The Oppo Watch looked dazzling when it was first announced back in March, 2020. It was full of features which aimed to match, or even outdo, the leading contender in the market, the Apple Watch. You can read all about that launch here.

Oh, and did I mention, it also bore a striking resemblance to Apple’s advanced timepiece, as well as those feature parities? The main difference visually is the absence of a Digital Crown, one of the glories of the Apple Watch.

Anyway, that appealing oblong with curved corners never went on sale, at least, not outside China. It used its own ColorOS version of Android, also found on Oppo’s smartphones, though obviously this was a particular version of it.

Now, as noted by Engadget, Oppo is about to make an announcement, on July 31, in fact, where it’s believed it will announce where the second version of the Oppo Watch will go on sale.

But the first international version of the Oppo Watch has already been announced by the company’s German website, so it may be that the July 31 event is for further territories.

A video posted by Engadget shows a gadget that looks at first glance identical to the Oppo Watch seen back in March.

Except for one thing.

The mini film shows an Oppo Watch assembling itself as if by magic, resolving itself into something familiar. Even the name, Oppo Watch, is the same. But the final frame is new: Wear OS by Google.

In other words, the biggest change could be the operating system inside the Oppo Watch, no longer the ColorOS it had before. Though, of course, the two are not incompatible and Oppo Germany says it uses Google Wear OS and ColorOS Watch as its operating system. The best of both worlds, then.

What that means for features and usage benefits is hard to know at this stage. We know from Oppo’s German website that the 41mm version is what’s going on sale there, and there’s no mention of the larger, 46mm model. The display is 320 x 360 pixels, with Corning Gorilla Glass protecting it. Described as a lifestyle and fitness partner on the wrist, it has 8GB memory, GPS, NFC, an integrated loudspeaker and a microphone. No mention of LTE connectivity, but several mentions of being a companion device to a smartphone.

The price in Germany will be €249, which is $290, so almost the same price as the Apple Watch Series 3, but quite a bit less than Series 5.

The first model had advanced hardware, capable of taking an ECG reading, like the current Apple Watch Series 5, though Apple’s watch costs more. There’s no mention of ECG at this stage, though that’s most likely down to clearances in individual territories, it doesn’t mean the capability has been taken out.

It says that GP can be used to record outdoor runs, there’s pulse measurement on the wrist, sleep and stress monitoring and more.

It’s water-resistant to 10 feet (3 meters), so rather less than the Apple Watch, but the battery can run for up to 24 hours, or 14 days in energy-saving mode. Oh, and it can quick-charge from flat to 46% in 20 minutes.

Though we have a lot of detail here, more will be unveiled in a few days’ time. Then, we’ll know whether it’s a real challenger to the Apple Watch throne.