Swipe left to start activity and swipe down action

Supposedly per the Google machine a swipe left from the watch face brings you to the activity screen so you don't have to press the activity button, but swiping left doesn't do anything. 

Also a swipe down from the watch face shows notifications and I want to change that but can't find where to change it. 

Seems like there's supposedly alot of customization you can do per Google but nothing works.