The new Connected Bright Black is its latest salvo.

When TAG Heuer announced that it was getting in bed with tech giants Google and Intel to try crack the smartwatch market back in 2015, not many knew what to expect. A few novelty watches to allow TAG Heuer to get a foot in the smartwatch business? Or, perhaps a more serious product proposition that would ensue a price war with the likes of the Apple Watch and Samsung’s Galaxy Watch?

As it turns out, neither. As demonstrated by the construction and price tags of the TAG Heuer Connected Watch, the Swiss giant hopes to carve its own niche by introducing the element of luxury – an area that the brand is undoubtedly well-versed in – to the category of smart watches. In a short span of time, TAG Heuer has unveiled a series of Connected Watches to express this intent, none more so than the Connected 45 Full Diamond from 2018, which comes in white gold and is set with 23.35 carats worth of diamonds.

This year’s new Connected Bright Black, while less ostentatious and fiscally prohibitive at approximately S$3,600, continues to makes a strong case for TAG Heuer’s vision of the luxury smartwatch. Paired with the Wear by Google OS with all of today’s de rigueur tap-and-swipe mod cons, alongside the brand’s own Sport and Gold apps for fitness activities, the Connected Bright Black is a vision of uppity glamour and chic.

The watch’s Carrera-inspired case is made of DLC grade 2 titanium with matte sandblasted finish, and paired with a mirror-polished black ceramic bezel with gold lacquer accents. In fact, the black-and-gold combination is a staple here, featured on the case as well as on the watch’s exclusive ‘Eclipse’ dial interface, which also comes in shades of blue, red, green and turquoise to choose from. Completing the Connected Bright Black is a black calfskin-on-rubber strap, which you can easily swap with another colour of your choice via its quick-change system.

Given the tight race amongst companies in the tech department – the third-generation Connected Watch offers the essentials including 454 x 454-pixel OLED touchscreen display, full suite of sensors, optimised battery life, and latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100 chipset for performance – the onus is on TAG Heuer to set the pace in the ‘luxury’ end of its smartwatch offer. Endowed with luxury-grade materials and refined finishes that one’d expect from the brand’s mechanical watch collection, the Connected Bright Black is more proof that TAG Heuer isn’t letting up.

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