Tag Heuer Unveils 3rd Generation Connected Watch

Tag Heuer has announced the third generation of its luxury smartwatch, featuring a more refined design and added sensors for sport and fitness. It is available in stainless steel and titanium models with a 45mm case, each with a rubberized crown and ceramic bezel. Its 1.4-inch OLED touchscreen is protected by scratch-resistant sapphire glass. Like other smartwatches it runs on Google’s Wear OS operating system and hooks up to your phone to display notifications and messages. A new Tag Heuer Sports app uses GPS plus heart rate, compass, accelerometer and gyroscopic sensors for tracking sports including golf, running and cycling. Activity from the watch can then be shared with services like Strava, Google Fit and Apple Health. Tag Heur’s Connected also looks more like a traditional watch then previous iterations. The company says it has taken cues from its classic Carrera watches, resulting in a less chunky design. Tag Heuer has also been able to make the watch physically smaller by hiding the antennas underneath a new ceramic bezel, in addition to putting the screen closer to the sapphire glass. The company was the first Swiss watchmaker to embrace touchscreen smart technology, launching the original Tag Heuer Connected in 2015. Jean-Claude Biver, then-president of the LVMH Watch Division (Hublot, Zenith and Tag Heuer), said that by the end of 2016 it had sold 56,000 units, triple the number predicted. A second version, the Connected Modular 45, that allowed owners to switch between connected and mechanical modules, a first for the Swiss industry, was launched in 2017. The Tag Heuer Golf, that displayed satellite views of more than 39,000 golf courses, launched last year. The new Tag Heuer Connected comes in a variety of case, strap and bracelet options, starting from $1,800. Additional straps and bracelets are also available. (esquire)