UKC

I'm looking getting a watch for the better half. She just wants a bit of motivation to get fit once again after having our daughter. Doesn't need to be anything fancy with a budget of £150 for a watch not a band(if that's what you call the other type?) was looking at a garmin

I bought my wife a Garmin 30. Basic in terms of what tech is out there but she doesn't do gadgets. She is a committed runner though and hasn't felt she's missing any data or metrics so it isn't a 'beginner' watch (if that matters). 

I have a Garmin Forerunner 45 for sale, bought in May and still in good condition if you think that will fit the bill. Tracks steps, activities, heart rate, sleep etc. Drop me a message if you're interested £95 posted?). If you're wanting to get a new watch, they're still in budget (£140 ish), I only upgraded for a watch with mapping capabilities

If you can stretch the budget to £199 then I doubt you can get better than the Garmin Forerunner 645 Music at Argos: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1513936

A bit OTT for a 'fitness watch' though?

Probably! Depends on exactly what she wants but if you're considering a cheaper Forerunner you might want to spend the extra to future proof it and have the ability to play music. 

Garmin forerunner 35 would fit the bill I think.  I've had one for a while and it's pretty good and they are reasonably good value.  It has wrist HR or you can use a strap if you want.  It uploads to garmin/strava via bluetooth and you can get basic 'phone notifications on it if you want.  Battery life is excellent.  You can also set up basic workouts on it for doing things like speedwork and intervals if you want.  It's also relatively small and unobtrusive for a fitness watch, which can be good for those of us with smaller wrists/hands.

Oh, and it also does step count and other daily monitoring if that's your thing.

Depending on what she wants from it Withings/Nokia do watches that track steps and heart rate and whatnot while looking like a fairly smart regular watch. I know a few people who have one as they didn’t want an obvious fitness/sport watch.

In terms of motivation also worth looking at how to set good process-oriented goals if this hasn’t already been done. Otherwise a watch is just spitting out contextless numbers which aren’t particularly useful or motivational on their own. That’s probably stating the obvious, but I know too many people who miss that step and are surprised that just occasionally glancing at their step count doesn’t turn them into Mo Farah. 

The watch is just a confidence boost to show her that she is fit(she is a scientists by trade so loves data) she has a few targets so it's to help her on her way.

Not to bothered about music as she doesn't really listen to any was looking at a garmin vivo active 3 as you can get a 'analouge' watch face which she prefers