The Pixel Watch's missing link (band) —

Google’s $200 metal Pixel Watch band is very premium, very expensive

Google chips away at the Pixel Watch's lack of band styles.

Ron Amadeo - 6/20/2023, 9:39 PM

When the Pixel Watch came out in October, it seemed like a decent-but-first-generation swing at a smartwatch (even though Android Wear came out about nine years ago). Part of what gives off the first-generation vibe is the Pixel Watch's lack of watch band variety. Eight months after the watch's release, Google is taking a big step toward fixing that problem by introducing metal watch bands. The "Google Pixel Watch Metal Links Band" was briefly for sale on the Google Store Friday before being sold out.

Google's metal watch band is $200, which might seem expensive for a $350 watch, but that is on par with what Samsung charges, and Apple's metal link band is $350. We have one of these bands in person now, and it's worth every bit of the $200 price tag. Google's watch band feels just as premium as a band from a luxury watchmaker, with an incredible amount of weight and a solid-feeling clasp section. With the default amount of metal links (you get six extra in the box), the Pixel Watch plus a metal band weighs 145 g, which is mid-weight luxury watch territory.

The band links have an interesting attachment mechanism. I'm used to bands that either have a long screw running through each link or a pin you slide in from the side, but the links on the Pixel each connect with an internal spring bar system. Fold one of the links in half, and you'll reveal a set of openings to insert a special pair of included tweezers. Squeeze the tweezers, and you'll compress the spring bar, retracting the two pins and disconnecting the link from the watch band.

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Spring bars can often be fiddly since you usually have to compress them and then make them hit left and right holes in the watch band. But on the Pixel Watch band, a small ramp is milled around each hole, which will handle the spring compression, and you can just click the band links together. The whole system feels secure and easy, and all these holes and ramps in the links manage to be completely hidden from any normal view. Everything about the watch band feels great. It's really as nice as you could hope for.

Like any real watch, smartwatches are part technology, part fashion accessory, but the Pixel Watch has struggled with that last part. Apple and Samsung understand the need for a smartwatch to look good and fit a user's style; Samsung has around a dozen styles of watch bands, and Apple offers a nearly limitless selection of bands from itself and licensed third-party designers like Nike and Hermès. The Pixel Watch launched with five different watch bands, all of which were rubber, cloth, or leather. The traditional metal watch band hasn't been an option from Google until now.

Google's initial lack of variety of watch bands was just one of the supply chain issues the company had with its first first-party smartwatch. The fact that the metal link band is already sold out, with only a "waitlist" to join, still doesn't seem like all of Google's issues have been ironed out. Google's other metal watch band style promised at launch, the "Metal Mesh Band," was supposed to launch in "Spring" alongside this link band, but the listing was removed from the Google Store in April. A Google spokesperson tells us the metal mesh band "did not meet our quality standards, so we will not be making them available for Pixel Watch, unfortunately."

Eight months is a long time to wait for an accessory, and we're already talking about the Pixel Watch 2 rumors. This watch band uses a proprietary connection system, so hopefully Google will use the same connector for the second edition.

Listing image by Ron Amadeo