Honestly, the budget smartwatch market is a total mess. You've got endless clones that look like toys, and then you have the big guys charging a month's rent for a screen on your wrist. Enter the CMF by Nothing Watch Pro. When it first dropped, everyone lost their minds because it looked like an Apple Watch Ultra had a baby with a minimalist architect.
But here’s the thing.
Most people bought this watch for the wrong reasons. They expected a $300 experience for $69. That’s not what this is. This watch is basically a statement piece that happens to tell you when your Uber is outside.
The Design Is Actually the Only Thing That Matters
If we’re being real, you’re looking at the CMF by Nothing Watch Pro because of that massive 1.96-inch AMOLED display. It is huge. It’s bright—600 nits, which is plenty for most days unless you're standing in the middle of a desert at noon. The 58Hz refresh rate makes the UI feel surprisingly snappy. Most cheap watches feel like they're running on a potato, but this one glides.
The "Color, Material, Finish" (that's what CMF stands for, by the way) is legit. The aluminum alloy frame feels cold and premium. It doesn't have that "hollow plastic" click when you tap it against a desk.
Let's talk about those bezels.
They are chunky. Like, really chunky. But Nothing was smart about it. Because the UI is almost entirely pitch black, the bezels disappear into the screen. You don't notice them until you use a third-party watch face that isn't black, and then—boom—you see the border. Stick to the official Nothing-style faces. They look better anyway.
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What Nobody Tells You About the Sensors
Listen, if you are training for a marathon, do not buy this watch. Just don't. The CMF by Nothing Watch Pro has GPS, which is wild for the price, but it’s not Garmin-level. It’ll find you, eventually. Sometimes it takes a minute to lock on while you're standing on the sidewalk looking like a lost tourist.
The heart rate sensor is fine for sitting on the couch. It’s fine for a casual walk. But once you start doing high-intensity intervals? It gets a bit confused. A scientific review by The Quantified Scientist (who is basically the king of testing these things) showed that the sleep tracking and heart rate accuracy are... let's say, "aspirational." It once told me I was having a great nap while I was actually stuck in a stressful Zoom call.
- The GPS: Multi-system, but slow to wake up.
- Heart Rate: Good for averages, bad for peaks.
- Blood Oxygen: It’s there, but take the numbers with a grain of salt.
The Software "Nothing" Experience
The software is where the polarising stuff happens. It’s not Wear OS. You can’t download Spotify or WhatsApp. It’s a custom, stripped-back OS. This is actually a win for battery life. You can easily get 11 to 13 days out of this thing. Compare that to an Apple Watch that dies if you look at it wrong after 18 hours.
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The "Nothing X" app (which recently replaced the old CMF app) is much cleaner. It syncs faster. It doesn't crash every five minutes like the launch version did. However, you still get those "phantom" notifications sometimes where the watch buzzes but there’s nothing there. It's like a tiny ghost living in the hardware.
Is the CMF by Nothing Watch Pro Still Worth It in 2026?
With the newer Watch Pro 2 and Watch 3 Pro out now, the original Pro has become a weirdly good bargain. You can often find it for under $40. At that price, it's basically a disposable fashion accessory that also happens to have a really loud speaker for Bluetooth calls.
Yes, you can take calls on it. The AI noise reduction is actually decent. My mom couldn't tell I was talking to her through a watch while I was walking through a windy parking lot. That’s impressive for something this cheap.
The Competition
If you want better tracking, you go for the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Pro. If you want the "cool" factor, you stay here. The Amazfit Active 2 is another rival, but it looks like every other generic smartwatch. The CMF has soul. It feels like a piece of tech from a sci-fi movie where everything is orange and dot-matrix.
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Actionable Next Steps
If you're thinking about picking one up, here is how to actually enjoy it without getting frustrated:
- Skip the fitness data: Use it for notifications, weather, and timers. Don't rely on it for medical-grade health tracking.
- Update the firmware immediately: The "Nothing X" app will prompt you. Do it. It fixes most of the early Bluetooth disconnect issues.
- Manage your brightness: Since it lacks an ambient light sensor, you have to manually adjust it. Keep it at 50% to save battery and your eyeballs at night.
- Check your wrist size: This thing is a tank. If you have thin wrists, the lugs will overhang and it’ll look like you’re wearing a Pip-Boy from Fallout.
The CMF by Nothing Watch Pro isn't a "Pro" watch in the professional sense. It’s a "Pro" watch in the "I want to look like I live in the year 2077 but I only have $50" sense. And honestly? That's perfectly fine.