We had a chance to check out the new 2015 TAG Heuer Connected smartwatch to give you a closer look and compare it vs the Apple Watch. TAG released their watch perfectly in time to make an excellent holiday gift, against many contenders hitting the market such as the the newest 2nd Generation
Moto 360 starting at $299, or the others such as
Huawei Watch and of course the Apple Watch.
The TAG Connected is currently only available in select TAG stores and authorized stores. If you go to tagheuerconnected.com you can check stores near you that may have it in stock. We went to a store in Boston called Sidney Thomas, and they were almost sold out. They mentioned there's a lot of interest in this watch and it's already selling like hot cakes before the holiday season, they only had 2 left in stock. The store had a great looking display with a bunch of TAG Connected watches featuring all different color straps.
Excellent Build Quality and Design
The staff was welcoming and friendly, and we were assisted by a Watch Manager who has 10 years in the watch industry along with knowledge and appreciation for smartwatches. He gave a good look at a couple of the TAG watches with different colored bands, and immediately we were impressed with the design and high build quality. The TAG Connected is one of the most expensive smartwatches on the market at $1,500, but for the price you know what you’re getting and TAG certainly delivers on design and build quality.
The Swiss made watch has the resemblance of a TAG and borrows some of it’s design from the modern classic Carrera 1887. One of the really interesting aspects of this watch is that if you buy it today for $1,500, TAG is saying that in 2 years time you will be able to pay an additional $1,500 in order to swap out the internals for automatic movement. This guarantees that your watch will still hold some value since the hardware chips currently inside will certainly be old and obsolete in 2 years time. This is important to think about for early adopters since 1st generation smartwatches will quickly lose value. Considering TAG is already promising an upgrade path, it wouldn't surprise by their next generation TAG could also offer an upgradable set of chips and sensors to your 1st generation case.
TAG Connected Specs and Features
Taking a closer look at the TAG Connected, it features an amazing design with a titanium case measuring 46mm, making it fairly large for a smartwatch. It has a 1.5” LCD screen, which is covered by Sapphire Crystal, the strongest type of glass found on watches. The TAG has a battery which will last about 1 day of good use. While looking at the back of the watch, you’ll notice it doesn’t have a heart rate sensor and the charger is also a simple 4 pin connection and no wireless charging found on many latest smartwatches such as the Moto 360 and Gear S2.
Trying on the watch, we immediately thought it looked and felt great on the wrist. The weight is surprisingly light coming in at only 52 grams thanks to the lightweight titanium. The sport band that comes with it is easily adjustable and contours nicely to the design of the watch. We also expect it to be paired nicely with a variety of 3rd party bands in leather and steel.
TAG Smartwatch vs Apple Watch
We also got a chance to compare the TAG Connected to our Apple Watch Space Black, which you can find for less than half the cost at $549. The Apple Watch is smaller, and does have more features such as a built in speaker, hear rate sensor, and a sharper looking LCD screen due to more pixels. Keep in mind that while the TAG watch runs Android Wear and is compatible with iPhone, it is limited in terms of features compared to the tight integration of iOS and the Apple Watch.
Overall, we think the TAG Connected makes a great luxury smartwatch, especially for those of you who have an Android Phone or have an appreciation for TAG and traditional watch makers. If you have an iPhone, we would recommend you to consider the Apple Watch due to smaller price tag more functionality due to the tight platform integration. If you are looking for an entry level smartwatch for your Android phone, the new 2015 Moto 360 is an excellent option for the price. However if you're looking for the circular display with a classic look, the TAG Connected has an amazing design and excellent build quality. We look forward to seeing more innovation coming from this Swiss maker in the future with their next iterations of this connected timepiece.
