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The original was Watchy: https://watchy.sqfmi.com/

Not only can you run anything you want on it but it supports the Arduino IDE and Micropython. I assume all of the Alibaba ones are based off of Watchy.

I have one of this still in it's box unassembled.

I like the idea. But I've been wearing mechanical watches for about a decade now...

The biggest issue is the software. It's mostly abysmal. The best effort I've seen so far has been InfiniTime for the PineTime. It's very difficult without full-time employees working on improving things.

What did it look like? All the ones I've seen have been pretty ugly - plastic cases, etc.

It looked like exactly what you said. Plastic.