When Apple launched the Apple Watch in 2015, the Swiss mechanical watch industry quaked, unsure of how the high-tech competition would impact the traditional market. A few brands, however, responded with their own upscale smartwatches to address the trend in wearable tech for the wrist. One of the leaders of the charge was TAG Heuer, which debuted its first Connected watch in 2015, hailed as the first Swiss luxury smartwatch. It used the brand’s popular Carrera-style case and ran on tech from partners Intel and Google.
This year, TAG Heuer updated last year’s popular Connected Golf Edition ($2,550) with accurate course maps for more than 40,000 courses worldwide in new and improved 2-D on your wrist, as well as 3-D on your phone showing more detail along with simulated shot trajectories, emulating those shown on TV coverage of pro tournaments. The Driving Zone feature, which is unique to the brand, automatically shows the landing zones of your previous tee shots, so you can adjust your strategy accordingly. And the new Club Recommendation tool suggests a club based on your position and distance to the hole. Of course, you can also keep score.
“I love wearing this watch both on and off the course,” says brand ambassador and professional golfer Tommy Fleetwood, who will wear it on the PGA Tour. “The features are really well-thought-out, making the game more precise and I can’t think of a golfer whose game wouldn’t benefit from it.”
TAG Heuer’s LVMH sister brand Hublot launched its first smartwatch in 2018 to mark the FIFA Football World Cup in Russia, with a soccer-centric angle and design codes from its flagship Big Bang model.
Powered by Wear OS by Google, last year’s 42mm Big Bang e ($5,200) in black ceramic or titanium is designed for general everyday wear and features updated software with high-tech interpretations of traditional watch complications, including a perpetual calendar and GMT. Hublot also tapped its artist ambassador Marc Ferrero to create colorful dial animations that change over the course of the day.