Garmin Releases MARQ Collection of Luxury Tool Watches
The divide between smartwatches and luxury watches was very stark when the computers-on-a-wrist first came out: clunky plastic versus sleek metal. But now, the second-generation Garmin MARQ Collection is closing the gap. These five powerful smartwatches are just as good-looking and desirable as fancy timepieces costing 10 times as much with an eighth of the functionality. Plus, each of the watches in the collection caters toward a specific archetype—the athlete, adventurer, golfer, captain, and aviator—boasting activity-specific features, specially selected materials, and a battery life of up to 16 days.
To craft these works of digital art, Garmin builds the case out of grade-5 titanium (common for aerospace fasteners and aircraft turbines). A brilliant AMOLED touchscreen display is ensconced by a domed sapphire lens, making for a watch that's stronger and brighter than previous iterations. Every watch in the Garmin MARQ Collection has the brand's 24/7 health and wellness features that track wrist-based heart rate, respiration and stress, sleep, and Body Battery energy monitoring. There are also some new ones.
The Jet Lag Adviser was created to help users feel their best mentally and physically by checking sleep history and other data to recommend a specific amount of light exposure along with a sleep schedule and exercise routine to minimize the effects of jet lag. The collection also adds support for multi-band GNSS, multi-frequency GPS (L1 + L5), and Garmin SatIQ technology, automatically choosing the correct satellite mode for scary-accurate positioning dates in any environment—while also demanding less from the battery.
“The MARQ collection is a true testament to Garmin’s commitment to superior quality, innovation and reliability,” Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales said in a release. “MARQ watches are modern-day trusted tools, genuine to our brand and designed for markets we’ve served for over 30 years. With authentic feature sets, smartwatch functionality and stunning premium materials, MARQ sets a new standard in the traditional watch industry.”
A closer look at the Garmin MARQ Collection
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Athlete
The MARQ Athlete has a vented silicone rubber strap to keep the watch secure and cool while tracking your performance. Training Readiness gives you a score based on sleep quality, recovery, training load and more, so you can see if today's the day to push for that PR. Runners get PacePro, which keeps their pacing strategy locked in with grade-adjusted guidance as they run a course and Real-Time Stamina to track and manage exertion and avoid burnout. Along with daily activity tracking, it also has sports apps like running, cycling, swimming, skiing, golf, pickleball and tennis, gym workouts, and surfing, along with cardio, strength, yoga and Pilates workouts.
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Adventurer
The MARQ Adventurer has a leather/FKM rubber hybrid strap for durability and aesthetics so it's handsome on and off adventures. The compass bezel uses cardinal directions and 360-degree markings to enhance the Orienteering feature as explorers navigate the outdoors. Preloaded TopoActive maps allow adventurers to easily access and navigate, and the NextFork feature provides the distance to the next trail intersection as well as the name of any upcoming trails.
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Golfer
The MARQ Golfer has a golf course-inspired color scheme with green ceramic inlay and a tritone green jacquard-weave nylon strap. It comes preloaded with over 42,000 golf courses around the world and will autodetect which course is being played. It will also give you precise distances to the front, middle, and back of the green, plus slope direction with the Green Contours feature (you must have an Active Garmin Golf app membership). Other features on the MARQ Golfer include Virtual Caddie, Hazard View, Wind Data, PinPointer, and three Approach CT10 golf club sensors for automatic club tracking.
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Captain
The MARQ Captain has nautical details like a navy ceramic bezel with regatta timer and race-inspired striped jacquard weave nylon strap. A Regatta Timer helps sailors cross the starting point of a race at just the right time by utilizing GPS to calculate the ideal position along with a countdown timer that shows when the gun will go off. Alerts and Alarms bring more awareness on the water by signaling imminent tide changes and anchor drag. You can also access the autopilot right from the wrist and change heading, engage pattern steering, and follow a route. MARQ Captain also has preloaded apps for kayaking, standup paddleboarding, windsurfing, kitesurfing, kiteboarding, and more.
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Aviator
The MARQ Aviator has a brushed titanium bracelet, swept-wing links, and locking clasp, plus a ceramic 24-hour GMT bezel. Use it to navigate toward a location or waypoint from the worldwide aeronautical database, or choose the Nearest function to plot a path to a local airport. Aviation alerts allow pilots to set a minimum crosswind and flight condition they’re comfortable with, then get pinged when it's the optimal time to fly. Pilots can also gain more situational awareness by moving across the map via touch with NEXRAD radar overlaid on the route, as well as check upcoming weather.
[From $1,900; garmin.com]
