The patent application (viewable via the USPTO here<\/a>) details a \u201cPushbutton Assembly for a Watch\u201d that features a fully sealed, magnetically sensed crown. It was approved in November after being applied for by the brand in May.<\/p>\n While rumors of a Garmin crown have circulated for weeks, this filing provides the first concrete technical look at how the company might implement it. And, crucially, the design addresses the biggest weakness of traditional crowns: ingress protection.<\/p>\n Garmin\u2019s solution is clever. The crown assembly sits entirely on the outside of the watch case, with a small magnet embedded. Inside the sealed case, a Hall effect sensor detects the rotation of that magnet through the solid sidewall. This means the case remains uncompromised, preserving the high-level water resistance essential for Garmin\u2019s best outdoor watches<\/a>.<\/p>\n The patent also describes how the crown may act like a button, using a \u201csnap dome\u201d to provide a tactile click for scrolling and selecting.<\/p>\n \n Advertisement <\/p>\n The Wareable take<\/p>\n This is a significant potential development for Garmin\u2019s user interface, which has steadfastly stuck to a five-button layout on its rugged watches while rivals (such as Coros, and newer, outdoor-ready smartwatches<\/a> from Apple and Samsung) have embraced digital crowns. <\/p>\n A sealed crown would offer the best of both worlds: the precise scrolling control of a crown for maps and menus, without compromising the durability or waterproofing that Garmin users demand. <\/p>\n And while a patent is never a guarantee of a final product, the level of detail here suggests Garmin is seriously investigating this input method. With the brand introducing a sensor guard in this spot on the watch case via the Fenix 8<\/a>, it\u2019s also easy to imagine an evolved version\u2014possibly this crown\u2014 appearing on a future high-end device like the Fenix 9. <\/p>\n For now, though, we\u2019ll have to stay tuned to see if it\u2019s truly on Garmin\u2019s roadmap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The design would allow for a digital crown without compromising water resistance on outdoor watches Garmin could be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[49,48,195,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-301768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gadgets","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-gadgets","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"garmin-rotating-crown-patent\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/garmin-rotating-crown-patent-820x461.jpg\")
(Image credit: USPTO)<\/p>\n![\"garmin-crown-patent\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/garmin-crown-patent-820x461.jpg\")
(Image credit: USPTO)<\/p>\n