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Smartwatches have changed the way we interact with technology and stay connected in our increasingly digital world. These wrist-worn devices combine the functionality of a traditional watch with the power of a miniature computer, offering a wide range of capabilities beyond simply telling time. While they come in a variety of brands and models, they all have one thing in common: the potential to improve convenience, productivity, and health monitoring.

Equipped with touchscreens, sensors, and wireless connectivity, smartwatches frequently serve as an extension of our smartphones. They can display notifications for texts, emails, social media updates, and other apps, allowing users to quickly glance at their wrists and decide whether a response or action is necessary. Beyond notifications, users can often interact with certain apps directly on the watch, such as sending quick replies or controlling music playback. Additionally, many smartwatches offer voice assistants, enabling hands-free interactions for tasks like setting reminders, conducting web searches, and initiating calls.

However, the wide range of features offered by smartwatches comes at a price, both financially and in terms of complexity. High-quality smartwatches can be quite costly, especially those from premium brands that combine sleek design with cutting-edge technology. Despite their capabilities, many users find themselves only using a fraction of the features available. The complex interfaces and numerous functions can be overwhelming for some people, leading them to stick to the basic functions like checking the time and receiving notifications.

The high price of smartwatches has led many people to question whether the devices are worth the cost, especially if they only need basic features. For those people, a project recently announced by Redditor qewer3333 may be of interest. This hobbyist has created an ESP32-powered ePaper smartwatch called qpaper. It is infinitely customizable to suit each user's taste and has a very attractive appearance for a personal project. Additionally, the ePpaper screen means that the display is always on.

The watch is based on the LILYGO T-Wrist E-Paper 1.54 Inch Display, which is a great platform for building an inexpensive smartwatch. It costs between about $13 and $26, depending on the options selected. The onboard ESP32 microcontroller has a lot of processing power to run custom software, and the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. It is infinitely customizable to suit each user's taste and has a very attractive appearance for a personal project. Additionally, the epaper screen means that the display is always on.

The LILYGO T-Wrist is just a bare circuit board with a 200 by 200 pixel ePaper display attached to it, so it needs some work before it can be used as a watch. First, qewer3333 created CAD design files which were sent off to PCBWay to produce transparent UTR-8100 resin 3D prints to serve as the casing. The T-Wrist, along with a 250 mAh 1S LiPo battery were fitted into the case, which was then attached to an off-the-shelf 22 mm watch wristband.

To power the watch, qewer3333 developed an operating system called qpaperOS. The operating system is still a bit of a work in progress, with only the most basic functions presently working. The ESP32 goes into a deep sleep, waking once every minute to update the display with the latest time. Keeping the processor in a low power state allows the qpaper to go about five days between charges with the selected battery. A few additional enhancements are planned for the future, like adding a battery monitor, GPS functionality, and a weather app.

This is a very basic platform to start from, but for many people, that is exactly what they are looking for — a low-cost watch with a long battery life that displays the time meets all of the requirements for a minimal device. From there, one can customize it to meet their specific needs by modifying the open-source qpaperOS operating system.

The source code and bill of materials are available on GitHub.