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Garmin Takes On The Luxury Watch Market With These GPS Smartwatches

Garmin MARQ GPS Smartwatches

In the Army, a specialist is a soldier who specializes in a certain trade. It works well for the Army, but we not sure if will work just as well for smartwatches. Regardless, that appears to be where Garmin is headed with its new line of MARQ series of GPS smartwatches. Altogether, there are 5 “specialist” smartwatches, namely MARQ Aviator, MARQ Driver, MARQ Captain, MARQ Expedition and MARQ Athlete. Each has its own distinctive design, features and functionality.

As the respective model name suggests, Aviator is for flying, Driver for racing, Captain for sailing, while Expedition and Athlete are for exploration and sports respectively. With this new line, Garmin is also stepping into a domain that is not usually synonymous with GPS watchmaker: the luxury watch market. The thing is, unless it is a GPS equipment for your boat, you will not imagine yourself shelling out $1,500-2,500 for an adventure specific GPS smartwatch. And no, that’s not a typo. That is how much these watches command.

So what Garmin has got to justify the premium stickers? Well, premium materials, of course, and “design elements and unique features.” Each watch is built with titanium to take advantage of the material’s lightweight and strong properties and it has sapphire crystal “formed under extreme heat and pressure” to result in an optic that is said to be twice as hard as glass. Twice only, huh? I was expecting more. Anyways, sapphire is also known to be naturally scratch resistant. And then there is the ceramic bezel inlay to protect the watch from wear and tear even in the most challenging environments.

Other common features include an always-on, sunlight-readable display with GPS, built-in music storage, Garmin Pay, smart notifications, daily activity tracking, a rechargeable battery good for 12-48 hours use, and heart rate and Pulse OX oxygen sensor.

Here are the five watches and the watch-specific features:

MARQ Aviator

Garmin MARQ Aviator

MARQ Driver

Garmin MARQ Driver

MARQ Captain

Garmin MARQ Captain

MARQ Expedition

Garmin MARQ Expedition

MARQ Athlete

Garmin MARQ Athlete

Basically, the Athlete is nothing more than a glorified fitness tracker that lets fitness fanatics/sports person to take the fitness band from the track/field to a black tie event. A very expensive fitness tracker if I may add. The MARQ Athlete costs $1,500 and it is the cheapest in the line up. The price becomes progressively expensive as it moves up the list above.

Strangely, though, the Driver is pricier than the Aviator which goes for $1,950. The Driver is the dearest, coming in at $2,500. As for the Captain, it will retail for $1,850 and the Expedition, $1,750. Anyone who’s into the sports of aviation, sailing and racing will probably have no qualm with this “specialist” GPS smartwatches that are in realm of luxury watches, but I don’t see how outdoor adventurers and athletes would want shell out that kind of money.

Seriously, what are you guys thinking, Garmin? I would love to pick your brain on this. Anyways, Garmin MARQ GPS Smartwatches are expected to hit the stores sometime in Q2 2019. In the meantime, you can learn more at the MARQ page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sprm3yNoyiM

All images courtesy of Garmin.

Source: Garmin via The Verge.

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