Google has put the Stephen Curry Pixel Watch 5 special edition on sale for $579.99, more than two weeks after the rest of the range reached buyers on 20 August. It pairs a 45mm case finished in Satin Pyrite aluminium with a Rye-coloured Google Performance Loop band, the one piece of hardware in this bundle that isn’t sold with any other Pixel Watch 5.
The Performance Loop style itself isn’t new, Google already sells it in other colourways on its accessory store, but this particular combination is: a Rye colourway printed with “Stephen Curry” and “#LockIn” text along the strap, and coated to repel water so it doesn’t soak up sweat the way a braided or leather band would during a workout. “#LockIn” is courtside shorthand for staying focused, a fitting phrase for a strap sold under an NBA point guard’s name.
Google unveiled the Pixel Watch 5 line last month alongside the Pixel 11 phones, and everyone who bought the watch on launch day could pick any case, size and band from the standard catalogue, except this one. Today is the first day Google has let anyone actually buy it.
What’s different on the Stephen Curry Pixel Watch
Everything under the case is identical to the rest of the range: chipset, battery, sensors and software carry over untouched. The changes are cosmetic and they come as a fixed bundle. The Curry edition ships in a single spec, a 45mm case with LTE built in, with no Bluetooth-only or 41mm option.
That’s a narrower choice than the standard range offers, which spans two case sizes, LTE or Wi-Fi-only, and four colours on the smaller watch against three on the larger one. Buyers who want the Curry band on a cheaper Wi-Fi-only watch, or on the smaller case, don’t have that option; it’s this configuration or nothing. For anyone who already owns a 41mm Pixel Watch 5, or a Wi-Fi-only model, the Curry band isn’t available as an add-on: it comes only bolted to a new 45mm LTE watch.
Why AndroidAuthority’s reviewer still isn’t buying one
The branding push lands the same week as a more sceptical verdict on the hardware underneath it, from the outlet that first reported the edition going on sale. AndroidAuthority’s wearables reviewer, who has logged nearly 2,000 miles running with a smartwatch and rotates between Garmin, Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch devices, praised the Pixel Watch 5’s domed Actua 360 display and said its dual-frequency GPS could hang with the best dedicated fitness watches on the market, a notable claim given how often multipath errors from tree cover or tall buildings degrade single-frequency GPS tracking.
Google’s health and fitness suite, in the same review, is finally judged competitive with Apple’s and Samsung’s. None of that was enough: after a hands-on session, the reviewer said they still weren’t ready to buy a Pixel Watch until Google changes five specific things.
The Stephen Curry Pixel Watch 5 is available now direct from Google, in the single Satin Pyrite and Rye combination described above, alongside the rest of the Pixel Watch 5 range that’s been on sale since 20 August.
Image: KKPCW（Kyu3） via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
