TTGO T-Watch

Smartwatch-style ESP32 board with display, battery, and sensors - great for wearable IoT and portable dashboards.

Micro-USB
TTGO T-Watch board
47 × 40 mm
ESP32
MCU
240MHz
clock
16MB
flash
520KB
SRAM
18· Two 12-bit, 18 Channels ADC
GPIO
BLE 4.2+ WiFi
radio
On this page

Pinout

18 pins
View:
PinGPIOLabelsStatusCapabilitiesNotes
11TXPWMuartuart
22MISOPWMstrappingspi
33RXPWMuartuart
413SSPWMstrappingspi
514SCKPWMstrappingspi
615MOSIPWMstrappingspi
721SDAPWMsafei2c
822SCLPWMsafei2c
923TP_SDAPWMsafe-
1025DAC1PWMsafedac
1126DAC2PWMsafedac
1232TP_SCLPWMsafe-
1333TX1PWMsafe-
1434RX1strapping-
1535APX20X_INTstrapping-
1637RTC_INTstrapping-
1738TP_INTstrapping-
1839BMA42X_INT1strapping-

Start with these

7 pins with no boot or system involvement
SDAPWMSCLPWMTP_SDAPWMDAC1PWMDAC2PWMTP_SCLPWMTX1PWM

Freely assignable - no strapping, flash, USB or JTAG duties. Ideal first picks for buttons, sensors and LEDs.

Fine - with a little care

sampled at boot or shared with debug/serial
PinLabelWhat to knowRole
MISOGPIO2If driven HIGH on reset (while IO0 is LOW), selects an unsupported SDIO boot mode, causing boot failure.Strapping
SSMTCK (GPIO13)Used for JTAG debugging (TCK); avoid using as GPIO if JTAG is needed.Other
SCKMTMS (GPIO14)Used for JTAG debugging (TMS); driving it as GPIO may interfere with JTAG or produce spurious signals at boot.Other
MOSIMTDO (GPIO15)Keep HIGH during boot (internal PU); if LOW on reset, bootloader log is silenced and boot mode may change.Strapping
RX1GPIO34Cannot be used as output (no drive capability); only suitable for analog/digital input.Other
APX20X_INTGPIO35Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input.Other
RTC_INTGPIO37 (SENSOR_CAPP)Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input.Other
TP_INTGPIO38 (SENSOR_CAPN)Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input.Other
BMA42X_INT1GPIO39 (SENSOR_VN)Cannot be used as output; only suitable for input.Other

Only if you know the tricks

wired to flash or USB - expect a fight
PinLabelWhat to knowRole
TXU0TXD (GPIO1)Connected to on-board USB-UART for uploading and logs; drives serial output at boot, so using as GPIO can disrupt programming or console.USB
RXU0RXD (GPIO3)Used for receiving data from USB-UART (programming); also pulled HIGH at boot for console communication, so using as GPIO can disrupt uploads.USB
These are recommendations, not hard rules - with the right pull-ups, timing and boot-state awareness most pins can be made to work. When in doubt, start green.
Pinout notes All 18 pins on the TTGO T-Watch are usable GPIO. Peripheral wiring is straightforward: I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO21 and SCL on GPIO22; the SPI bus ( MOSI ,…

All 18 pins on the TTGO T-Watch are usable GPIO.

Peripheral wiring is straightforward: I²C is mapped to SDA on GPIO21 and SCL on GPIO22; the SPI bus (MOSI, MISO, SCK, SS) is broken out in full; TX/RX on GPIO1 and GPIO3 cover serial logging and flashing.

Beyond plain digital I/O you get 2 true DAC outputs.

9 of the exposed pins carry boot-time or system duties on the ESP32 (MISO, SS, SCK and 6 more) - check the guidance above before wiring anything to them. SDA, SCL, TP_SDA, DAC1 and 3 more are free of any such role - the safest first picks.

Getting started

flash your first firmware in ~2 minutes
Tool:
1
Connect over USB
Uses a CP2104 bridge - install the CP210x driver if no port appears. Not detected? Hold BOOT while plugging in.
2
Match & flash
Set the Tools options shown, then click Upload.
3
Verify it runs
The onboard LED on GPIO21 blinks - swap the pin if your board's LED differs.
Set these in Tools · leave everything else at default
Arduino IDE 2.x — Tools Copy
Board: "ESP32 Wrover Module"
Flash Size: "16MB (128Mb)"
Flash Mode: "DIO"
PSRAM: "QSPI PSRAM"
Partition Scheme: "16M Flash (3MB APP / 9.9MB FATFS)" (default)
Upload Speed: "921600"
▸ every other Tools option — leave at default
Board: ESP32 Wrover Module
Flash Size: 16MB (128Mb)
Flash Mode: DIO
PSRAM: QSPI PSRAM
Partition Scheme: 16M Flash (3MB APP / 9.9MB FATFS)
Upload Speed: 921600
Find it: Tools ▸ Board ▸ ESP32 Arduino ▸ ESP32 Wrover Module
blink.ino Copy
// blink the onboard LED
void setup() {
  pinMode(21, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(21, HIGH); delay(500);
  digitalWrite(21, LOW);  delay(500);
}
board to selectesp32dev⧉ copy
platformio.ini Copy
[env:twatch]
platform = espressif32
board = esp32dev
framework = arduino
monitor_speed = 115200
upload_speed = 921600
board_build.arduino.memory_type = qio_qspi
build_flags = -DBOARD_HAS_PSRAM
Find it: PlatformIO Home ▸ Boards, search esp32dev — or type it after board =.
board to selectesp32dev⧉ copy
device.yaml Copy
esp32:
  board: esp32dev
  variant: twatch
  framework:
    type: esp-idf
psram:
  mode: quad
  speed: 80MHz

# blink - GPIO21
output:
  - platform: gpio
    pin: 21
    id: led_out
light:
  - platform: binary
    name: "LED"
    output: led_out
Find it: search ESPHome's board list for esp32dev (same ids as PlatformIO).
esptool doesn't pick board settings — a prebuilt .bin already has them baked in. This is just the raw flash command.
terminal Copy
esptool.py --chip esp32 --port /dev/ttyACM0 \
  --baud 921600 write_flash 0x0 firmware.bin
--port = your /dev/tty* (macOS/Linux) or COMx (Windows).
Build details: sketch space 6553600 B · data 4521984 B · DIO

Specifications

ESP32 · 47 × 40 mm
Compute
MCU
ESP32
Clock
240 MHz
SRAM · Flash
520 KB · 16MB · 8MB (QSPI) PSRAM
Radio
Wi-Fi
802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
4.2 LE
Antenna
PCB
I/O
GPIO · ADC
18 · Two 12-bit, 18 Channels
UART · I²C · SPI
3 · 2 · 4
PWM
16 channels
Power
USB
Micro-USB
Serial
CP2104
Boot address
0x1000
Display
Screen
IPS LCD · 1.54" · 240x240
Driver
ST7789V
Touch
FT6336
Flashing
Upload · OTA
esptool_py · esp_ota
Flash · Boot mode
DIO · DIO
Sketch · Data
6.25 MB · 4.31 MB
40 mm47 mm
47 × 40 mm
The TTGO T-Watch uses esptool_py for firmware uploads, esp_ota for over-the-air (OTA) updates. Flash mode is DIO with DIO boot mode. The maximum sketch size is 6.25 MB with 4.31 MB available for data.

About this board

Inside sits the ESP32 - a dual-core Xtensa with both Bluetooth Classic and BLE.

At $36.55 it's on the expensive side for an ESP32 board - most land around $20.

Only 18 GPIO are broken out, where most ESP32 boards manage about 24 - worth checking the pinout covers what you need.

Around the module: 8MB (QSPI) PSRAM, an IPS LCD 1.54" 240x240 display with touch, a microphone, a speaker, an amplifier (MAX98357A), a PCF8563 RTC, an IR transceiver, a motion sensor (BMA423), battery charging (AXP202) and Power buttons.

  • Vibration motor for haptic feedback
  • Built-in rechargeable Li-Po battery
  • PDM microphone (SPM1423) added on V3 for voice control
  • AXP202 PMU manages charging and power rails

Where to buy

prices are typical street prices
TTGO T-Watch
TTGO T-Watch
$36.55per unit, typical

Resources

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