I also went the smart watch route for the same reason, but with the new Pixel Watch 2. I was pleased that on Google Fi there was no additional charge and it pretty much activated automatically.

I do now feel comfortable leaving my phone behind, but I also get so many notifications I'm constantly lifting my wrist to check them. So I'm not sure if it helped or made things worse!

The main issue is email and slack notifications during the workday. I guess I never realized how many dang emails I get. I'm not yet sure if I should turn off email notifications completely or just try to unsubscribe from as much stuff as possible. During the workday, my email inbox is spammed by Jira notifications. It would be nice if I could selectively decide which emails to be notified on.

That's my main gripe as far as the Apple watch is concerned. I'm fortunate enough to have a corporate cell plan so I don't pay anything for it, but I'm not looking forward to having to be on an expensive plan + $5/month if I ever change jobs.