When the Apple Watch Ultra was launched back in 2022, it seemed to solve a lot of the minor niggles people had had with Apple Watches up until that point.

It had a comparatively large display, its titanium casing made it ruggedly indestructible, it was waterproof enough to dive with and it set new standards for battery life and GPS accuracy.

Oh - and it even had an extra button to fire off a programmed shortcut of your choice.

A year later, a 2nd-generation Ultra emerged, with a brighter display and a faster chip.

This year though... no new Ultra... althoug you can now get it in black.

However, there might be another option. It's cheaper. And it's also an Apple Watch.

The September 2024 Apple launch was perhaps most notable for the way base model devices were upgraded to a level that made them serious contenders with their Pro or Ultra counterparts.

The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus come with the same, new Camera Control button and the same next generation chip as the Pro and Pro Max.

The new AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation also have a new chip, a host of new features and yes, they even have Active Noise Cancellation. Just like the AirPods Pro 2.

In a similar fashion, even the base-model Series 10 Apple Watch is a serious piece of tech wizardry.

Firstly, yes, it also comes in black. Jet Black, in fact. There have been other black Apple Watches before but here they've used a new polishing-followed-by-anodisation process to produce a high-gloss finish with the colour literally baked-in to the aluminium. There are also more matte Rose Gold and Silver aluminium finishes, or you can upgrade to the polished titanium options of Natural, Gold or Slate.

The titanium version is almost 20% lighter than the stainless steel variant in last year's Series 9 watches and it's aerospace-grade titanium so it's very strong and durable.

Whichever material you go for, this year the metal finish carries on around to the back casing, which not only looks nice but Apple has also managed to embed the antennae into the casing which has improved connectivity.

The Watch 10 is also the thinnest ever; a millimetre thinner than the last three Apple Watches. Now, I know a single millimetre doesn't sound like much but when the previous model was only 10.7mm to begin with, it's no surprise you can feel the difference as soon as you put it on. You really do notice how much lighter and thinner it is, which is great news if you plan on wearing it to bed for sleep tracking - and I have a compelling reason to do that for you shortly.

But first, it's important to note, despite being the thinnest and lightest Apple Watch ever, it actually has the largest display (assuming you choose the 46mm version over the 43mm model). That's even bigger than the screen on on the Apple Watch Ultra. What's more, it curves away sensually at the edges with hardly any bezel at all, unlike the flat, slightly inelegant display on the Ultra.

The wide-angle OLED display is also new. Apple claims it's up to 40% brighter when viewed from an angle. Sure enough, when I have the Watch 10 in Always On Display mode, I can surreptitiously note any incoming notifications without having to raise my wrist at all. It's almost enough to make a boring meeting bearable.

In terms of other hardware upgrades, Series 10 now detects sleep apnea. Once activated, you'll be notified if there's any dangerously irregular breathing going on during your slumber. This is a potential lifesaver. I, like many others, have come to rely on my Apple Watch for reassurance around things like atrial fibrillation. When I first contracted covid, I had a very rough night when I experienced stabbing chest pains. A clear ECG was enough to reassure me I wasn't about to die.

I'm not proposing your Apple Watch should ever replace your doctor but if it suggests I might be suffering from sleep apnea, I'll definitely be making a call.

Another major modification - and this will be of special interest if you're considering the Apple Watch Ultra instead - is water detection, both depth and temperature. So now, just like the Ultra, there's a Depth app which can measure down to six metres, which should be more than enough for most snorkellers. I've also found the water temperature sensor to be very useful when it comes to deciding if I'm going to jump in a pool or not.

Then of course, Watch OS brings some interesting tricks to the table in its eleventh iteration.

Tides is an immensely useful app, especially for those of us here in New Zealand, where most of us live within an hour of the coast. I love the Translate app - real time, on-device translation, both in text and read aloud. So useful.

You can now measure your training load, in order to gauge how your workouts are affecting your body over time. You can pause your Activity rings when you're unwell, travelling or otherwise unable to carry out your usual fitness routines, thereby saving yourself a workout guilt-trip from your wrist. There's even a new Vitals app which takes a more holistic view of your well-being, monitoring health metrics day and night over time so you can figure out what's gone wrong (or right) if something unusual happens with your trends.

There's so much going on with this new Apple Watch - and that's before we even get to the fact your phone calls will now sound better thanks to a dramatic improvement in noise cancellation on the built-in mic array.

One thing that hasn't really changed is battery life. Even Apple admits you should only expect to get up to 18 hours use on a full charge. This is frustrating, especially given the emphasis on sleep tracking this year. There is a low power mode but nobody really wants to reduce the functionality of a device this functional to save battery. What's more, you just know in a year or two the battery is likely to drain even faster.

Luckily, and this actually blows my mind, the Series 10 charges much faster than before. Don't worry; that doesn't mean you need a new charging puck. Once again, it's all thanks to that new metal back casing. They've integrated a larger, more efficient charging coil so just 8 minutes on the charger while you're brushing your teeth and getting your jim-jams on should get you a full 8-hours sleep tracking. Nice.

So the Watch 10 is smaller and lighter but the display is bigger. The battery's the same but it charges quicker. It senses and monitors more than ever, including depth, water temperature and sleep apnea. And yes, you can get it in glossy Jet Black.

You sure you still need that Ultra?