Pebble Steel is a premium smartwatch for the stylish among us

Pebble Steel vies for smartwatch limelight at CES 2014
Might be the nicest smartwatch yet

2013 was a big year for Pebble but it's not resting on its laurels, kicking off the new year with the announcement of a brand new Pebble – the Pebble Steel.

The Steel packs the familiar e-paper display into a sleeker, stainless steel design with a Corning Gorilla Glass display for added protection against damage and smudgy fingerprints.

Handily, there's also now an RGB LED on the left hand corner of the watch that will indicate the charging status.

You also get a choice of either "Brushed Stainless" or "Black Matte" – grey and black, basically – but both come boxed with a matching metal band and a black leather strap for you to choose from.

You can go put some money down for one right now over at getpebble.com. It'll cost you $249 (about £152, $278) for the new premium models, with free shipping worldwide for those who get in early.

Rolling stones

Pebble also announced that its official appstore will be with us by the end of January, and gave us another early glimpse of how the app marketplace will be set out.

Pebble appstore

All the apps for all the phones

But if you want your app to be ready for launch then you'd better submit it by January 9, Pebble warns.

Finally, Pebble's confirmed a bunch of new partners, including Pandora, ESPN and Mercedes-Benz, who will be bringing their own apps to the smartwatch soon.

Hugh Langley

Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.

Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.