These are the 10 best Galaxy Watch 8 watch faces you probably aren’t using

Whether you have a Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 or the fancier Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, both of Samsung’s newest smartwatches are among the best you can buy today. Between ultra-comfortable designs, excellent displays, and a really impressive new watch band system, Samsung checked a lot of boxes with this year’s Galaxy Watches.

While there are plenty of great watch faces to choose from out of the box, it’s worth exploring some third-party options that you may not be aware of. I spent the last couple of days sifting through custom watch faces on Facer, WatchMaker, and Pujie, and I found 10 excellent watch faces that look incredible on the Galaxy Watch 8.

I love a watch face with lots of complications, as evident by my first pick. This is the Gear Watch watch face from Pujie, and it’s loaded with information. To the right of the time, you can see your steps, heart rate, and burned calories in nicely organized containers. Your remaining battery life is below that, the weather is at the very bottom of the screen, and the current date is at the top.

Gear Watch is an information-overload watch face if I’ve ever seen one, but I think it does a great job of including a wealth of data while still being nice to look at. I love the bold and colorful text for the time that stands out against the rest of the black, gray, and white color palette.

If analog watch faces are more your thing, Chronometer is one of my favorites I’ve found on Pujie. I don’t like analog faces that try too hard to mimic the glass/shiny appearance of “real” watch faces, and that’s why I love the matte, clean styling of Chronometer. There’s a subtle shadow effect on the watch hands that adds some depth, and — at least on the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic — the minutes markers line up perfectly with the physical bezel.

There’s also a fair amount of info on the watch face. There’s a bold typeface for the current day, and I adore the analog design for the two complications on the left and right of the watch hands.

Moving over to Facer, one of my favorite watch faces I’ve found here is Legend X +. It resembles the new Sporty Classic face that comes pre-installed on the Galaxy Watch 8 series, but with a few tweaks that truly elevate it above Samsung’s version. 

One of my favorite parts of the Legend X + watch face is the large dial at the top showing the current hour and seconds. You also have five additional complications below to show info like your heart rate, steps, and the weather. Combined with bright orange accents against a dark gray background, it’s a super classy analog face that looks good without being gaudy.

Speaking of classy analog watch faces, I also quite like the R1088 Black Pearl – Deep Satin watch face, which is also available on Facer. If all of the complications on Legend X + give you a headache, this watch face is probably up your alley.

There’s really not too much going on with this particular face. You’ve got bold 12-hour format hour markers, plus smaller 24-hour ones underneath. There’s also a small complication for the date and … that’s about it! The main draw to the R1088 watch face is its simplistic, sophisticated design, and I think it nails that. The watch hands are fancy without being too stylized. I really like the typeface for the numbers, and the dark blue background looks incredible.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I also want to highlight the MDS387 watch face on WatchMaker. If you prefer simple, fitness-focused digital faces over fancy analog ones, MDS387 is for you.

There are three rings circling the watch face, showing stats for your heart rate, steps, and your watch’s remaining battery life. It’s such a clever way to display helpful info while also adding some style, and I think it’s a really cool look. Meanwhile, the center of the face neatly displays the time (including seconds) and date.

Similar to MDS387, the Orbi-Tron watch face on Pujie also uses progress bars around the watch face to display helpful stats — in this case, your watch’s battery life and a daily step tracker. However, Orbi-Tron’s progress bars are much bolder and more stylized, and I’ve really come to like them.

In the middle of those progress bars is the time, which features a dual-tone color palette and a nice shadow effect where it overlaps the step tracker below it. Orbi-Tron isn’t the most information-dense watch face on this list, but as someone who prefers clean digital watch faces, it’s quickly become one of my favorites.

If Orbi-Tron is way too simplistic for you, might I suggest the JD V41 watch face on Pujie. There’s a lot to take in with this one, and although it may not be for the faint of heart, it’s about as good as it gets if you want to cram as much data as possible on your Galaxy Watch 8’s display.

In the center of the watch face is the time (with seconds) and date. Above that is an area for the weather, showing the current temperature, high and low for the day, and the current sky/sun condition. The section below the time shows your current step count and heart rate. And as if that wasn’t enough, the very top portion of the face has a progress bar for your remaining battery life, while the bottom portion of the face has a progress bar for your step goal. Combined with a bold orange accent color and a retro-y font throughout, JD V41 makes a statement on your wrist in the best way possible.

I often can’t decide between choosing an analog or digital watch face, and that’s where hybrid faces like MD271 really come in handy. Available on WatchMaker, MD271 has basically everything I want in a hybrid watch face.

For starters, the design of the face is super clean and minimal. Between the font, minute/hour markers, and watch hands, everything has an ultra-clean design that I really appreciate. There’s also a good amount of info, including a digital clock on the left part of the face, flanked by three dials for battery life, steps, and heart rate.

Samsung’s Stretched Time watch face is one of my personal favorites, though my biggest complaint is its lack of complications. AXIS Remastered is basically a more information-dense version of that Samsung watch face, and it’s incredible.

Along with the hour markers and red-accented watch hands, you’ve also got minute markers spanning the watch face that look great with the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic’s bezel. To the right of the watch hands is the current date, while the area to the left of the hands shows your heart rate and step tracker (you can cycle between them by tapping on it). Finally, your watch’s battery life is at the bottom of the face. AXIS Remastered’s biggest success is how it includes so much data without looking too cluttered, and that’s why it’s become one of my go-to analog faces for the Galaxy Watch 8.

Last but certainly not least, we’ve got the Krypton face. This is one of the more unique digital watch faces I’ve found, and while I wouldn’t usually go for this type of watch face, I think it works incredibly well on the Galaxy Watch 8.

There’s a typical slate of data on the watch face, including the date, battery, weather, and steps. However, the way in which it’s presented is really eye-catching. The sharp lines, futuristic progress bars/complications, and the stark contrast between the black and white background all look phenomenal.