Pebble Round 2 delay pushes shipping into July

Pebble Round 2 is now in beta testing, but mass production has not started yet. Eric Migicovsky says shipping is still expected to begin in July, with all preordered units planned to go out by September.

That is not a huge delay, but it does change slightly the shape of the launch. The revived Pebble project now looks like it is choosing a cleaner production run over rushing the first watches out the door.

Pebble Round 2 is close but not in mass production yet

Migicovsky posted the update after reviewing the latest pre-production samples in China.

As can be seen, the watch is currently in beta testing, with US users invited to apply. That suggests the hardware is far enough along for real-world use but still not at the point where Pebble wants to press the production button.

For anyone waiting on a preorder, the current plan is for shipping to start next months Pebble expects to finish shipping all preordered Round 2 units in September, so this will not be a single big launch wave where everyone gets a tracking number at once.

The delay comes down to a case detail

The reason for the hold-up is not software, battery life or a major hardware redesign. Migicovsky says the latest sample had a cosmetic issue near the lugs, caused by a CNC milling step close to where the strap connects to the watch case.

That may sound minor, but on a watch like the Round 2, the case finish does a lot of the heavy lifting. This is not a thick outdoor watch where a tiny mark disappears into the overall chunkiness. It is a small round smartwatch with a simple design, so visible case details stand out quickly.

Pebble is now modifying the metal-injection-moulding tooling to avoid that CNC cut. In plain English, the company wants to fix the production process rather than accept a mark that would probably annoy buyers the moment they noticed it.

Leather straps are coming too

There was also a smaller accessory update. Black and brown leather straps will be available as add-ons for Pebble Round 2.

The watch already has a clean circular case and the sample shown in the update looks more like a simple everyday watch than a gadget trying too hard. Leather straps should push it further in that direction.

This still looks like a careful relaunch

A small manufacturing issue has appeared, the tooling needs tweaking and shipping shifts into July. That is not dramatic, but it is exactly the kind of thing that happens when a small hardware project gets close to production.

Pebble could have framed this more aggressively and promised everything was fine. Instead, Migicovsky showed the problem, explained the fix and gave a clearer shipping window. For a preorder product, that sort of visibility helps more than pretending the schedule never moved.