Garmin patents digital crown hardware with inertial scrolling for use on future high-end smartwatches
Yesterday, new information emerged about Garmin's proposed digital crown hardware. Claimed by Gadgets & Wearables, the website did not reveal the source for any of yesterday's report. The same is true for what was stated a few weeks earlier.
Initially, we suspected that a recent patent was the source of Gadgets & Wearables' findings. Unfortunately, Justia and other comparable websites returned no relevant results. However, Wearable has now discovered the patent that appears to underscore much of Gadgets & Wearables' prior claims. Filed as 'rotatable control button assembly for a wearable device' under the patent number 20250341869, Garmin describes the control button as follows:
A wearable electronic device comprising a housing. The device additionally comprises a Hall effect sensor enclosed within an interior of the housing and positioned adjacent to or engaged with an interior surface of the housing.
The device further comprises a control button assembly engaged with the housing. An exterior of the housing presents a cavity in which at least a portion of the control button assembly is received. A proximal end of the control button assembly comprises a magnet.
A distal end of the control button assembly comprises a crown that is rotatable with respect to the housing, and the control button assembly is configured such that rotation of the crown causes a corresponding rotation of the magnet. The housing comprises a sidewall, and the sidewall entirely separates the control button assembly from the Hall effect sensor.
The patent also confirms that this assembly features a sensor to support inertial scrolling like the current Apple Watch Series 11 and Pixel Watch 4 (curr. $349 on Amazon). As we have said previously, the patent drawing closely resembles Garmin's current Fenix series design language. Patent applications rarely reflect final devices, though.
Likewise, any suggestion that this patent is close to becoming a reality is somewhat misleading. Typically, patents take years to reach mass-produced devices, if at all. Thus, we would be surprised if Garmin brings this hardware to market 'soon' as earlier reports indicated.
Add as a preferred