Garmin makes good watches, but its for a different market I think.

Is only nice if you also have an iPhone otherwise its basically useless expensive garbage.

Better look at Huawei, Zepp and Garmin if you want cheaper but equally good garbage. Fitbit is also a nice brand.

I used to have a pebble back in the day, and then later a pebble steel. I've not found a modern smartwatch that is as good for my needs (partially because it doesn't look like a smartwatch).

I use a Samsung Galaxy wear, which also looks like a normal watch. I'm sure competing products are used a lot and you just don't notice them because their styling is modelled off of dumb watches.