Pulse Watch Face

One steep line cut across the dial, with day on one side and night on the other.

The hour stands in the middle of the day, the minute in the middle of the night. Both are large, tall and condensed, and every digit is turned to stand parallel to the line, so the time reads across the cut as one number broken by it. The hour is dark ink on the bright day with a soft shadow beneath it; the minute is drawn in the day's colour on the black.

Along the line, the day and the night face each other. Today's high sits on the day side and today's low on the night side, from your weather forecast. Lower down, today's steps sit on the day side and how much of your daily step goal they make on the night side. Between them the seconds count up the line: one small mark a second on the day side for the first half of the minute, then on the night side for the second, every fifth mark a little longer.

The empty corners carry the rest, each reading with its own small icon and set against the curve of the dial. On the night side, top right: heart rate, current temperature and battery. On the day side, lower left: UV index, chance of rain and unread notifications. The weekday and date sit level at the bottom.

There is no line drawn on the cut. The edge is simply where one sky ends and the other begins, and each side is shaded as it runs into it: the day darkens towards the edge, the night catches a little of its light. The day has a couple of soft clouds; the night has faint dust and a scatter of stars that only ever appear on the night side.

Always-on is a separate frame on true black: the line as a dim stroke, the hour, the minute and the date in soft grey, and nothing else.

SETTINGS

Sky: lime, yellow, orange or ice. Sets the colour of the day, which also colours the minute and the night-side readings. The night is always near black.

Temperature units: Celsius, Fahrenheit, or follow your phone. Celsius by default.

Wrist: left or right. Left by default. The line leans so the time reads without turning your arm; on the right wrist the face is turned top to bottom so it leans the other way, with the hour still on the left and the minute on the right. The date moves to the top, and today's high and low move to the lower end of the line.

The hour is shown on a 12-hour clock. Weather readings need weather on your watch; until it arrives they show dashes.