Aspects of the disclosure provide a hybrid smartwatch that incorporates digital technology with an analog timepiece in a wristwatch form factor. A digital display layer of a non-emissive material is configured to present notices, data, content and other information. An analog display layer includes one or more hands of the timepiece, and overlies the digital display layer. The hands may be controlled by a processor through micro-stepper motors or other actuators. Physical motion of the hands is simultaneously coupled with arrangement of content or other elements on the display layer, which results in numerous types of hybrid visualizations. This includes temporal presentations using hourly, daily, monthly or other time scales. Shape-shifting of the watch hands between 2D and 1D arrangements can linearly focus on certain information. And various content-aware layouts can highlight, bracket, occlude or otherwise emphasize or deemphasize displayed information.