The best swimming watches will give you workout tracking, notifications, and more on your wrist, whether you're in the pool or out in open water.
As you might expect, key features include a degree of waterproofing, as well as great fitness tracking for swimming disciplines, triathlons, and watersports.
They'll also come with GPS for measuring your speed and route, while the very best options will have SWOLF measurements for swimming efficiency, heart rate tracking, and more.
As such, the best swimming watches are often the best smartwatches overall, which tend to have the best waterproofing and the most comprehensive workout tracking. That's why you'll find top picks from Garmin and Apple form the majority of our list.
We've been testing smartwatches for years at TechRadar, and all of our picks here have been put through their paces rigorously by experts. We rate them all on performance, design, features, and value, scoring them out of five for each.
We use that data to collate our top picks, and you won't find any options we haven't tested.
So whether you want a companion for your next pool swim, an open water option, or a do-it-all tracker for triathlons, here are the best swimming watches we've tested.
The best swimming watch overall
The Garmin Fenix 8 is our top choice for the best swimming watch overall. From pool swims and snorkeling to open-water adventures and deep-sea dives, this is a watch that can handle all of it, and then some.
Its bright watch face can be seen in the murky depths underwater, it packs a multi-sport triathlon mode for athletes, and safety tools like TracBack to stop you from getting lost. It even has an LED light if you need to attract some attention during a swim. It’s also got better battery life than the Apple Watch Ultra 2, which is next on our list.
There was an issue with the Garmin Fenix 8 and its resistance to cold water: on first release, watches would brick when exposed to cold water under around 7 degrees. However, that’s since been rectified with a software update, and we’re now left with a watch suitable for even the hardiest athletes and adventurers.
Read our full Garmin Fenix 8 review
The best swimming watch for Apple users
For Apple users, the Ultra 3 is the watch that asks for the fewest compromises. It tracks pool sessions, open-water swims and dives with confidence, while still feeling unmistakably like an Apple Watch the moment you're back on dry land. Whether you're logging lengths before work, training for a triathlon or heading out for an open-water swim, it has the tools to keep up.
Like the Garmin Fenix 8, the Ultra 3 is just as happy below the surface as it is above it. Pair it with the Oceanic+ app and it becomes a fully fledged dive computer, complete with depth tracking, decompression information and safety alerts, while SWOLF scores help you fine-tune your technique back in the pool. The Ultra 3 display has also had an upgrade. It's so bright that, during testing, it made plenty of other AMOLED watches look rather dim by comparison, and it's much easier to read at a glance thanks to improved viewing angles. We also found its heart rate tracking impressively accurate, staying within 1bpm of a Polar H10 chest strap.
Battery life still can't match Garmin's endurance-focused watches, but it's the longest-lasting Apple Watch yet, stretching to up to 72 hours in Low Power Mode. Unless you're regularly tackling ultra-distance adventures, it's unlikely you'll find yourself wanting more.
Read our full Apple Watch Ultra 3 review
The best cheap swimming watch
The Coros Pace 4 is proof that you don't have to spend a fortune to get a genuinely capable swimming watch. It's incredibly light at just 32g with the nylon strap, so it's easy to forget you're even wearing it, even once you're in the water. The new AMOLED display is a big upgrade too, so it’s much easier to check your stats than the older Pace 3 without sacrificing the impressive battery life Coros is known for.
While it's primarily aimed at runners and triathletes, the Pace 4 is just as happy in the pool. It supports pool and open-water swimming, alongside triathlon modes if your training extends beyond the water. During testing, we found the heart rate sensor delivered reliable data, although it worked best when the watch was fitted snugly against the wrist. We also comfortably got between 10 and 14 days of use on a charge, despite the brighter AMOLED screen.
You won't get extras like contactless payments or music streaming, and the plastic case certainly doesn't feel as premium as pricier rivals. But if all you really want is a lightweight, dependable training watch that won't empty your wallet, the Pace 4 is an easy recommendation.
Read our full Coros Pace 4 review
The best swimming watch for beginners
The Apple Watch SE 3 is a good place to start if you're buying your first swimming watch. It covers everything most swimmers need, from recording pool workouts to tracking everyday activity, without the higher price tag of Apple's flagship models.
The Workout app is easy to use and records useful metrics such as distance, stroke count and SWOLF. If you're new to swim tracking, SWOLF is a score that combines the number of strokes you take with the time it takes you to swim a length, helping you measure how efficiently you're moving through the water. The new Always-On display is another welcome upgrade, letting you check your progress between lengths without having to wake the screen, while the same S10 chip found in the Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3 keeps everything feeling fast and responsive.
You won't get advanced health features like ECG or Blood Oxygen monitoring, and the battery life can't compete with dedicated sports watches from Garmin or Coros. But if you want one watch that can track your swims, count your daily steps, pay for a coffee afterwards with Apple Pay and keep up with messages from your iPhone, the Apple Watch SE 3 is an excellent all-rounder that's unlikely to leave most beginners wanting more.
Read our full Apple Watch SE 3 review
The best swimming watch for triathlons
If your training calendar includes swim, bike and run most weeks, the Forerunner 970 is easier to appreciate than the spec sheet suggests. It isn't trying to be an expedition watch or a luxury smartwatch. It's there to help you train well and recover well, and after months of testing, that's exactly what it did.
The new Triathlon Coach pulls all three disciplines into one plan, while Running Tolerance helped stop us from getting carried away with weekly mileage. That's particularly useful when you're already juggling long rides and swim sessions, because it's easy to forget that everything adds up.
It's also lighter than it looks, the AMOLED display is lovely to use, and Garmin's GPS was as dependable as ever throughout testing. Unless you need the Fenix's diving features or tougher build, we'd happily save the extra bulk and wear the Forerunner instead.
Read our full Garmin Forerunner 970 review
Best for diving
How to choose the best swimming watch for you
Start with your budget. The good news is that you don't need to buy the most expensive watch in this guide to get accurate swim tracking. Spending more won't necessarily make a watch better at counting lengths or recognising your stroke. Instead, the extra money usually goes towards features such as longer battery life, brighter displays, more advanced training insights, better GPS for open-water swimming, mapping, diving capabilities and a more premium build.
Next, think about where you'll be swimming most often. If you mainly swim lengths at your local pool, almost any watch in this guide will cover the essentials, recording distance, lap count, stroke type and pace. If you regularly head into lakes, rivers or the sea, it's worth investing in a watch with reliable GPS so you can accurately track your route and distance once you're back on shore.
Finally, think about what you want your watch to do outside the water. If swimming is just one part of your training, a multisport watch with dedicated cycling and running modes will make far more sense than a swim-focused model. If you'll wear it all day, smartwatch features like Apple Pay, notifications and a good app ecosystem become much more valuable. On the other hand, if all you want is a dependable watch to log your swims, there's no need to pay for features you'll never use.
How we test swimming watches
We test swimming watches the same as we test all smartwatches: by putting them on the wrists of exercisers and letting them loose. We drain the battery down, look at GPS and heart rate accuracy, and examine as many features as we can over the course of the review process.
For example, we tested the cold-water properties of the Garmin Fenix 8 by dunking it into a glass of extremely cold water, tested against a Garmin Fenix 7. When possible, we swim with the watches ourselves, but if not, we also send them to swim-focused or dive-focused writers to test after the initial review process is finished.
