Actually, the watch tracks total calories as well. According to What is the difference in "active cal… - Apple Community
Total calories include - basal calories + calories burned when doing a workout. Active calories are those that are burned during some activity like swimming running or anything else where your body is moving, Basal are those that your body burns during a day without any activity.
To see the total calories burned for the day first, tap on the Activity app (and History at the bottom left corner if not already selected - then select a day). Then swipe left in the "Move" section to not show the graph and show the Active and Total calories. (Swipe right to return to the graph.). Or, you can use the Health app - tap on Activity.
Track daily activity with Apple Watch - Apple Support
On your iPhone, tap:
Health > Show All Health Data > Summary
then you can see your Active Energy and Resting Energy (in calories) for the current day. Total calories is the sum of those two. Tap on one of those (or any other pane) and you can also see your history for the day, week, month, or year.