Same boat, Apple watch has terrible UX (1cm fingertip in a 2cm screen??!?), tries to do too much and not to my liking.

Pebble allows me to walk away from my phone because I will get the notifications (text or phone call) and can see enough to decide to respond.

Pebble is pretty lightweight and if you load up this watchface you'll feel right at home: https://store-beta.rebble.io/app/52f0939b1ac7948708001fc9