I preferred the first plastic model personally. At least that looked unusual and the price was better. The steel model looks cheaper, like a cheap fashion knockoff brand watch, but isn't. I still don't see the point though until you can get months out of the battery. These smar****ch designers seem to forget what is useful about non-smar****ches.
I actually bought the Pebble Steel because it looks a lot more stylish. Battery last way longer on the Pebble then on the Sony smart watches... Note that the screen on Pebble is always on, while all the other smart watches out there you need to something before you see the time, like pressing a button. There is also an appstore announced for the Pebble watch. I think that guys like Pebble will support their watches better then other companies