | Withings HealthMate, iOS and Android; syncs to Apple Health |
| Subscription | Withings+ optional (first month free, roughly €100/year) for cardiologist ECG review and Readiness |
| Variants | 38mm and 42mm, black / blue / white |
| Warranty | 2 years |
The 20mm lug width matters more than it sounds. It is a standard size, so the watch takes any strap I already own rather than locking me into a proprietary connector. Withings sells 13 alternatives from €35.95 to €109.95 in leather, steel link and sport rubber, but the open standard is the point.
What it measures
The caseback carries a four-photodiode sensor array with two LED clusters, plus the electrode ring used for the ECG. You place a finger on the bezel to close the circuit and get a 30-second lead-I recording, cleared as a Class IIa medical device in the EU, screening for atrial fibrillation.
Temperature is the addition over the original ScanWatch: a continuous variation signal rather than an absolute body temperature, useful for spotting the overnight rise that precedes illness. Sleep tracking splits light and deep phases, and the readiness score blends HRV, resting heart rate and sleep debt into a single morning number.
Two honest caveats. SpO2 is on demand, not continuous overnight, so it will not catch apnea patterns the way a dedicated device does. And every number here is a trend instrument, not a diagnosis.
Replacing the Apple Watch SE 3
This is the swap I actually made, so the comparison is the useful part of this note.
| ScanWatch 2 | Apple Watch SE 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Battery | ~30 days | 18 hours (32h low power) |
| Display | Analogue hands + small PMOLED | Always-On 368x448 LTPO OLED |
| ECG | Yes, Class IIa | No |
| Blood oxygen | Yes, on demand | No |
| Skin temperature | Yes, 24/7 | Yes |
| Onboard GPS | No, uses phone | Yes |
| Apps and notifications | Minimal, text only | Full watchOS |
| Case / glass | Steel / sapphire | Aluminium / Ion-X |
| Water resistance | 5 ATM | 5 ATM (50m) |
| Price | €349.95 | from ~€269 |
The surprise is that the cheaper Apple watch is the one missing the medical sensors. Apple reserves ECG and SpO2 for the Series and Ultra lines, so moving from an SE 3 to the ScanWatch 2 is a straight gain on health hardware, not a compromise. What I give up is the wrist computer: no onboard GPS, no Apple Pay, no proper notification triage, no third-party apps.
Nightly charging was the real reason to switch. A watch that dies every evening cannot track sleep without a charging ritual built around it, and the SE 3's 18 hours means exactly that.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Materials you would expect at this price: steel case, sapphire crystal, 5 ATM.
- 30 days per charge removes the charging habit entirely, which is what makes overnight tracking realistic.
- Class IIa ECG and SpO2, neither of which the Apple Watch SE 3 has.
- Standard 20mm lugs, so any strap fits.
- Looks like a watch. Nobody reads it as a fitness tracker.
- Works with both iOS and Android, and pushes cleanly into Apple Health.
Cons
- No onboard GPS. Runs need the phone in a pocket to map properly.
- The PMOLED window is small and monochrome. Notifications are a name and a truncated line, not a usable inbox.
- SpO2 is spot-check only, not continuous overnight.
- The best analysis (cardiologist ECG review, Readiness) sits behind Withings+.
- No payments, no music control worth using, no third-party apps.
- Setting the hands back after a battery change or reset takes a calibration step.
Who It's For
Someone who wants a watch first and a health tracker second. It fits if you already carry a phone everywhere (so onboard GPS is redundant), if you care about sleep and cardiac trends more than split times, and if a charging cable every night is the thing that made you stop wearing your last smartwatch. The 42mm wears smaller than the number suggests thanks to short lugs and a thin case.
It is the wrong watch if you run or cycle without a phone, if you want Apple Pay and notifications on the wrist, or if you want a bright screen to interact with. Buy a Garmin Forerunner or stay on Apple for those.
Buying Considerations
- Where to buy (EU): direct from the Withings store, or Amazon.de and MediaMarkt for local returns. Two-year warranty either way.
- Size: 42mm for most male wrists, 38mm if you prefer something dressier. The 42 is the one with the fuller dial layout.
- Skip the subscription at first. The core tracking, ECG recording and sleep analysis all work without Withings+. Try the free month, then decide whether the cardiologist review is worth roughly €100 a year.
- Alternatives: the Withings ScanWatch Light if you do not need ECG or SpO2, the original ScanWatch second-hand, or a Garmin Vivomove for a similar hybrid concept with onboard GPS.
Verdict / My Take
The ScanWatch 2 is the right shape of compromise for me. I was not using the Apple Watch SE 3 as a computer, only as a sensor with a screen attached, and paying for that screen with a nightly charge and an aluminium case that scratched. Swapping to steel and sapphire, adding ECG and SpO2 that the SE 3 never had, and dropping from daily charging to monthly is a clear net gain in my case.
It is not a smartwatch replacement in the general sense. If you live off wrist notifications and pay for coffee with your watch, this will feel like a downgrade. The pitch here is narrower and, I think, more honest: a proper watch that quietly collects medical-grade data and stays out of the way. See also Withings Body Scan 2 for the scale that feeds the same app.
Further Reading / Sources
