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I may have misled you slightly last time I was talking Apple Watches.

I think I claimed something like the Series 11 Apple Watch was pretty much the best smartwatch money could buy.

As far as I was concerned, at that specific time, that was essentially true. Improved display, new chip, great battery life, upgraded durability - what more could you ask?

Sure, I knew I still had one Apple Watch to come to complete my trio of 2025 offerings - but because I never reviewed the Watch Ultra 2, it had been a while since I'd worn the big daddy of the range.

In short, I needed reminding how incredible the Ultra truly is.

In my defence, from everything I read and watched last year, the Ultra 2 really wasn't all that different to the original - it featured a brighter display and a new chip that made it possible to interact with Siri, on-device and that was about it.

No excuse though, because the original Ultra was one of the most complete "first-generation" devices I've ever encountered. Enhanced GPS connectivity, extended battery life, the most durable case and display Apple had ever produced... Not to mention entirely new features like the Depth app - also measuring water temperature - and navigation tools like Backtrack.

So after a year off, I put the Apple Watch Ultra 3 on and was immediately shocked by how good it is.

Although the Ultra 3 uses the same chip as Watch Series 11 and the entry-level Watch SE 3, somehow, it just seems to work even faster and more fluidly.

This may be in part due to the significantly upgraded display technology.

The very large (for a watch) display is now comprised of wide-angle OLEDs, which means you can read it clearly from almost any angle - perfect for sneaky checking of incoming notifications. It also uses the latest LTPO3 technology which allows variable refresh rates, right down to 1Hz (or once a second). This means big savings on battery life - even when the Watch Ultra is in Always On Display mode.

That, in turn, means the possibility of some fun new watch faces, like Exactograph, which has a second hand on AOD mode then expands the seconds display down to fifths-of-seconds when you raise your wrist.

Did you hear me mention battery life? Indeed you did. Another significant bump to the already outstanding battery life of the Ultra 2, which was rated for up to 36 hours of general use. Not only does the Watch Ultra 3 give you up to 42 hours "normal" use on a full charge, I can confirm it charges faster than ever too. I like to wear mine to bed for its sleep-tracking features so I pop it on the charger while I'm getting ready. By the time I've brushed my teeth and read a couple of chapters of the latest Dan Brown, the Watch Ultra 3 always seems to be back to at least 95%. Fantastic.

Speaking of sleep-tracking, obviously Watch Ultra 3 has all the new (and comprehensive) features we've seen in the other 2025 Apple Watches, courtesy of the very "glassy" WatchOS 26. Ultra has always been a fabulous choice for fitness and health tracking and that's even more true now, thanks to Custom Workouts, Workout Buddy, updated sleep stats, the new hypertension alerts and the introduction of Vitals - kind of an aggregate of everything, so you can keep an eye on your overall wellbeing at a glance.

Although the Watch Ultra has always led the way when it comes to satellite connectivity, the 3rd gen version now offers emergency communication via satellite, even when you're out of cellular contact. This could be potentially lifesaving in a country like New Zealand, where for some reason, people like to go off grid. For fun. Not only does the new satellite tech mean you can send an SOS if something goes wrong, Find My now also works via satellite so your location can be shared, no matter how remote it is.

This is all dependent on you activating the standalone cellular abilities of the Watch Ultra 3 via an addon plan. Unfortunately, only OneNZ and Spark offer these plans for Apple Watch right now, although it's my understanding 2degrees isn't far off.

Starting at NZ$1,599.00, the Watch Ultra 3 is quite an investment - but an investment is exactly what it is. There is simply no other smartwatch out there that delivers quite like this one does - and if you're already an Apple user then the choice is even more obvious. The fact that the original Ultra still measures up and I'm not sure I'd encourage those early adopters to upgrade just yet, doesn't mean there haven't been meaningful enhancements over the last two years.

The improvements in battery life, display quality and satellite connectivity are all significant. It's just that testing the new model over the last few weeks has reminded me how amazing the original Ultra was in the first place. Two generations on, still the Watch to beat.