This Apple Watch Series 10 feature will please watch enthusiasts, and also piss them off.

Apple introduced multiple upgrades to the display with the Series 10 Apple Watch, but there is one feature that I really was excited about:

The Always-On Display with ticking seconds hand. Let’s call this the ticking seconds hand for short.

When your wrist is down, your Always-On Display will now show you a ticking seconds hand. Just like a real watch.

This is why Apple is not a company that makes watches, they are a watchmaker. They even described their watchmaking prowess by saying,

“The design of Series 10 is truly a milestone of watchmaking.”

I am someone who obsesses over time due to my crazy schedule, and knowing even the seconds all the time has its benefits. 

You get the upscale, fluid, sweeping seconds hand when you’re actively looking at the display, and you get a nice, reliable, Quartz movement when you’re glancing at your watch from a distance.

The best of both worlds…except it’s not.

You see, Apple’s new ticking seconds hand is a giant tease right now since it only works on 3 watch faces, when Apple has over 40 watch faces that could benefit from this feature.

That’s right over 40.

Which 3 watch faces benefit from the ticking seconds hand? 

You have Flux, which is one of the new watch faces. This Gen Z looking watch face is nice, but watch enthusiasts want to see a ticking hand, not a line going up the screen like a G-SHOCK. 

To satisfy that itch, Apple gave us the Reflections watch face. The problem is, they gave us the back scratcher, but it’s covered in poison ivy.

Reflections does have the ticking seconds hand, but there are no time markers or numbers, so you don’t really know what time it is. 

Is it 4:26, or 5:26? 

Who the hell knows, and who the hell cares about the ticking seconds hand if you can’t even tell what time it is!

All hope is not lost though, because Apple did give us a 3rd watch face, which tells you the time and the seconds with distinct clarity.

This has to be it, a classic watchface with an always-on ticking seconds hand that makes sense. Please?

Nope.

It is the Activity Digital watch face. Another “non-enthusiast” watch face.

I mean seriously…what in the actual crap is this?!

Watch enthusiasts don’t want to look at giant digital numbers, they want to see dials. 

Behold, the only 3 watch faces that support an always-on ticking seconds hand.

OK fine, if there are some development issues with some of these watch faces, why not give us California instead?

Or Meridian?

Or Utility?

Why go out of your way to update Activity Digital of all watch faces, to get this new feature?

Only time will tell how long it will take Apple to fix this. They are already having significant development delays with iOS 18*.

In the meantime, Apple can keep trolling us with this limited new feature.

Be glad, and be sad.

*Update 12/13/24 @11:56AM: Significant delays with iOS19, not iOS 18