Apple Watch Series 10 features an upgraded display with a faster refresh rate.This enables select watch faces to display a ticking seconds indicator even in always-on mode.However, most watch faces don’t actually take advantage of the new hardware yet.
The watchOS 26 software update coming this fall will change that.Series 10 enhanced faces At launch, three watch faces supported updating seconds in always-on display mode: Flux, Reflections, and Activity Digital.Apple later introduced 2025 versions of the Pride and Unity watch faces, expanding support to five faces.
While watchOS 26 doesn’t make support universal, it does bring the feature to a number of existing watch faces.Notably, both California and Utility show a ticking seconds hand in always-on mode in watchOS 26.Both of these faces can display numerals around an analog watch face.
None of the first five watch faces with support featured this traditional clock style.Among the Apple Watch faces that display analog seconds, these faces are in the supported category in watchOS 26 beta 1: Activity Analog, Activity Digital, California, Color, Contour, Count Up, Flux, GMT, Infograph, Meridian, Metropolitan, Nike Analog, Numerals Mono, Pride Harmony, Reflections, Stripes, Solar Analog, Unity Rhythm, and Utility.That covers most of the watch faces with standard analog seconds hands.
Separately, these watch faces are capable of displaying seconds but still lack support in always-on mode: Chronograph Pro, Kaleidoscope, Lunar, Mickey Mouse, Modular Compact, Palette, Pride Analog, Pride Celebration, Solar Dial, Snoopy, Unity Bloom, Unity Lights, and World Time.Most of the watch faces that didn’t make the cut do not display a traditional seconds hand and instead have a more custom design.Chronograph Pro, which displays analog seconds in a sub-dial, is the only disappointing omission for me.
Modular Compact has a digital seconds indicator that would still be a good candidate, and the analog clock on Solar Dial and World Time could technically be updated as well.Even with the remaining omissions, watchOS 26 adding traditional clock-style faces makes Apple Watch Series 10 much nicer for displaying analog watch faces.Watch face gallery watchOS 26 doesn’t yet include any new watch faces, although the Photos face features Apple’s new Liquid Glass design language.
Apple will probably hold any new watch faces for a later showing alongside new Apple Watch models later this year.Instead, Apple has organized watch faces into categories that make up the new watch face gallery.Sections include: New Watch Faces Health and Fitness Photos Clean Data Rich Pride Collection Dress Watch Tool Watch Bold Playful Unity Collection Colorful Astronomy World Scripts Motion Nike Collection Digital Time Analog Time Apple Watch Ultra and Hermes have their own sections as well.
Sections can be viewed on the Apple Watch when selecting a face or in the Watch app on iPhone.Check out these iPhone apps and accessories USB-C charger MagSafe battery Wireless CarPlay adapter Craft for iPhone, iPad, Mac You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day.Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop.
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