1. A method for detecting a raise gesture in a wrist-wearable device, the method comprising: obtaining, at a motion coprocessor in the wrist-wearable device, a set of motion-sensor data samples from an internal motion sensor of the wrist-wearable device, the set of motion-sensor data samples corresponding to a time interval; determining, by the motion coprocessor, based on the set of motion-sensor data samples, a starting pose corresponding to a beginning of the time interval; selecting, by the motion coprocessor, based at least in part on the starting pose, a set of criteria for identifying a possible raise gesture using the set of motion-sensor data samples; identifying, by the motion coprocessor, the possible raise gesture based at least in part on whether the set of motion-sensor data samples satisfies the selected set of criteria; waking, by the motion coprocessor, an applications processor of the wrist-wearable device from a sleep state in response to identifying the possible raise gesture; identifying, by the motion coprocessor, a detected raise gesture in the event that the identified possible raise gesture is followed by at least a minimum period of dwell time in a focus pose; and activating a display of the wrist-wearable device in response to identifying the detected raise gesture.