TAG Heuer’s next-gen luxury smartwatches may be costly but aren’t quite up to par
Most smartwatches cost a couple of hundred dollars based on their specs and features, but not TAG Heuer products.The brand is known for charging top dollarfor its luxury mechanical watches, and that did not change with its foray into the smart wearables market in 2015, with prices in the thousands of dollars. The same company has now debuted its fourth generation of luxury smartwatches, the Connected Calibre E4 series, offering many improvements over theprevious version.
TAG Heuer’s Connected Calibre E4 watchesare available in two sizes: 45mm and 42mm. The 45mm E4 may be sportier than the 2020 model, with less chunky buttons and a more pronounced crown, but the 42mm variant looks more stylish, with a smaller bezel and thinner case. Both watches have an abundance of pre-installed watchfaces and multiple builds, including a pricier titanium option.
Internally, the Connected Calibre E4 watches offer significant improvements over the E3 line. There’s the faster and more powerful Snapdragon 4100+ chip, Bluetooth 5.0 for ultra-fast syncing with a smartphone, and an altimeter, in addition to the pre-existing accelerometer, compass, GPS sensors, and heart rate monitor. More advanced features like oxygen saturation measurements (SpO2) and EKG tracking are not available, though, even as the former is becoming a standard that’s rarely missing from much cheaper fitness bands.
The E4 also boasts an improved display, longer battery life (up to a full day, according to the company), and additional software features like guided workouts and watchfaces that display more fitness, sport, and weather data. Unfortunately, the Connected Calibre E4 won’t arrive with Wear OS 3 but will come with Wear OS 2 instead. However, TAG Heuer promises a free upgrade when the update becomes available.
As expected, you need a trailer-load of cash to purchase any of these watches. The 42mm model with a steel case starts at $1,800 for a rubber strap, $1,900 for a leather strap, and $2,000 for a steel bracelet. On the other hand, the 45mm E4 costs $250 more for the respective steel case models, while the titanium build starts at a whopping $2,500.
Those are steep prices to pay for a watch that’ll probably suffer battery wear in a few years, so TAG Heuer is introducing a battery replacement service, available at any Heuer retail store. The company is also keeping its upgrade program alive for owners of older Connected smartwatches to trade them in for some credit on the new model. If you’ve been eyeing one of these, the Connected Calibre E4 is set to go on sale on March 10th, but you canpreorder now.
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