The time is 10:27am, according to the smooth piece of brushed chrome on my wrist.

I feel satisfied. I can’t remember the last time I read an analogue clock so swiftly, though it’s also not often that you can also read, floating helpfully in the background, the digital time too.

This enjoyable little featurette is part of the appeal of the Nothing CMF Watch 3 Pro, the new watch from the budget arm of Nothing, the British minimalist tech brand. The 3 Pro is a slick device with a clean aesthetic — it looks good and understated.

Its style is very Nothing, a British minimalist tech brand best known for its stripped-back and stylish smartphones. CMF is a sub-brand of theirs aimed at a more budget market.

Nothing CMF Watch 3 Pro Key specs

Battery: 13 days (typical), 10 days (heavy use), according to Normal

Materials: Metal body & liquid silicone strap

Weight: 51g

GPS: Dual-band GPS

Sensors: Heart rate and SpO₂ blood oxygen saturation sensor

(Nothing)
Design and features

Aided by a scrollable and clickable wheel on the watch’s rim, you access features and apps through a bright, 1.43-inch AMOLED touch screen. A lot is going on under that glass. The CMF Watch 3 Pro will let you make Bluetooth calls, give you a torch, tell you your step count, heart rate, sleep “rating”, blood oxygen measurement, your stress levels and much else.

It features a running coach, a raft of exercise activities, and when I took it out on the road, I found it was satisfyingly accurate at tracking my pace and the range of my heart rate. There’s a whole suite of other activities it can track, too.

It was a pleasure to wear. The crispness of the screen and style gave it a laidback feel, but it had enough data to be useful as a sports or smartwatch.

(Nothing)
Battery life

The battery will last, Nothing says, for 13 days. I found that after a few days of active use, it was down to around 60 per cent, which is about what you’d expect given that claim.

Any downsides?

A fly in the ointment, though, is accuracy, especially of the heart rate monitor. It may raise your eyebrows. Yes, I was excited to tuck into Philip Pullman’s long-awaited novel, The Rose Field, but can my heart rate, while sitting reading it on the sofa, really have reached 142? I have my doubts.

The sleep tracking is relatively basic (but then, not offering a “sleep score” is, in a way, a kind of plus for smartwatches – such “scores” don’t have much grounding in data and often serve only to add stress). The messages on the app sometimes read a little strangely. “You achieved the 96 per cent of your sleep goal,” the watch told me – what is that ‘the’ about, I wondered? – before continuing, “Maybe it’s the little things in life that creep in, like being too excited before bed or not letting go of stress”. Maybe it is, but I felt a little stressed trying to decipher that.

So, you have to take its readings with a pinch of salt. But perhaps that’s priced in, given the price.

Cost – is it worth the price?

The watch is enjoyable to use and easily customisable (Nothing says there are over 120 different watch faces, for one). It’s something different from the parade of Garmins, Apple Watches, Samsungs, and similar devices. Functionality, fun, and character, with caveats — not too bad for under £100.

Verdict

Nothing CMF Watch 3 Pro

A slick device with a clean aesthetic, the Nothing CMF Watch 3 Pro is a world away from some of the noisier offerings in the smartwatch market, and it looks good and understated.

Its style is very Nothing, a British minimalist tech brand best known for its stripped-back and stylish smartphones. CMF is its sub-brand, aimed at the budget market.

Aided by a scrollable and clickable wheel on the watch’s rim, you access features and apps through a bright, 1.43” AMOLED touch screen.

There’s a lot going on under that glass. You can make Bluetooth calls, use the on-board torch, read your step count, and get heart rate, sleep “rating”, blood oxygen measurements, see your stress levels and more. Out on a cycle, it tracked the distance well and gave me useful heart rate readings, offering a training score and recovery time when I was done. There’s a whole suite of other fitness aids on top.

It was a pleasure to use. The crispness of the screen and style gave it a laidback feel, but it had enough data to be useful as a sports or smart watch.

A fly in the ointment, though, is accuracy, especially of the heart rate monitor. It may raise your eyebrows. Yes, I was excited to tuck into my new book while sitting on the sofa, but can my heart rate really have reached 142? Take the readings with a pinch of salt, but perhaps that’s what you can expect, given the RRP.

Functionality, fun, and character, with caveats — not bad for under £100.

Was: £99

Buy now £69.00, Amazon